Home Tags Posts tagged with "ISTE Standards for Educators"
Tag:

ISTE Standards for Educators

hands in the center, together
Good Teaching

Make It Relevant: The Collaborator ISTE Standard

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

In classrooms today, the goal remains learning how to solve problems together. Authentic learning often involves learners in joint problem solving. We work together towards a goal, each of us knowing what part we play to resolve the issue(s). How do you do set educators up for success in this endeavor? In this blog entry, we’ll explore several approaches. Before we do that, let’s step back and ask ourselves, What is authentic learning?

ISTE Standards for Educators: Collaborator

To better understand what authentic learning is, let’s take a look at it through the lens of the ISTE Standards, a way to do three things:

  • Improve practice
  • Discover and share resources and ideas
  • Solve problems

When you look at the four indicators, you realize that the last action is quite important to the standard. Here are the four indicators:

4a: Dedicate planning time to collaborate with colleagues to create authentic learning experiences that leverage technology.

4b: Collaborate and co-learn with students to discover and use new digital resources and diagnose and troubleshoot technology issues.

4c: Use collaborative tools to expand students’ authentic, real-world learning experiences by engaging virtually with experts, teams and students, locally and globally.

4d: Demonstrate cultural competency when communicating with students, parents and colleagues and interact with them as co-collaborators in student learning.

As you can see, two of the indicators refer to “authentic learning experiences.” Each enjoys the benefit of real-world problem-solving. When you unpack the vocabulary, you see that each indicator expands on the other:

  • Authentic learning (4a): Activities based on student’s real world experiences or current issues. These use real data and seek to solve real-life problems.
  • Authentic, real-world learning experiences (4c). This involves solving local and global real world problems. It could involve design thinking as well.

This presents tremendous opportunities for situating student learning in real-world problem-solving scenarios. How do you do that? Let’s review the steps that lead to authentic learning experiences with technology.

Step #1: Engage with a Real-World Problem

“Fall in love with the problem, not the solution,” says Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots, X. Many of us know that real-world problems, a la 5E Model’s Engage stage, help to focus learners. The problem engages students when it is relevant to them. Let’s review what a real-world problem should look like:

The PBL challenge is one that captures students’ attention. It stimulates their thinking, and assists them in accessing prior knowledge.  (Source: 5E Model + Technology)

Note the importance of prior knowledge. (We’ll explore prior knowledge in Step #2 due to its importance.) In crafting a real-world problem, I would be quick to rely on relevant life issues and challenges.

A real-world problem must engage students in the inquiry process. You can present news or troubling information from a primary source. Students can derive a problem from that information. Or you as the teacher can craft a problem narrative/engagement scenario. You can show a video, or resource, that engages students. The next step is critical because it engages students in identifying what they don’t know. One way to do this is to rely on a concept map about the following areas:

  • What do I know?
  • What do I need to know?
  • What questions do I have about what I know or don’t know?

This assists students in seeing the bigger picture. It’s not enough to depend on this. You, as the teacher, as well as experts on the problem, must step in.

Step #2: Build Background Knowledge

A fascinating tidbit about problem-based learning (PBL): When you allow students to do all the work of knowledge gathering, it’s not very effective. In fact, Dr. John Hattie reports it has an effect size of 0.35. This is less than the 0.40 hinge point for a normal year’s growth in a classroom. This makes all the work for PBL, “Meh, not worth it.” But wait; before you give up, keep reading.

Note how Quadrant D learning is focused on real-world, unpredictable situations. That is where problem-solving teaching must take students. But they can only go AFTER they have learned content and skills needed to solve it.

You can use several strategies to speed up student growth in a particular area. That is, to build prior knowledge, you can use strategies proven to work. When you do this, and then introduce students, PBL’s effect size increases. I like to think of PBL introduced at surface learning stage as a beginning Pokemon. Use it too soon, students fail. Use it after evolving, you get powerful results.

Image Source: YA Web Design

If you spend some time building knowledge capacity in your students, PBL evolves. It evolves from PBL to a more effective, transfer learning strategy. The evolved PBL strategy is problem-solving teaching. This strategy enjoys a respectable 0.68 effect size.

This evolved PBL appears after you have introduced content (a.k.a. surface learning). It appears after deep learning, when students have gone beyond knowledge conceptualization. It’s only when students are ready to engage in transfer learning that PBL works.

The Visible Learning Meta X database defines it in this way:

Problem-solving involves learning to solve a problem that one does not already know how to solve. It can also involve teaching specific, subject-area focused strategies for attempting to solve such problems.

As you can see, this is like ISTE’s expectation in the Collaboration standard. The focus is on real-world problems, authentic learning, and skill-building.

Mapping Learning Growth via Reflection

You must give students the opportunity to build up background knowledge. How do you do that? Support your students in making their own concept map. They can begin with questions, then track their growing understanding. This means that their concept map will change over time. It’s not a “make one and then forget it” situation.

You might ask students, “What would you add to or how would you change your map?” Ask them to revise their concept map as part of their reflection time. To build background knowledge, rely on one of the surface learning strategies. Need some ideas of how to get started? Check this list.

Step #3: Present the Problem

The key concept behind the problem-solving teaching strategy is that of novelty, presenting students with a problem they have not encountered before. It is novel, requiring them to apply their newfound knowledge and skills. In a skill-building scenario, it could be to use design thinking process. Or encouraging students to apply their knowledge of an engineering design process. Students can begin to explore the problem from various stakeholder roles. One way to focus them on solution development is to ask, “What will success look like?” Have them put the criteria they use for success into a rubric.

As you embark on a PBL unit, align it to the ISTE Standards for Educators’ Collaborator aspect. It will focus your work on authentic learning and real-world problem-solving. What’s more, make sure that you use surface learning strategies first. These will build students’ background knowledge. Then, they can apply their knowledge to a new problem. In this way, you can accelerate student growth.

1 comment
1 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
clasping hands
Leadership

Exercising Trust: ISTE Standards for Leaders

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

To stay heart healthy, I started swimming laps one summer. For a while, the first ten laps left me tired and weak. But the next twenty-five were easier. It taught me a valuable lesson: Being a leader may involve learning to push past initial pain.

The greater your capacity to overcome pain, the more you can achieve. Could the same be true of learning? In this blog, we’ll explore the ISTE Educator Standard for Leaders.

He who learns must suffer. And … against our will, comes wisdom.

— Aeschylus

Influence Is Not Leadership

Of the seven standards, the Leader standard expects more than just learning. It shifts your focus from what you want to achieve to what others can learn to do. Instead of empowering your own change, it forces you to ask, “What can I do to empower others with technology?”

As part of the goal of supporting student empowerment, the standard demands you improve. That improvement must be on behalf of teaching and learning. To achieve that, you must:

  • Shape, advance, and accelerate a shared vision for empowered learning. How do you achieve this? Through engagement with education stakeholders.
  • Advocate for equitable access to educational technology, digital content, and learning opportunities. Why do you advocate? To meet the diverse needs of all students.
  • Model for colleagues the identification, exploration, evaluation, curation, and adoption of new tools. This includes new digital resources.

Wondering how to start your journey? Here’s a road map.

Guidepost #1 – Create a Shared Vision

Creating a shared vision can be tough. Often, we perceive it as convincing others to adopt our vision. After all, we have a worthwhile aim, to transform learning with technology. But each person has a different perspective. Some people may not want anything to do with technology. For others, technology is an unwelcome distraction.

To create a shared vision, you need to set aside your pre-determined goals. I like to begin the journey with a three-step process. Some of this process I’ve adapted from the book Crucial Confrontations.

Step 1: Build Mutual Purpose

Mutual purpose means understanding others’ goals. Then you work together to find a purpose broad enough to encompass key goals for each person. During this stage, you also work to unearth hidden agendas and avoid blind accusations and defensive behavior. In short, you want to ensure that you can answer two questions:

  • Do others believe I care about their goals?
  • Do they trust my motives?

You must be sincere about caring for the goals of others and being transparent. People know when you are less than sincere.

iste standards leaders

Step 2: Build Mutual Respect

Miscommunications, misunderstandings, unvoiced fears, and anger can bar the way to mutual respect. Previous conflicts may haunt future relationships. To get past those, you have several options, including offering a sincere apology for causing, or not preventing, pain.

When apologizing is not possible or appropriate, use contrasting. Contrasting is a don’t/do statement that:

  • Addresses others’ concerns that you don’t respect them or have a malicious purpose
  • Confirms your respect or clarifies your real purpose

Here’s an example:

Let me put this in perspective. I don’t want you to think I’m not satisfied with the quality of your work. I do think you’re doing a good job. This punctuality issue is important to me, and I’d like you to work on that. If you will be more attentive to that, there are no other issues.

Don’t be afraid to admit that this is a tough issue. Even though it is a difficult issue, agree that everyone will stay in the conversation, that you will keep talking until you come up with something that works for all.

Step 3: Sort Priorities and Solutions

While you are working on developing mutual respect and purpose, you may need to dig deeper. One way to do this could involve bringing people together and asking questions.

As a leader, one of my favorite tools is two wishes and a star. This translates as “What are two things you think ought to be happening? What is one thing we’re doing right?” This easy-going set of questions engages stakeholders. Once you have responses from key stakeholders, you can combine them into a list of priorities and use them as a road map to craft solutions that work for all stakeholders.

Match priorities with action steps, problems with solutions. Not sure which is the best solution? With your mutual purpose in mind, get a small committee to review the options, then make a decision as a team.

One example might be deciding on what platform to go with. Should you choose iPads, Chromebooks, or Windows devices. Let’s apply some contrasting, here, with planning in mind:

This is tough. I don’t want you to think I want Chromebooks over Windows 10 tablets. The G Suite for Education ecosystem has so much to offer our children. Finding the right set of tools for our common goals is important to me. Why don’t we work together to figure out what our objectives for this goal are? With those in mind, we can decide what best reflects our common objectives.

Guidepost #2 – Advocate for Equitable Access

Connecting equitable access to mutual purpose is critical. For example, my own experience in Texas public schools shaped my understanding. Students from a ten-thousand-student district faced a lack of technology access. In that situation, affluent students could go home to work on connected devices. Poor, high-performing students could not. This meant that students who would merit access to technology had little to no hope of it at home. The school district leadership knew of the problem, but had no idea on addressing it.

Changes to Texas law in 2001 recognized that school districts had old technology. This technology worked fine in non-academic settings with a little re-fitting.  With a goal of equitable access, I worked with school district leaders to re-purpose old technology.

The mission was to enable students to develop critical, high-tech skills. Other school districts, like Weslaco ISD, Arp ISD, Abilene ISD, and others had similar programs in place. My district’s Tech4Hornets Program involved collecting equipment deemed obsolete but still serviceable. This equipment would issued to students for home use. Learn more about the program online.

To make the program a reality, I worked with district leaders to obtain board approval of a new district policy and with the technical team to ensure the best technical solution. Ensuring equitable access can be challenging, but the results are well-worth it.

Leaders Trust the Water

As I got better at swimming laps, I learned that, to keep from exhausting myself, I had to give myself over to the science of floating and rely on the fact that the water would support me. The same is true for all of us. Leadership is more than knowing what moves to make. Leaders trust that buoyancy is a part of the experience. They are in touch with who and what they are, their relationships with that experience. Trusting the water means absolute surrender to the effort, no holding back.

In part two, I’ll explore a third guidepost for achieving the ISTE Education Standard of Leader.

U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Jazmin Smith.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
Google Tips and Tricks

Make Your Google Docs More Accessible

by Diana Benner
written by Diana Benner

As educators, there are many things we can do to make our Google Docs more accessible to our students. We should always be thinking about including Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in all that we do. As a matter of fact, the ISTE Standards for Educators call for educators to design authentic, learner-driven activities and environments that recognize and accommodate learner variability (ISTE Standard 5, Designer). Check out the best practices below to create documents that will be more readable and accessible for everyone, including your students.

Use Headings

Make it easier for others to read your document by including headings. Documents organized to include headings will help readers jump to different sections in your document. Structure and properly formatted headings are very important so that your documents can be easily understood and navigated. Besides that, no one wants to read a single long document.

Headings should be selected based on their hierarchy in the document. Usually, you start the document with a heading that describes the overall document, which would be Heading 1. Follow it with a sub-heading, which would be Heading 2, and so on. Any heading style will help those who use a screen reader to navigate through your document.Image of how to create a heading in Google Docs.

To make an item a heading in Google Docs, follow the steps below:

  1. Select the Styles drop-down menu, located to the left of the font drop-down menu or go to Format, Paragraph Styles.
  2. Change from Normal Text to Heading 1, Heading 2, or Heading 3, using the appropriate heading levels for your content structure.

An added benefit of using Headings is that they can be used to automatically generate a Table of Contents or bookmark items in your document.

Add Alt Text to Images

Images can play a significant role in Google Docs. The way to make them accessible is to add Alternative Text, or Alt Text, to the image. Alt text for images is vital to ensuring that users with visual impairments have access to information included in these visuals. Alternative text should provide enough information so that users who are unable to see them are still able to understand what they convey.Image of how to add alt text to an image in Google Docs.

To add alt text to an image embedded in a Google Doc, follow the steps below:

  1. Upload or insert the image.
  2. Click and highlight the image.
  3. Right click on the image and select Alt text.
  4. In the pop-up window, enter a description of the image into the Description field.
  5. Click OK when done.

While there are no hard and fast rules for determining what alternative text should say (it depends on the image, its context, etc.), one simple trick is to imagine describing the image to someone over the phone.

Clearly Describe Hyperlinks

You can make your Google Docs even more accessible by improving how you use hyperlinks in your documents. Hyperlinks should be embedded in text that makes them clear, concise, and meaningful in context. Users visually scan pages for links to help them find the information they are looking for quickly. Those who use screen readers can pull up a list of all the links on your document at the touch of a button; therefore, the links should make as much sense as possible.

For example, a link should say “Closed Captions in Google Slides” instead of “Closed Captions in Google Slides. Click here.”

To best add a hyperlink to a Google Doc, follow the steps below:

  1. Highlight the text you want to make into a hyperlink.
  2. Right click on the text and scroll to Link.
  3. Insert the Link.
  4. Click Apply when done.

Use Color and Contrast Appropriately

Color in your documents is very important. It is critical that the appropriate contrast exist between the text in your document and the background of your document. Lightly colored text should have a darker background and darker colored text should have a light background. In addition, color alone should never be used to emphasize items on your document. Use color plus bold to highlight items. Always remember, what you see may not be what others see.

Accessibility in the Future

As we head into the future, it will be more important than ever to consider accessibility and UDL principles. This means we must rethink what we are doing and how we are doing it. Incorporating these best practices will result in more accessible and usable Google docs.

1 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
guide signs with japanese writing on them
Good TeachingProfessional Learning

Five Guideposts for Making Learning Connections

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

How do you connect your own learning with others? One way that I create learning connections involves blogging. It translates into reflecting on my own efforts and setting loose learning goals. These flexible goals allow me to learn at my own pace as I move forward towards measurable growth. But I did not always approach learning this way. It began when I decided to blog for a global audience. In this blog entry, let’s explore what it means to be a learner in a hyper-connected world.

ISTE Standards for Educators: Learner

Though there are seven ISTE standards for Educators, the Learner begins with you. It puts the focus on you and how you can learn from others. The how involves taking specific steps that make you a student. In this way, you, as learner, are able to leverage technology to improve student learning. Here’s how you do that:

  • Set personal, professional learning goals to explore.
  • Apply pedagogical approaches that technology makes possible.
  • Reflect on the effectiveness of these tech-enhanced, pedagogical approaches.
  • Pursue professional interests.
  • Create and be an active participant in local and global learning networks.
  • Stay current with research that supports student learning outcomes.

Wondering how to start your journey? Let’s walk through a road map of steps to start.

Guidepost #1 – Set Professional Learning Goals

Not sure where to begin, where to sink your shovel in? Your goals need to be flexible and reflect who you are and where you are in your career. Teachers have to be able to set their learning goals before beginning any training cycle. For early to mid-career educators, learning goals tend towards curriculum and instruction. For late-career educators, extra-curricular tasks and innovations are more relevant (source).

From a coaching perspective, assist others in this process. Help them set meaningful goals and clarify steps to achieving those goals. Learn more about coaching others in setting goals.

Action Steps: Get a coach that can assist you in setting learning goals. Pick three technology-enhanced actions that you can start with.

Guidepost #2 – Apply Pedagogy That Technology Makes Possible

Making learning and collaboration at a distance serves as one example of this type. Dr. Judi Harris (September, 1998) described activity structures as design tools. These tools assist teachers in using the internet to achieve curriculum-related learning goals. Dr. Bernie Dodge and Tom March (1995) employed activity formats in the same way. In 2017, Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis came together and their work resulted in inquiry-based learning and self-paced student-centric opportunities known as hyperdocs. From subject samplers to hyperdocs, technology-enhanced pedagogy has been around for many years. These approaches are inquiry-based, collaborative, and involve self-directed learning. Project-based, or problem-based, students must solve a problem using materials at hand.

Use Dr. Chris Moersch’s H.E.A.T. observational framework to describe students’ efforts. In the best ways, students engage in:

  • Learning or questioning at evaluating/creating levels of Bloom’s
  • Collaborating to define the task, the process. The solution extends beyond the classroom walls.
  • Creating a product with a real-world purpose beyond the classroom that impacts students

Projects and technology work well together. Well-implemented PBL develops students’ critical thinking skills, improves long-term retention of content learned. What’s more, it increases students’ and teachers’ satisfaction with learning experiences (source). How does the teacher gauge success?

Action Step: Embrace PBL, design thinking, engineering design process, or the 5E Model. Then blend in simple technologies where appropriate. Don’t be afraid to try DIY activities.

Did You Know?

A team of trained professionals is available to perform a technology audit. Whatever size your district is, our educational auditors can help. They will provide insights that can help you grow. TCEA is a non-profit association. The cost of the audit will be less than if a commercial entity did it for you. The team of TCEA Technology Auditors is ready to assist you. Make contact now.

Guidepost #3 – Reflect on Success

The HEAT observational framework provides some insight. In activity-rich environments like classrooms, approaches may not impact learning. That is why reflecting on an activity remains important. In these projects, students self-select technology. When designing lessons, teachers can use this simple reflection-on-action checklist:

  • Did students use tech to create something and then test to see if it worked? (Rapid prototyping)
  • How did students use technology to focus their work, how they went about it? Did students use technology to collaborate on a solution extending beyond the classroom?
  • When did students engage in a real-world, real-life problem solving opportunity?

Whether it’s a blog, an audiolog, or vidcast, make the effort to reflect on teaching and learning. Assume the stance of a community member peering into your classroom. What would they see? Without this reflection, we miss the power of transformation. Dr. Wilson and Dr. Alaniz suggest reflection must be active and persistent. How persistent is your reflection?

Action Step: Use a blog to keep track of your reflections. Share what you expected to see and what you observed. Explore the gap between the two.

Guidepost #4 – Be a Global Connector

Ready to get started with social media? You may have a Twitter or Facebook account. How do you move into the role of being a global connector with a worldwide reach? Embrace the power of ideas and change in your life. Find ideas that align to your efforts. Apply new concepts to your work. Share that online via a blog, audiolog, or vidcast. It’s that simple. You build your professional learning network (PLN) one step at a time, one person at a time.

Action Step: Connect with others online, pursuing your professional interests as an educator. Become a hashtag hero. Accept the #OBSERVEME challenge. Start a district Twitter chat. Make connections beyond your current experience.

Guidepost #5 – Curate Content for Yourself and Others

Are you ready to keep up to date with research on what works and what doesn’t in the classroom? You need to make it easy to keep up with learning new things. Building a global professional learning network is step one. Step two involves finding a way to manage the torrent of data and ideas coming at you. To do that, learn to curate content in ways that make sharing it easy.

Action Step: Adopt a content curation tool you can use to save and organize online content any way you want. Learn to automate sharing of content. Align your social media to your learning needs.

References

Feature image. Available online

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
soldering iron on a circuit on a board
RoboticsSTEM/STEAM

Engaging Strategies for Physical Computing

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

“I enjoyed the hands-on and engaging session,” said one workshop participant. “It was awesome,” said another. The session was Physical Computing and Computational Thinking. How can we make connections between teacher as facilitator and computational thinking? Let’s explore key design principles aligned to the ISTE Standards for Educators.

Did You Know?

You can get ISTE Certified via the TCEA’s ISTE Certification program. This digital credential recognizes educators who understand how to use edtech for learning in meaningful and transformative ways. Learn more about that opportunity here.

ISTE Standards for Educators: Facilitator

Though there are seven ISTE standards for Educators, the Facilitator one stands out. It stands out because it shifts our focus from the teacher to student empowerment. In the Facilitator standard, educators ease learning with technology. They do this to to support achievement of the ISTE Standards for Students. Several ways they make this happen include:

  • Fostering a culture where students take ownership. Students own their learning goals and outcomes, as individuals or as part of a group.
  • Managing the use of technology and student learning strategies. This happens with digital platforms, virtual environments, hands-on makerspaces, or in the field.
  • Creating learning opportunities that challenge students. Two ways to assure this include design process and computational thinking. The purpose of using these two approaches is to scaffold innovation and problem solving.
  • Modeling and nurturing creativity and creative expression. This is to make communicating ideas, knowledge, or connections more effective.

Let’s take a look at the first three points (fostering, managing, and creating). We can look at these via the lens of Physical Computing.

Physical Computing

Not familiar with the term “physical computing?” Wikipedia defines it as “building interactive physical systems.” You make this happen through the use of software and hardware that have senses and respond to an analog world.  Handmade art, design, or Do-It-Yourself (DIY) projects use sensors and microcontrollers. These devices translate analog inputs to a software system and/or control devices.

A host of small micro-devices are available in classrooms. From the Ozobot to Adafruit’s Circuit Playground Express to Micro:bit, they are legion. Even more of these small devices comprise the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT may reach 50 billion devices in 2020. Learning to code, control, design, and deploy is thus all the more important.

Strategy #1 – Fostering a Culture of Ownership

For students, owning an idea can mean having access to resources to make. In maker-rich environments, students identify a problem or innovation they want to pursue. They may solve an existing problem or develop a new way of getting something done. A culture of ownership moves beyond providing resources. It involves making an emotional connection that engages students in a problem. One way, aside from humor and personal stories, involves activating students’ imagination. This can involve students imagining a scene from a text or visualizing a historical scene. It can also involve taking an imaginary journey or teaching with controversy. You can learn more about using emotion to increase engagement and student ownership.

Make the Physical Computing Connection

If you want to foster a culture of ownership with physical computing, then try the micro:bit Global Challenge. Their challenge asks students, “Can you help solve a problem in your community using the BBC micro:bit?” They include cross-curricular resources such as lesson plans, classroom presentations, and student worksheets. See their teacher resources online.

Strategy #2 – Managing Technology and Learning Strategies

In this strategy, teachers assist in the selection and use of digital platforms. This can range from learning management systems to social media tools. In many situations, students and teachers may not have a say over what digital platforms they can use. The district or school governing authority may have said, “Microsoft Teams must be the one” or Google Classroom, Schoology, Canvas, and host of other LMSs. As educators, we must speak up and choose the LMS that least restricts student learning. LMSs in the past have shut the virtual classroom door. Today, LMSs are often working to serve as a gateway to learning beyond the confines of a classroom.

Make the Physical Computing Connection

Want to use a digital platform to engage and connect with others outside the classroom? Create a hashtag for Instagram and Twitter. Use your class Instagram account to share images of a problem in your community. Invite others to devise a solution for it. One example may be to create a night sensor for areas that are not well-lit at dark. Learn more about this idea.

Strategy #3 – Create Challenging Learning Opportunities

Creating challenging learning opportunities for students can involve design thinking and computational thinking. Both approaches expect students to break down complex steps into simpler algorithms. Computational thinking is a way of solving problems. This thinking has four elements which include decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, and algorithm design. Watch this video. Computational thinking does not mean you must be a computer science whiz.

The four elements of computational thinking appear below (Source):

  • Decomposition: Breaking down data, processes, or problems into smaller, manageable parts
  • Pattern Recognition: Observing patterns, trends, and regularities in data
  • Abstraction: Identifying the general principles that generate these patterns
  • Algorithm Design: Developing step-by-step instructions for solving this and similar problems

The goal is to make these elements student accessible.

Make the Physical Computing Connection

Students can learn to use diagrams to express a solution. This involves abstraction, or identifying general principles that generate recognizable patterns. Students make up rules that reflect an observed pattern. The Rock-Paper-Scissors activity with the micro:bit is one way students learn that. Students use “on shake” to create a reaction (e.g. rock, paper, scissors). Over time, students may notice a pattern. These patterns for playing the game (e.g. scissors, paper or rock) are observable. Students program the micro:bit so it can understand the game’s logic. Students learn to figure out the game in a way they can code into a computer (Source).

Want to Try Physical Computing?

Want to give physical computing and computational thinking a try? Contact TCEA for a face-to-face workshop. Don’t take my word for how much fun learning can be. Listen to Julie, and  Ethel, workshop participants, share.

References

Feature image. Available online

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
preservice teachers
Advocacy

New Digital Literacy Requirements for Preservice Teachers

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

As TCEA works with new teachers each year, we hear over and over again one common need. These educators new to our profession are very comfortable using technology themselves for content absorption, but wish that they had more training in using technology to better help students learn. In other words, they do not feel confident in teaching with technology.

In response to this need, TCEA worked with Senator Hughes, Representative Koop, Representative Bohac, and Senator Taylor to pass SB 1839 during the 2017 Texas legislative session. This bill deals with the certification of preservice teachers and is intended to ensure that:

  • Candidates for teaching certificates will be instructed, evaluated, and, if necessary, remediated on their digital literacy.  
  • That instruction will be:
    • Aligned with the recently revised International Society for Technology in Education Standards for Educators
    • Founded on evidence-based strategies to determine the candidate’s abilities
    • Designed to include tools to help candidates improve where needed.

preservice teachers

After meeting with ISTE staff, education professors from several Texas universities, and Tim Miller, Director of Education Preparation Programs with TEA, the following tentative timeline for the implementation of this bill was determined:

  • TEA will create a rough draft of an implementation plan for the bill. TCEA will work with them to ensure that the original intent of the bill is maintained in the plan, as well as working with universities to make sure that their viewpoints are also represented.
  • The State Board of Education (SBOE) will meet in October to discuss the draft.·
  • At the December meeting of the SBOE, a formal presentation on the draft will be given.
  • After that, public comments will be accepted for 30 days.
  • Then the draft and its changes will go to the SBOE as an adoption item in March.
  • The SBOE will review the draft and vote on it at the April meeting.
  • The plan will then be implemented beginning with students entering by 9/1/2018 or later.

This endeavor has tremendous potential for helping to advance the use of technology in our classrooms for learning. TCEA will provide resources to help support this plan, including webinars for universities, webinars for preservice teachers, resources from ISTE to help understand the Standards, communication with key stakeholders, and a way to share curricula developed in response to this requirement. If you have any questions about this or would like to be involved in providing input on the implementation of the bill, please contact TCEA’s Executive Director Lori Gracey. With TCEA, you’ve got this!

 

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail