Reflection on Ed Tech Standards

The OETS, NETS, and the New Oregon Diploma all speak to the need to educate students. Primarily it speaks to the importance of technological literacy but of course technology is only a tool to facilitate the learning process. It is not an end in itself.
The mental skills that need to be developed from the Oregon Diploma:

• Read and comprehend text
• Write clearly and accurately
• Listen actively and speak clearly
• Apply mathematics in a variety of settings
• Think critically and analytically
• Demonstrate civic and community engagement
• Demonstrate global literacy
• Demonstrate personal management and teamwork skills

The above skills need to be developed whether technology is employed or not. However:

• Use technology to learn, live, and work
• Use creativity and innovation to generate ideas, products, or processes using technology
• Use technology to participate in the broader community
• Recognizing legal and responsible behavior in the use of technology
• Using technology as a tool....

This part applies specifically to our responsibility as teachers to learn, use, and teach technology to our students. Because of the prevalence and tremendously positive power of technology we can't side step this responsibility, just because we aren't comfortable with it or don't know how to use it. We have to learn.

That being said, there is another important matter that isn't usually brought up when it comes to using technology in the classroom:

• We can't use technology as a "babysitter" in the classroom.
• We can't use it if it isn't the highest and best use of our classroom time.
• We can't expect it to do our job for us.
• We can't use it as an excuse if our students aren't doing well on assessments or aren't learning

Finally, in my opinion technology is neutral, it's how we use it and teach it that makes all the difference.