Which of the sets of criteria seem the most informative and relevant to your experiences?
The ISTE set of criteria seemed most relevant, because it speaks to my professional goals and aspirations, it also reflects more of where we are right now in the world and seems to have more relevance in this digital age. It also connected with me because it offers the ethical considerations that are an important part of our technological interactions.
Are there any other criteria that you normally use for assessing your technological proficiency?
The assessment of my technological proficiency is often gauged by what colleagues in my collaborative school districts are doing and the technology they are engaged with; which I often look out for at teacher education conferences. Also now that I am a part of a technology program, my assessment is often based on what is happening in the MET program.
- What are some of the “digital-age” skills that you plan to learn and start practicing, or want to further develop?
My personal philosophy for developing my digital age skills is centered around trying to become proficient in a specific technology and learn it well rather than engaging in too many things at once- developing digital fluency for myself and my students. More specifically getting a ‘handle’ on twitter and having an ethical social media presence is one of things I would like to develop. I think it is important to not just know who to use technology but also to know how to how use it in pedagogical sound ways. I would also like to understand the world of gaming in education and how to use it to foster authentic learning experiences. I started a Minecraft club in my school and I am hoping that this will be my starting point for understanding how gaming intersects with learning. It is a small step but it a good beginning as my students seem to “live and breathe” Minecraft and other gaming related activities.
In your own teaching, in what ways do you:
• facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity;
I encourage students to bring the technology that they are engaged with to their learning, so there is no partition between learning and technologu and hopefully that will lead to more choices about how to showcase their skills using technology they are confident with and able to navigate. Removing the partition between learning and technology will help to maximize the value of technology in many areas of their lives.
• design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments;
This is ongoing for me as educator as I try to provide students with technology choices that they can use to show their learning and that suits their intelligences, however I would like to move from being just consumers of the technology that is offered to them to becoming producers, and creators of technology
• model digital-age work and learning/ promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility-
I am working on teaching and modeling to my students ethical digital citizenship and encouraging them to become ‘upstanders’ as they exercise what they understand to be their inherent right to use technology. I have started to use the framework from the http://globaldigitalcitizen.org/ as a guide for developing our digital fluency and ethical global footprints and assessing our technology transactions are so that we leave a sustainable legacy.
• engage in professional growth and leadership?
I don’t have a huge launching pad for leadership in my school district, however, because I am the one that will take the ‘risk’ and regularly use technology in my classroom, I often take the lead in initiating projects or activities with the students and staff around different technology platforms. I am also a part of a professional learning committee constantly learning and gleaning from others in the field and I also demonstrate to my students that I am learning from them.
