Here we go, three ISTE Standards, of the student kind, on which I have based my own COETAIL learning goals on. These are: Digital Citizen / Empowered Learner / Global Collaborator
ISTE Standard: Digital Citizen
My COETAIL Learning Goal: Is for me to create a learning environment where students have a clear understanding of what it takes to be an upstanding Digital Citizen
Influence and Impact: In my opinion, this is the most important of all the ISTE standards, given how much time a lot of students are online and how they communicate. Sure there are plenty of programs out there, with a few new(ish) ones as well from Google, Common Sense Media, UK Safer Internet, and so on, but these have a very short shelf life. Most of the students, certainly at the last two schools I have worked at, are considered to be digital natives; someone that has grown up in the digital age, so perhaps these digital natives know best how to act online…Of course, this is not the case, and all too often we, as educators, are having conversations with students about something negative that has happened outside of school online, and supporting them to make the correct decisions. It is ongoing, and I think it is only being addressed superficially. This ISTE standard has helped me to develop my goal of teaching students how to become upstanding digital citizens.
ISTE Standard: Empowered Learner
My COETAIL Learning Goal: Is to provide students with the confidence to take control of their learning environments and for them to come up with solutions to existing problems.
Influence and Impact: I have chosen this as I want to be able to provide a safe learning environment for my students, where they take ownership of their learning through the knowledge of what they can accomplish. This standard has influenced my goal as I see students using many different technologies/apps/websites to accomplish a variety of tasks, and sometimes these may not be the best fit. By providing them, initially, with different tech options, our students can begin to take control of their learning by selecting the most appropriate tech solution for a given problem.
ISTE Standard: Global Collaborator
My COETAIL Learning Goal: To provide opportunities for students to collaborate meaningful on a global scale.
Influence and Impact: In 2019 students have the opportunity to learn on a much larger scale than they have ever had before, using platforms provided by, but not limited to, GSuite, Office 365, Book Creator, Wix, Fusion 360, Weebly to name but a few. Services like these, are giving students the chance to collaborate on a multitude of different projects, completed on various devices, working on them at home, in school, or on vacation – anywhere, where they are online! Currently, I do provide a lot of opportunities for students to collaborate on a school-wide basis, but as mentioned above, I have yet to fully realize the potential to collaborate on a city-wide scale – let alone countrywide or on an international basis. I am looking forward to exploring the possibilities to create a truly global learning environment for my students – helping them to prepare for their graduation from school.
Let’s go get those COETAIL learning goals…