ISTE Standards for Educational Leaders

As I approach the end of my technology and leadership course, it’s time to consider the standards for educational leaders defined by the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). These are:

• Equity and citizenship advocate – Leaders use technology to increase equity, inclusion, and digital citizenship practices.
• Visionary planner – Leaders engage others in establishing a vision, strategic plan and ongoing evaluation cycle for transforming learning with technology.
• Empowering leader – Leaders create a culture where teachers and learners are empowered to use technology in innovative ways to enrich teaching and learning.
• Systems designer – Leaders build teams and systems to implement, sustain and continually improve the use of technology to support learning.
• Connected leader – Leaders model and promote continuous professional learning for themselves and others.

Although my current school is not a 1 to 1 tech school, in my department we have managed to find creative ways to use technology to advance learning. We use technology to create engaging, authentic learning contexts, whether through apps, videos or digital resource banks. Digital citizenship is an aspect that we have been actively developing with our students, Our 8th grade students are required to do an annual project of their own choosing, that they research and conduct over five or six months. The results are presented in an academic paper, followed by a reflection on the process. As part of a team of mentors this year, we have worked with the students to model and teach online research and critical evaluation of online sources. It was pleasing to see that all the students who did their projects in a foreign language were thorough and critical in their research, articulate in their presentations and academically honest. Seeing the success of the projects this year, we are thinking of opening them for grade 7 as well.

I have had some practice with being a connected leader and an equity and citizenship advocate. I learnerd early on the benefits of empowering teachers and supporting them in using technology to advance learning. As my previous school was a 1 to 1 laptop school, I worked with the Technology Integration Director to organize workshops for teachers, parents and students. In every school I’ve been, I have engaged with the local community of educators, attended conferences and contributed to the discussion by presenting workshops or papers.

I have yet to see a school that has a true culture of innovation and has managed to integrate technology in such a way as to support differentiated (or personalized?) learning for both students and teachers. According to Lindsay (2016) a global educator is a connected educator who can, eventually [and thanks to their sound grasp of both technology and pedagogy], design learning environments which are futuristic and transcend the walls of the classroom. This sounds interesting and I would like to learn more about how we can do that, as teachers, but also what the impact on the learners would be and how we can make these environments sustainable.

Reflecting back on my leadership experience, I would say the standards I need to actively develop would be being a visionary planner and a systems designer. As a visionary planner, a leader uses current & relevant research to create a shared vision for using technology to ensure student success (ISTE). This vision is shared with stakeholders and put in practice through a strategic plan that is implemented, revised and adjusted as needed. A leader who is a systems designer is able to establish a robust infrastructure to fulfill the vision. This includes resources, strategic partnerships and a solid data management and data protection system. 

Bull (2018) offers a few tools for approaching the future of technology in education, and, while his article refers to higher education, the same feelings can be found, I am sure, in schools all around the world. In his words, we can choose to ignore the future, prepare for the future as we envisage it, predict the future or aspire to create the future. What we cannot do, it seems, is stop the future from happening. We know for sure that technology has the potential to change education. Laeeka Khan of the London College of International Business Studies talks about the technological revolution in education, and its consequences on the business environments and workplaces of the future. 

I like the idea of a global educator being a bridge to different learning journeys (Lindsay, 2016) and I believe that a purposeful use of technology in education can certainly facilitate that. 

 

 

Enthusiast or skeptic?

 My Place on the Continuum

I like to think of myself as a Technology enthusiast, but, just like in any area of my life, I like to balance my enthusiasm or keep it in check, so yes, I am a bit of a skeptic too.

I am an enthusiast, because I subscribe to Staker’s idea that using technology purposefully in education leads to ownership of the learning process on the part of the students (Staker, 2015). Technology enthusiasts such as Brown (2007), cited by Collins & Halverson (2018), argue that schools need to keep up with the knowledge revolution that is taking place in the world. We cannot prepare 21st century citizens using 19th century pen-and-paper tools.

It is very tempting to believe Marc Prensky’s definition of digital natives and digital immigrants (Prensky, 2001), but even back in 2010 when I first heard about this theory it seemed a little unfounded, or too clear-cut to be fully scientific. While I do believe that our students’ learning can be transformed by technology, and that they can – at times – be the experts (while I, as a teacher, “trust the process to carry the pedagogy”, in the words of Peggy A. Ertmer), I like to think of technology less as the magical solution to the problems of education worldwide, and more as a new, exciting environment for learning that still needs a sound pedagogical approach.

In other words, I am a skeptic when I hear that schools can be transformed with technology and what that implies is that teachers just need to set this up, and afterwards students will use technology to learn at their own pace in personalized learning environments (Culatta, 2017). To be fair , Culatta does mention, in the same article, the need for more “mature tools” to make that happen and talks about using technology to connect to other learners, which is, I think, one of the main advantages of the internet .

How do I use technology in my classroom? I talked a little bit about my previous and current experience in another article on this blog.

My students have access to iPads and mobile phones. We have interactive whiteboards and laptops/ projectors in the classroom. We use Kahoot, Quizlet, Animoto, Nearpod, Youtube, Moodle for various purposes, at various moments of the learning journey. The students enjoy working on video assignments. They find that they remember more when they practice the new vocabulary in Spanish using Quizlet. They compete with each other in Kahoot to practice syntax using Kahoot Jumble or remember the details of a story and answer the comprehension questions set by me using Kahoot quizzes. Thinking about it now, I tend to use technology mostly to introduce new ideas or words or to conduct a more engaging formative assessment (assessment for learning). I am open to explore more uses of technology in my class and I have been talking with my colleagues in Math and Design Technology who use 3D printers and Arduino and Minecraft – all exciting possibilities that I know next to nothing about (yet).

How do I see the future of education in relation to technology? I have to go back to Chapter 3 of Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology: The Digital Revolution and Schooling in America and talk about getting the balance right between the many ways in which technology can enhance our learning (“classroom 3” in Katie Martin’s article was so inspirational!) and what technology cannot teach (Collins & Halverson, 2018), which are mostly the skills that make us human and enable us to leave peacefully in society (not the least important of which is “flush!”).

Technology is here to stay (though I also toy with the idea put forth by Andrew that something might happen that sees the whole planet go offline – then what?) and, as thoughtful and caring educators, we must find the best way to put it to use in order to develop our students’ thinking, social and emotional skills. My opinion is that it is harder to do this in isolation, and there needs to be a vision or a direction on tech integration that comes from the school administration and is shared with all the stakeholders. I think in this way at least there is a purpose and a plan in place and this can help mitigate some of the fears that always arise in the presence of something new.

Here is my question then: is there such a vision or direction in your schools? Do you have a clear tech integration short/ long-term plan? And if you do, do you find it useful?

Ignite presentations

For the Technology course I have to do an Ignite presentation, so naturally I started researching this topic.

I found out that Ignite presentations have been around for a few years and they are supposed to be short and concise (20 slides, 5 minutes total) and help the speaker deliver the message without too much meandering around. I must say I like the idea, because I am known for getting lost on tangents and straying from the point when I do a presentation.

I’ve watched a few Ignite presentations on random topics, in English and Spanish, to get used to the format. This blog gives six steps for creating an awesome Ignite presentation:

• Start with an outline – I always do that because it helps me organize my thoughts;
• Write your script – I usually write the script on the presentation, and then fiddle with the slides until they sound right, so this will be interesting, to write a script before I have the slides;
• Fine tune the timing – I’ve never done self-advancing slides in PPT, so I am happy to learn how to do that;
• Design your slides – I usually do this as I write the script;
• Set your slide times – yes! I want to learn how to do this!
• Practice!

I have a feeling I will be using Ignite presentations for more than just my course assignments. I will keep you posted!

I like the Ignite motto: Enlighten us, but make it quick!

Image source: https://www.lauramfoley.com/ignite/