The Future of Instruction: Teacher as ‘Co-Learner‘

by Dave Nagel

The expectations of students and the demands of the education community are changing radically in the 21st century. Necessarily, the role of the teacher is changing along with those. But what will that role be? The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is attempting to answer that question with the release this week of the long-anticipated update to its National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) framework.

Introduced in 2000, NETS-T originally focused heavily on the transition from static learning content to electronic, interactive tools to enhance teaching and learning. While it did emphasize collaboration to a certain degree, the role of teachers themselves remained largely transmitter/facilitator of textual materials, albeit electronic ones, and the primary emphasis of the framework was on technology knowledge and skills--something that seems fairly remedial by today‘s standards.

NETS-T 2008 expresses these concepts through a new set of imperatives and standards for teachers, along with rubrics for these standards. It also sets "essential conditions" for effectively leveraging technology for education, such as a "shared vision" for ed tech among stakeholders, granting leaders the ability to effect change, systemic planning, and several others.

Among the changes in NETS-T 2008 are five major new performance indicators for teachers. (You can contrast these new indicators with the old ones by clicking here.) These include (as paraphrased from the latest NETS-T document):

• Learning and creativity: Teachers use subject matter expertise to facilitate and inspire creativity in students, including inventiveness, problem solving, and reflecting, through the use of digital tools, collaborative tools, and co-learning experiences (i.e., teachers learning along with their students);
• Assessment: Teachers couple "authentic learning experiences" with assessments for evaluations so that students set their own goals for learning, engage in personalized learning, and are evaluated based on "multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards";
• "Digital Age" skills: Teachers exhibit fluency in digital tools, engage regularly in technology-based collaboration and communication, and "use information resources to support research and learning";
• Digital citizenship: Teachers promote "safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology," promote etiquette, and work to foster a global perspective in students; and
• Professional development: Educators adopt a model of lifelong learning and exhibit professional leadership through participation in learning communities, evaluation of research into the latest digital tools for education, contributions to the "effectiveness, vitality, and self-renewal of the teaching profession," and demonstration of leadership in education technology.

We‘ll have further coverage of NETS-T 2008 later in the week. In the meantime, more information can be found here.

In related news, online education technology provider ePals launched a new treacher resource focused on NETS-T 2008, challenging educators to "move beyond solely a discussion of 21st century skills or technology integration, and toward constructing a framework for evaluating solutions that build 21st century skills."

ePals has invited educators to join the discussion at its NECC blog, which can be acessed here.

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