Best Practices Page 2
New
Technology Standards Focus on 21st Century Learning
By Peggy
Steffens
The International Society for Technology in
Education (ISTE) has refreshed the National Education Technology
Standards (NETS) for students to prepare students for the 21st
century. The standards were released in July, 2007. In 1998,
the first NETS for students were released and they focused on
what students need to do with technology. Today we have moved
beyond what students need to do with technology to a focus that
encompasses - What students should know and be able to do to
learn effectively and live productively in an increasingly
digital world
The process to revise the standards involved numerous
stakeholders; input was received from all 50 states and 22
countries. The six major categories for the technology standards
include:
- Creativity and Innovation creative
thinking, knowledge construction, developing innovative products
and processes
- Communication and Collaboration use
digital media to interact, collaborate and publish with peers
and experts
- Research and Information Fluency - apply
digital tools to gather, evaluate and use information
- Critical Thinking, Problem-Solving, and
Decision-Making use critical thinking to plan and conduct
research, manage projects, solve problems and make informed
decisions
- Digital Citizenship understand human,
cultural and societal issues related to technology and practice
legal and ethical behavior
- Technology Operations and Concepts
demonstrate technology concepts, systems and operations
The focus is now on learning to use the technology within the
content; we should no longer be teaching about the technology
itself. The standards work best when they are implemented
together and not in isolation. You can view the new National
Educational Technology Standards for Students: The Next
Generation at
http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/NETS_Refresh_Forum/NETS_for_Students_2007.pdf.
Meeting these standards will help prepare our students for the
21st century.
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