VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

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TSIP Refresh: Feedback Requested

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The Virginia Society for Technology in Education (VSTE) has drafted new Technology Standards for Instructional Personnel (TSIP).

These standards update the original 1998 standards (http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?000+reg+8VAC20-25-30) and represent base level skills that every educator must meet in order to be considered proficient in the use of technology for teaching and learning.

We welcome your feedback on these standards. You can review the standards here and then complete a short survey.

What Is Instructional Technology?

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Members of the VSTE Board of Directors will be taking time to periodically share their ideas and passions with the VSTE membership. In this post, Board Member Tim Stahmer muses on the meaning of instructional technology. 

A primary mission of VSTE is, of course, to help empower educators to make great use of technology for teaching and learning. Many of our members even have “instructional technology”, or some variation on the phrase, in their job title.

But what exactly is “instructional” technology? As opposed to another variety of tech, like the 1977 Ford Pinto.

Ask around and you'll probably get many different answers to that question, but, since this is my post, here is my twitter-length definition:

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That would exclude the student information system many teachers use every day. Certainly the online grade book, attendance system, and other tools in most SIS packages is an essential part of classroom management. But it’s not used by students in any part of their learning.

We also drop the learning management system (LMS) many districts provide for their teachers. Think Blackboard, Edmodo, or Google Classroom. Also not “instructional” technology.

I suppose you could make the case that students might use parts of some LMS directly for their learning (a blogging tool, for example). But that’s not how they are commonly used. Most LMS function as organizational and distribution systems for content pushed to students, again to improve classroom management.

Also not “instructional”: response tools (Kahoot, Socrative), interactive whiteboards, video tutorials (Khan Academy), and a long, long list of curriculum games. Although I’ve seen a few (very few) special cases, student interaction with these resources is almost always as consumers, responding to material provided by publishers and teachers, not using them as creators.

And for me, that is the fundamental component for any technology to be considered instructional: control. When I say “directly by students”, I expect them to have some meaningful control as to how the technology - device, software, website, whatever - is used in the learning process.

So, what would I consider some examples of “instructional” technology?

That word processing program most students use would count, but only if they have some decision about what they will write. It would be even better if their writing was connected to the web, allowing them to present their ideas to a larger, more meaningful audience. One without a red pen.

We could include one of those slide show presentation programs, but only if the student has some control over the content. And again, let’s extend that control and let them determine the tools that will allow them to best explain their ideas to an audience beyond the walls of their classroom.

Then there are the devices that many students bring to school everyday, the ones that too many of their teachers still consider as the antithesis of “instructional”. Beyond providing access to vast amounts of information, those so-called phones are also powerful creative tools that can be used to record, edit, and distribute still images, audio, and video. Tools students can use in many, many ways to communicate their thoughts, ideas, and learning.

Of course, all of the above is only my opinion. But what do you think? How would you define "instructional technology" (or it’s shorter, equally vague sibling “edtech”)? Tweet your ideas to @timstahmer and @vste and let’s have that conversation. Or post a longer comment to this post on my blog.

Because in the end, the terminology we use when discussing these issues - with our colleagues, the community, legislators - does matter. We must be very clear when advocating for the use of technology in our schools and why it makes a difference for students.

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Tim has been helping educators make better use of technology for teaching and learning at his website AssortedStuff since the turn of the century. He also loves to connect with interesting people on Twitter and is a member of the VSTE Board of Directors and serves on the conference committee. 

Big Deal Book, April 17, 2017

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Blue rectangle with words Maximizing Technology in the the 21st Century Classroom bright graphic on left side of rectangle displays words Big Deal Media VSTE partners with Big Deal Media to bring you the best in online resources for digital learning and professional development plus grant and competition opportunities and more. In this edition, you can Program a Robot, Converse with Scientists, Thank a Teacher & More.

Here are a few of our favorites from this edition...be sure to check the full Big Deal Book for more great resources!

Weekly Poetry Radio Series

During April, National Poetry Month, students can embark on a journey into the world of daily poetry by tuning into PoetryNow, a weekly radio series that features some of today’s most accomplished and innovative poets.

Meaningful Making Projects

Illustrated with color photos of real student work, Meaningful Making: Projects and Inspirations for FabLabs and Makerspaces contains project ideas, articles, and best practices from educators at the forefront of making and hands-on education.

American History Through Stories of Diversity

Teachers, students, and the general public can dive into the diversity of American history at OneHistory.org, where they can listen to the voices of America, past and present.

Big Deal Book, April 17, 2017

Not everything in the Book is time sensitive so be sure to check out the archives.

The Word Change (Quick, Find the Exit!)

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Members of the VSTE Board of Directors will be taking time to periodically share their ideas and passions with the VSTE membership. In this edition, Board Member Josh Long  provides ideas for implementing personalized learning. 

Changing the way we teach is a difficult task. Asking anyone to change something they have been doing for a long period of time creates tension and stress. I think of a quote I saw from Woodrow Wilson; "If you want to make enemies, try to change something." Nothing can be truer than the changing environments of our classroom. I am currently in a district that is going through this change as we speak. It's a great change as we shift and dive our focus onto a focus of student learning. It is a philosophy that I embrace, it's good teaching, and it hits on everything that one of our previous bloggers touched on, which is personalized learning and personal learning. It is difficult trying not to be that person on the stage anymore giving all of the answers and all of the clues out to scholars. So how do you begin to let your scholars begin their journey on personalized learning and personal learning?

Here are my thoughts, take them with a grain of salt, as I am not an Orator… I am just a teacher of 16 years who believes that if you change the way you teach, it will benefit the scholars and practitioners around you.

  1. Know that personalized learning when it comes down to it is just good teaching practice…it is not something new; it is a change from the norm.
  2. Trust yourself to take on this change. You are good at what you do or you would not be in this position.
  3. Go in knowing that it is going to take time to change, it isn't something that is going to happen overnight, just like we can't expect scholars to change their way of learning overnight
  4. It is no secret that we are no longer teaching students for factory-based jobs. We are in the time of tailoring scholars for jobs that require global communication and understanding of different cultures. In most classrooms I observe, students are in rows, talking is done by the leader in the front, and time for discussion is held to a minimum... (If it's not broke don't fix it right?) The problem with that I believe is that we don't see the problems yet, but we will in the future.
  5. Understand that personalized learning isn't chaos in the classroom...it is just another way of students learning, in the manner that is best suited for them. This gives the practitioner a great vantage point of seeing and knowing how all of our scholars use to learn. In fact it most likely will be less chaotic in the room as students will be doing something that is meaningful to them which means they will be engaged in their own learning and not their neighbors.
  6. Personalized learning to me also doesn’t mean putting them in front of a device and expecting them to learn everything from the computer or a piece of software. Communication is the key, I believe, to good personalized learning. That may occur with a Skype call to an expert in the field, or seeing a scientist working with animals in their respective field.
  7. Lean on your peers for help. Working together to come up with lessons that will inspire your scholars to dive deeper into their learning will make it shine on how much they have actually gained and learned through their unit of inquiry.
  8. Lesson plans are a one way street sometimes. Through personalized learning there are many ways to get to the end of the road, with frequent stops along the way to help gain further and deeper understanding of a topic or thought (Understand though that I’m not saying a lesson plan can’t do that…many times in my class we would wander off the beaten path to discuss something related to the topic at hand.)

I hope that you too can find the way to change the way you reach out to your scholars, and know that yes, it really does look a lot different now than when we were sitting in those chairs those many years ago.

Josh Long is the Supervisor of Technology for Fredericksburg City Schools.

Michael Speidel, M.Ed.

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Michael Speidel, M.Ed.
Instructional Designer
Loudoun County Public Schools

 

 

Educational Leadership Experience

As a leader and manager I am seen as an innovator. I establish 21st Century vision of the classroom and determine where teachers and instruction need to be and establish practices to facilitate the change process. This is not a passive process. Rather, I focus on actions that make desired outcomes come to fruition. As an educational leader I am always looking for opportunities to make quality improvements that benefit student learning. My leadership style is results-driven where all of my actions are centered on improving teaching and learning in the classroom.

Vision for VSTE

Educational technology is in a very exciting position. With the addition of Virtual Reality, Makerspaces and Personalized Learning I think VSTE is in a unique position. My ideal vision for VSTE is to be a leader in promoting educational innovation and supporting the integration of 21st century skills that educators and students need to succeed in a media-centric, global society. My long term goal of VSTE is to provide the entire educational community professional development and support the integration of existing and emerging technologies and facilitate global collaboration.

Biographical Sketch

I have been working in Loudoun County Public Schools since 1999 serving as a SPED Teacher, Technology Resource Teacher, Staff Development Trainer, and now Instructional Designer. As an Instructional Designer for Loudoun County Public Schools my primary responsibilities are to design online learning experiences that support our online high school, professionally develop and create supportive structures for teachers to create and implement technology rich lessons and engage their students in authentic learning experiences. In addition to supporting the online high school, I am also the system admin for multiple services such as Loudoun’s Learning Management System and Google Apps for Education.