Education Week Issue 25 - Technology Counts 2014 - 31

Digital Learning Standards
The International Society for Technology in Education crafted standards outlining the
digital skills students need to succeed in the modern world. Those standards include:

/// CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
Students demonstrate creative thinking,
construct knowledge, and develop
innovative products and processes using
technology.
a. Apply existing knowledge to generate new
ideas, products, or processes

/// CRITICAL THINKING, PROBLEMSOLVING, AND DECISIONMAKING
Students use critical thinking skills to plan
and conduct research, manage projects,
solve problems, and make informed
decisions using appropriate digital tools
and resources.

b. Create original works as a means of personal
or group expression
c. Use models and simulations to explore
complex systems and issues

Real-World Skills
The Digital Youth Network in Chicago-a nonprofit
organization that partners with libraries, schools, and
after-school programs to teach digital-literacy skills to
youths-gives students the chance, showcase-style, to use
digital-literacy skills to address a challenge. Using a digital storytelling curriculum funded by the Bill & Melinda
Gates and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur foundations, students are measured on whether they're able to
use a digital format to demonstrate their point clearly.
"I could teach you to write, but how do you use that ability
to write to communicate?" said Nichole Pinkard, the founder
of the Digital Youth Network, which is sponsored by DePaul
University, in Chicago, where she is a visiting associate professor in the College of Computing and Digital Media. "It's
the same thing with digital literacy. Their ability to make
use of technology is a skill that's going to communicate their
understanding in the real world."
Ms. Forhan, the science teacher from Massachusetts, uses
Nearpod, BrainPOP, and other technology tools with built-in
assessments to keep track of her students' progress as they
work at their own pace on a variety of tasks.
"The beautiful thing about all of this is that these quick
assessments allow me to give them immediate feedback,"
she said. "They can see what's taking place, have rich reflection, get into that higher-order thinking, then go back
and make changes as needed. The more we continue to
immerse ourselves in this, the easier it's going to make
our lives." n

b. Plan and manage activities to develop a
solution or complete a project

d. Identify trends and forecast possibilities

dents are increasingly expected to develop.
"When you take all of those high-level processes and
throw them at teachers, it can be overwhelming," Ms. Drexler said. "We really need to provide tools to teach and assess
complex learning processes in different ways."
Meg Jimenez, the principal of the 700-student John H.
Niemes Elementary School, an environmental-science and
technology magnet school in Artesia, Calif., said students
introduced to many digital-literacy concepts in 5th grade
are, by 6th grade, "given the freedom to choose which application best suits their needs and are performing this
task with command."
During a recent classroom visit, she observed 5th graders
learning about collaboration and decisionmaking through
an interactive multimedia presentation on weather patterns. A group of three students created "screencasts"-
digital recordings of computer screen outputs-to explain
their research, then assigned a quiz they'd developed for
classmates to get immediate feedback.
"We're really pushing for students to explain their thinking process," Ms. Jimenez added, "and they all have their
own ways of doing that."

a. Identify and define authentic problems and
significant questions for investigation

c. Collect and analyze data to identify solutions
and/or make informed decisions

/// COMMUNICATION AND
COLLABORATION
Students use digital media and
environments to communicate and work
collaboratively, including at a distance, to
support individual learning and contribute
to the learning of others.

d. Use multiple processes and diverse
perspectives to explore alternative solutions

/// DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP
Students understand human, cultural, and
societal issues related to technology and
practice legal and ethical behavior.

a. Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers,
experts, or others employing a variety of
digital environments and media

a. Advocate and practice safe, legal, and
responsible use of information and
technology

b. Communicate information and ideas
effectively to multiple audiences using a
variety of media and formats

b. Exhibit a positive attitude toward using
technology that supports collaboration,
learning, and productivity

c. Develop cultural understanding and global
awareness by engaging with learners of
other cultures

c. Demonstrate personal responsibility for
lifelong learning

d. Contribute to project teams to produce
original works or solve problems

/// RESEARCH AND
INFORMATION FLUENCY
Students apply digital tools to gather,
evaluate, and use information.
a. Plan strategies to guide inquiry
b. Locate, organize, analyze, evaluate,
synthesize, and ethically use information
from a variety of sources and media
c. Evaluate and select information sources and
digital tools based on the appropriateness to
specific tasks
d. Process data and report results

d. Exhibit leadership for digital citizenship

/// TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS
AND CONCEPTS
Students demonstrate a sound understanding
of technology concepts, systems, and
operations.
a. Understand and use technology systems
b. Select and use applications effectively and
productively
c. Troubleshoot systems and applications
d. Transfer current knowledge to learning of
new technologies
SOURCE: International Society for Technology
in Education NETS·S, 2007

TECHNOLOGY COUNTS 2014

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http://www.edweek.org/go/tc14

Education Week Issue 25 - Technology Counts 2014

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