and interactivity capabilities, has
prompted many to consider literacy a
social practice, which has far-reaching
implications for how we will need to
rethink technology’s role in future
classrooms. The NETS•S has provided
a vision of technology integration that
promotes active student learning using technology as a productivity tool,
developing communication skills for
participation in a global society, and
engaging students in activities that
require higher-order thinking skills.
NETS•S in the Classroom
A recent large-scale study provides
insights into the nature of students’
classroom technology use relative to
the 1998 NETS. The Knowledge Integration for Technology Education,
funded by the Preparing Tomorrow’s
Teachers to use Technology grant
program, collected more than 1,000
interviews asking technology-using
teachers to describe highly effective instructional activities in which they had
incorporated student technology use.
In the article “Addressing the NETS
for Students through Constructivist
Technology Use in K– 12 Classrooms,”
published in the Journal of Educational Computing Research, 34( 1),
Denise Lindstrom and I used the 1998
NETS•S as a framework to look at
these teachers’ stories and determine
which of the standards had been addressed—and, more important, how a
given standard had been addressed.
We were encouraged when we
found that few teachers described
activities in which they controlled
the technology themselves (showing
video, multimedia, webpages, slide
presentations, etc.), and that students
actively used the technology in 95% of
activities. However, the vast majority
of activities involved using a computer
for browsing the Web, constructing
and showing slide presentations, and
creating word-processing and desk-
top-publishing documents. A typical
activity involved assigning students to
search the Internet for a specific topic
and create a slide presentation to share
with classmates.
Focus on Learners
The 2007 NETS•S define what students
should know and be able to do to learn
effectively and live productively in an
increasingly digital world. The new
standards identify higher-order think-
ing skills and digital citizenship as
critical for students to learn for a life-
time and to live in our emerging global
society. The initial NETS•S largely
focused on having students use pro-
ductivity, communication, research,
and problem-solving tools. The new
standards focus directly on learner
outcomes: creativity and innovation;
communication and collaboration;
research and information fluency;
critical thinking, problem solving, and
decision making; and digital citizen-
ship. Thus, the question for teachers
shifts from “How do I help my stu-
dents learn to use technology tools?”
to “How do I help my students be
more creative and innovative? Com-
municate and collaborate in a global
society? Learn to conduct research and
manage information?” This refocus-
ing of the NETS•S firmly establishes
learner outcomes at the center of our
efforts, right where they belong.
Resources
1998 NETS for Students: www.iste.org/
Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/
ForStudents/1998Standards/NETS_
for_Students_1998.htm
2007 NETS for Students: www.iste.org/
Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/For
Students/ NETS_for_Students.htm
“Computers as Mindtools for Engaging Learn-
ers in Critical Thinking” (1998) by David
Jonassen, Chad Carr, and Hsiu-Ping Yueh,
Tech Trends, 43( 2), 24–32
“Investigating the Influence of Standards:
A Framework for Research in Mathemat-
ics, Science, and Technology Education”
(2002) by Iris Weiss, Michael Knapp, Kar-
en Hollweg, and Gail Burrell (Eds.); Com-
mittee on Understanding the Influence of
Standards in K– 12 Mathematics, Science,
and Technology Education; Center for
Education; Division of Behavioral and
Social Sciences and Education; National
Research Council
Knowledge Integration for Technology Educa-
tion: http://kite.missouri.edu
“National Standards and Assessments: Will
they Improve Education?” (1994) by Linda
Darling-Hammond, American Journal of
Education, 102( 4), 478–510
The Learning Return on Our Educational
Technology Investment: A Review of Findings
from Research (2002) by Cathy Ringstaff and
Loretta Kelley
“Toward a Theory of New Literacies Emerging
from the Internet and Other Information
and Communication Technologies” (2004)
by Donald Leu, Charles Kinzer, Julie Coiro,
and Dana Cammack, in Theoretical Models
and Processes of Reading (5th ed.), edited by
R. Ruddell and N. Unrau
