Who am I?
Are you a teacher?
Yes! I teach Biology I (9th grade) and AP Biology (11th and 12th grade). I have taught high school for 3 years.
How do you currently implement ISTE Standard 1 & 2: Empowered Learner and Digital Learner?
The 9th grade is 1-to-1 with laptops, so students develop weekly learning goals (1a) on an online platform called Summit Learning, which encourages students to prioritize certain tasks depending on needs and strengths of the student. Students have study hall twice a week, where students must implement their goals and self-manage their coursework, take notes resources that they prefer based on their learning style (1b) and take online assessments that can only be taken during study hall. Students also complete their projects on their platform and request for teacher and student feedback (1c) after each checkpoint of a project. Teachers and peer students can then provide feedback via comments on google docs. Regarding Standard 2: honestly, this is an area that needs a great deal of improvement at my school and I hope to bring this perspective back to my school. We do teach students how to properly take care of their technology and issue laptop contracts, but I feel like we do need to develop curriculum school-wide on how to students should manage their digital identity and online privacy, which can help students become more proactive regarding issues such as cyber bullying, stalking, or sending inappropriate photos over the phone or internet.
What are your thoughts about Moore's (1989) educational communication model? (Anderson, 2016, p. 35)
I do believe that the ultimate goal is to support student to student communication and collaboration, with teachers merely being in the background as they help cultivate an ecosystem of learning, where there are many students at different stages of learning, but all understand where they should be headed by setting academic goals.
When it comes to using technology, it can be easy to "rationalize expenditures" on student-content interactions and keep student-teacher interactions at a minimal. However, I think that is by design when using a self-directed online learning platform, where the teacher main plays the role of facilitator and clarifier, making more emphasis on student-content and student-student interactions. So it really depends on what the objective and activity whether you want to stress one interaction over another, but from a birds eye view, each should be given equal importance.
Where do you teach?
I teach in DCPS in Washington, DC.
How do you currently implement ISTE Standard 3 & 4: Knowledge Constructor and Innovative Designer?
The Summit Learning platform provides strategies on how to strategically use google searches, journal databases, and keywords to find relevant, accurate, and credible articles and other resources to include in their research papers and lab reports as well as how to properly cite them (3a, 3b). Students also use these resources as evidence to support their experimental designs. For example, their Bioremediation project has students research one of three plant bioremediators (Brassica rapa, Brassica nigra, and Brassica juncea) and three different toxins (zinc, copper, and nitrates) in order to create an experiment on how they can tests to see the effect of their bioremediator on toxin concentration or vice-versa. Essentially students have to justify their experimental design with the articles they have chosen (3d, 4a)
What are your thoughts on the "presentational view" approach to educational technology? (Anderson, 2016, p 37)
I do make this a priority when I develop curriculum for students that is accessible. I provide short and succinct readings, videos, and simulations for note taking, and even provide a list of key points as a guide for students who may be overwhelmed with the different types of resources. I definitely am more presentation-oriented when it comes to technology because I feel that the more focused and narrow the use of the technology, the better so there is minimal confusion or other technological issues. Of course it is nice to provide a wide variety of options for students to learn, but I set the parameters to narrow down objectives and where I want my students to be at the end of the activity.
What is the demographic makeup of your student population?
67% Latino, 31% Black, 1% Asian, 1% Other.
99% free/reduced lunch
How do you currently implement ISTE Standard 5, 6, & 7: Computational Thinker, Creative Communicator, and Global Collaborator
Students are provided several different online platforms (ex. voicethread, piktochart, google slides, powtoon) with the intention that students use different tools to communicate their ideas with the class. For example, in the Bioremediation project, students have the option to create a results section of their lab report using visuals from either piktochart or google spreadsheets, and can present their finding to the class using voicethread or powtoon (6a, 6c). For piktochart and google spreadsheets in particular, students are taught how to input data that was collected from testing the plants' toxin concentation and develop charts from the data with appropriate labeling and data analysis (5a, 5b). Although the Bioremediation project address the local issue of the poor conditions of the Anacostia Watershed and how we can clean it through bioremediation (7d) I hope to use more collaborative technology with experts from organizations such as the Anacostia Watershed Society as well as public officials so that the student projects are making a greater difference in their community.
What about the performance-tutoring view and epistemic view? How do you feel about those approaches towards educational technology? (Anderson, 2016, p. 38)
Performance-tutoring is also definitely evident during study hall, where after students take required notes for taking an online assessment, the student receives feedback on those notes for revision. Students also take online diagnostics prior to taking notes in order to determine which objectives the students need to take notes on first. When students pass the assessment, they can move on to the next assessment. If the student does not pass the assessment, they can either take additional notes on that topic, or move on to a different test and go back to the first test another time. These online feedback mechanisms are very useful and adaptable when they are automated, so that students receive feedback instantly and do not have to wait for the teacher to grade the assessments.
Regarding the epistemic view, I do believe that the projects that my students complete should have a context that is relevant to their lives and be highly engaging. I always try to incorporate online Kahoot reviews which the students really enjoy and can be a good break from project time. However, I do think there is a lot of potential in including technology that students already use in their daily lives, but one has to be very careful with balancing engagement with learning, and things like social media platforms can also be as much a tool as it can be a deterrent to learning.
We are 1-to-1 in the 9th and 10th grade and my school, so students carry school-issued laptops to each of their content classes and complete projects on an online learning platform called Summit Learning.
Did you know about the ISTE Standards prior to this session?
Not at all! This is a great resource that I can bring back to my school so that we can use our technology to its greatest potential and really help students become effective digital age learners. Thank you!
You mentioned your students being self-directed learners. What do you think of the heutagogical theory of learning developed by Hase and Kenyon (2000) (Anderson, 2016, p. 42)
I think it is definitely an approach looking into as students in the digital age have to be equipped with a plethora of technolgical tools in order to be marketable for jobs, but also need to learn early on how to use technology to set deadlines, plan ahead, and create a timeline for finishing projects for both a college and job setting. Whether the students works in an office, or are their own boss, they must take advantage of what technology has to offer in order to stay on top of their work, manage their time effectively, and be efficient learners and creators.