The Virginia Society for Technology in Education (VSTE) has drafted new Technology Standards for Instructional Personnel (TSIP). These standards update the original 1998 standards and represent foundational skills that every educator must meet in order to be considered proficient in the use of technology for teaching and learning.
IMPORTANT NOTE: These standards have been drafted by VSTE and, while we think they SHOULD be adopted by the Virginia Department of Education, they have not been adopted YET. Licensed teachers in Virginia are still covered by the 1998 standards that can be found here.
In the meantime, we encourage school divisions and individuals to adopt the new standards as part of their forward thinking teaching and professional development as we believe they better reflect our contemporary, digital classrooms.
Technology Standards for Instructional Personnel
Lifelong Learner: Teachers engage in ongoing professional learning related to content, pedagogy, technology and leadership.
- Engage in ongoing professional growth related to the use of innovative instructional strategies that integrate digital technologies
- Use technology to obtain feedback that allows for reflection and improvement in the learning process
- Use local and global professional learning networks to collaborate and learn in both physical and digital environments
Digital Leadership: Teachers positively contribute to and responsibly participate in the digital world.
- Cultivate and manage their digital identities and reputations and are aware of the permanence of their actions in the digital world
- Promote and model safe, legal and ethical behaviors with students by embedding digital citizenship skills in online lessons and activities
- Select and correctly attribute appropriate digital content, tools and resources that meet local, state and/or federal policies
- Understand the rights and obligations of student privacy and security when collecting and using student data, communicating with stakeholders, reviewing user agreements, and selecting digital content, tools, and resources
Learning Facilitator: Teachers facilitate learning with technology to support student achievement.
- Incorporate learning strategies that use technology to accommodate learner variability, personalize learning, and allow student choice, self-direction and goal-setting
- Model the appropriate use of technology to communicate, create, collaborate, and solve problems
- Assist students in selecting and using appropriate and available digital tools to communicate, create, collaborate and solve problems
- Acquire, access, and analyze a variety of formative and summative assessments that leverage the power of technology to provide immediate and specific feedback and offer alternative learning paths to students
Skilled Technology User: Teachers understand the fundamental concepts of technology operations and troubleshooting as well as basic uses of technology in instruction.
- Choose and use digital technologies including both hardware, software and web-based resources to support classroom instruction
- Troubleshoot typical classroom technologies
- Perform basic computing operations such as accessing accounts, managing files, navigating the Internet, and selecting appropriate applications to perform tasks
A PDF version of the standards can be found TSIP.
NOTE: In response to requests from Virginia school divisions, VSTE has created a new version of the Technology Standards for Instructional Personnel (TSIP). This new version is supported by research and peer feedback. The new version is not an official VDOE document, as the official VDOE TSIP are still those dated 1998 (seehttp://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?000+reg+8VAC20-25-30).
New and renewing teachers must meet the VDOE TSIP through a process each division develops and implements. Divisions may use the VSTE TSIP, which encompass currently needed technology skills for all educators. The VSTE TSIP encompass the VDOE TSIP, so meeting the VSTE TSIP also satisfies the requirements of the VDOE TSIP, and meets the legal requirement for licensure.
However, there is no obligation to use the VSTE TSIPs at this time.
