NET Standards

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With students spending more time online in the classroom, it is important that they are successfully learning. The NET Standards ensure that students are learning, but they also give teachers a guideline of what they should be teaching when it comes to technology. On the iste.org, there are 5 things for teachers to be aware of:

1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning
2. Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
3. Model Digital Age Work and Learning
4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility*
5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

(Found on the NETS-T (PDF))

I have a star by number 4, because we took a long time to discuss it in class. Lack of digital citizenship is increasingly becoming an issue. Kids are going online as young as late elementary or early middle school, and the internet seems to facilitate bullying. In general, people are much more comfortable saying things online that they would never say in person. It breaks my heart to think of the children who have taken their own lives to escape the bullying, because, due to the pervasiveness of the internet, they couldn't even escape it in the safety of their own home. Teaching my students how to be good citizens online, as well as offline, will be a huge priority in my classroom.

Finally, there are 6 things students should be learning while using technology:

1. Creativity and Innovation
2. Communication and Collaboration
3. Research and Information Fluency
4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
5. Digital Citizenship
6. Technology Operations and Concepts

(Found on the NETS-S (PDF))