ISTE Standard 1: Learner
Educators continually improve their practice by learning from and with others and exploring proven and promising practices that leverage technology to improve student learning. Educators:
- Set professional learning goals to explore and apply pedagogical approaches made possible by technology and reflect on their effectiveness.
- Pursue professional interests by creating and actively participating in local and global learning networks.
- Stay current with research that supports improved student learning outcomes, including findings from the learning sciences.
Artifact 1
This artifact is a Journal Article Review that demonstrates the way I plan to reflect on and utilize research based pedagogy in my classroom:
A group of teachers realized that they were constantly going to tech trainings and hearing lots of information but then they were not actually incorporating it into their practice. The purpose of this study was to figure out how teachers learn and integrate technology into their curriculum and how that learning disperses to other teachers. To do this, they used a collaborative inquiry method, which meant they tested different methods and reported and reflected on them in-practice throughout the year, sharing their findings with one another. The major findings were that teachers need to take a reflective and facilitative role in technology integration, letting students take the lead, but being learners themselves to better utilize technology as a tool for challenging students to their potential. To do this, teachers need to take charge of their own professional development until the professional development as a pedagogy is improved. This means creating personal reflection cycles, actively collaborating with colleagues, and setting concrete goals to incorporate technology literacy into our curricula.
I couldn’t read the entire 260 page dissertation, but I did read the findings and conclusion and therein were interesting ideas for achieving the three basic goals I mentioned above. I think that in any school, collaboration, especially within the department, is really important. A great starting point for this would simply be meeting with colleagues post-professional development (PD) and sharing ideas for incorporating the various things you have learned. Essentially, debriefing where the PD fails to do so, so that methods are processed and ideas are formulated. Brainstorming strategies would yield far more than if I were to do it on my own, and different backgrounds might create some powerful intersection.
When the group debrief / collaboration is complete, it is something worth revisiting as well throughout the semester, but on my own I would want to add reflection on tech integration into my usual reflective practice. So, if I have a lesson plan, taking notes on what went well, what failed, and how it might be improved. Where I feel under-informed and at a loss for ideas, I should take notes to ask colleagues for support and outside insight. This is a good way to prevent the “oh well, I give up” mentality that I think often comes with a reluctance to incorporate unfamiliar technology.
The overall issue with technology I think is this odd expectation that it should always be easy. While I think there are places where tech is in need of user-friendly improvement, we also need to see if the utility of a program outweighs the challenge of using it. As teachers, we need to model the process of learning and persisting in using challenging programs. Learning them as a class and creating something greater as a result is one way to do this. However, it is important to be self-aware of our own tendency toward the easy way out, something else that can be a lesson to students. When under the pressure of our colleagues, and fresh out of PD, we should set SMART goals, or at least goals of specific caliber, that provide a foundation for our determination to learn new technologies and enhance our strategies. Otherwise, the old pattern will stand where the best of intentions are simply that—intentions. Technology has streamlined a lot of tasks and implies that there is a better way to do anything tedious or time consuming. However, yielding to such an expectation contributes to learned helplessness and crops our work ethic. When technology (or anything else) becomes a struggle, we don’t want our students to come away with the impression that it’s a sign to give up.
I couldn’t read the entire 260 page dissertation, but I did read the findings and conclusion and therein were interesting ideas for achieving the three basic goals I mentioned above. I think that in any school, collaboration, especially within the department, is really important. A great starting point for this would simply be meeting with colleagues post-professional development (PD) and sharing ideas for incorporating the various things you have learned. Essentially, debriefing where the PD fails to do so, so that methods are processed and ideas are formulated. Brainstorming strategies would yield far more than if I were to do it on my own, and different backgrounds might create some powerful intersection.
When the group debrief / collaboration is complete, it is something worth revisiting as well throughout the semester, but on my own I would want to add reflection on tech integration into my usual reflective practice. So, if I have a lesson plan, taking notes on what went well, what failed, and how it might be improved. Where I feel under-informed and at a loss for ideas, I should take notes to ask colleagues for support and outside insight. This is a good way to prevent the “oh well, I give up” mentality that I think often comes with a reluctance to incorporate unfamiliar technology.
The overall issue with technology I think is this odd expectation that it should always be easy. While I think there are places where tech is in need of user-friendly improvement, we also need to see if the utility of a program outweighs the challenge of using it. As teachers, we need to model the process of learning and persisting in using challenging programs. Learning them as a class and creating something greater as a result is one way to do this. However, it is important to be self-aware of our own tendency toward the easy way out, something else that can be a lesson to students. When under the pressure of our colleagues, and fresh out of PD, we should set SMART goals, or at least goals of specific caliber, that provide a foundation for our determination to learn new technologies and enhance our strategies. Otherwise, the old pattern will stand where the best of intentions are simply that—intentions. Technology has streamlined a lot of tasks and implies that there is a better way to do anything tedious or time consuming. However, yielding to such an expectation contributes to learned helplessness and crops our work ethic. When technology (or anything else) becomes a struggle, we don’t want our students to come away with the impression that it’s a sign to give up.
References
Ensor, T. (2017). Changing the landscape of professional learning: A practitioner inquiry study of technology integration within literacy. Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences. ProQuest Information & Learning. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=2017-05711-016&site=ehost-live
Ensor, T. (2017). Changing the landscape of professional learning: A practitioner inquiry study of technology integration within literacy. Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences. ProQuest Information & Learning. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=2017-05711-016&site=ehost-live