Analyzing ISTE Standards for Students

Video Transcription

In this tutorial, we'll focus on the ISTE standards and their connections to the content standards. We'll begin by discussing why you should use the ISTE standards, and you'll learn to write ISTE standards as "I can" statements. We'll then discuss aligning ISTE standards to content standards. Let's get started.

First, why should you use the ISTE standards? Recall that the acronym ISTE, sometimes pronounced iss-tee, stands for the International Society for Technology in Education. The ISTE standards help teachers to align their instruction and curriculum to 21st century skills.

The overarching goal is to identify what students should know and be able to do in order to be globally competitive. You can view the ISTE student profile document here. This document helps you to easily determine what your students should be able to do with technology at their grade level.

Let's begin by taking a look at how to write ISTE standards as "I can" statements. Take ISTE standard 6a, for example. Select and use applications effectively and productively. An "I can" statement for a Spanish classroom incorporating this ISTE standard might read, I can select and use an appropriate app to record a video of myself reading a paragraph in Spanish.

Note that this objective states what the student will know or be able to do. It does not indicate what the teacher is going to do. The objective is written in developmentally appropriate language that students can understand. This helps them to be able to self monitor.

When incorporating this statement, the teacher will model or provide examples of what the student should know or be able to do. It's important to keep in mind that you shouldn't be writing targets that cannot be measured. And finally, this learning objective will be displayed while it is relevant. You don't want to display learning targets that don't apply to the current lesson.

So how can you align the ISTE standards to your content standards? Let's say that we're working with this particular Common Core literacy standard for grade one, use verbs to convey a sense of past, present, and future. We might write these three "I can" statements for students as they work along the path of this standard.

I can use a verb to talk about an action going on now. I can use a verb to talk about an action that happened in the past, and I can use a verb to talk about an event that will happen in the future. These three "I can" statements might be blended into a learning objective that reads, students will be able to use verbs to talk about past, present, and future events.

Now we can identify an ISTE standard that would help support this learning objective. For example, create original works as a means of personal or group expression. This is ISTE standard 1b.

So rewriting our "I can" statements to incorporate the technology standard, we might say, I can use a storyboard app to write and illustrate a story in the past tense. I can use a digital camera to take photos and label them with complete sentences explaining what is happening now. And I can send an email talking about my plans for the weekend. The overarching competency then might read, students will be able to use technology to communicate using verbs in past, present, and future tenses.

In this tutorial, we looked at why you might want to use the ISTE standards. And you learned to write ISTE standards as "I can" statements, and to align the ISTE standards to your content standards.

Here's a chance for you to stop and reflect. Take a look at the ISTE standards and consider how they might be integrated into your content area. Can you write a set of "I can" statements that incorporate ISTE technology skills into one of your future lessons?

For more information on how to apply what you learned in this video, please view the additional resources section that accompanies this video presentation. The additional resources section includes hyperlinks useful for applications of the course material, including a brief description of each resource. Thanks for watching. Have a great day.