Learning & Leading Through Technology

ACTIVITY 2: Some evidence of the standard ACTIVITY 3: Obvious evidence of the standard

Students conduct a WebQuest on the American civil rights movement, creating a list of additional resources and selecting from various media to present their findings.

A former civil rights worker gives a remote presentation to multiple classes using desktop video. Students have never used this system before, but with help from one another, they establish and maintain the connection. They discover several ways to capture the presentation for later use in reports.

that requires active participation from both. Anyone who has worked with desktop video across multiple sites knows that the current state of technology often requires constant monitoring by all involved to integrate their computers, peripherals, networks, software, and data types.

Another theme that arises from ISTE’s experience with classroom observation is that when one standard’s indicators are addressed at a high level, the lesson will also tend to involve indicators from other standards. Consider Activity 3 below and try to identify what other indicators it might address under the creativity, communication, information literacy, problem solving, and digital citizenship standards.

Talbot Bielefeldt is a consultant in educational evaluation. He worked on the team that created the ISTE Classroom Observation Tool (ICOT) and has conducted hundreds of classroom observations using the ISTE Standards for Students.

The ISTE Standards for Students are more than an abstract framework. Teachers can use them to evaluate lesson plans and learning experiences. Classroom scenarios for student standards are available for free to members in the ISTE Store ( iste.org/store) and through the ISTE Classroom Observation Tool (ICOT) webpage ( iste.org/icot). Additional guidance on evaluating learning materials is available in the NETS Curriculum Planning Tool ( iste.org/store/product?ID=2299).

In the ICOT, marking an indicator as addressed means that students have opportunities to learn about or practice the indicator. That is usually how an indicator appears in a lesson. Marking an indicator as met means that students actually demonstrate the knowledge or skills. Consistently coding an indicator in lessons requires careful attention to both the wording of the standards and the details of the learning experience.