Tech Titans

How does your school communicate the importance and manner in which we use technology to think, create, innovate, and communicate? How do you visually help your students to make the connection?

The leaders of the Fairfax County Public Schools instructional technology program reached out to students to create a way to represent the ISTE Student Standards visually.

A student design competition was presented, challenging students to submit images for six characters representing each ISTE student standard.

The winning student’s art was then incorporated into posters representing the Tech Titans for each standard and character. All six are on the wall outside the computer lab at my school. Daily, I see students commenting on the characters, art, and the provided information. Curiosity is engaged, which leads to questions and discussions in class about what it means to communicate, collaborate, think critically, etc.

The NETS have been out for some time now, so it will be interesting to reflect upon them. As Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is my new employer, I am grateful for such innovative thinking and follow-through by the leaders of our instructional technology program. Be on the lookout for a series of posts where I will share the poster for each standard/character and my review of the standards. 

My take will include the belief mentioned in this blog and on the Ed Tech Co-Op podcast that the ISTE NETS and AASL Standards for Students cover common ground and can be incorporated into one set of standards for our schools. An excellent example is the Information and Communication Literacies (ICL) outcomes developed at the Washington International Primary School.

This design challenge offers other schools and districts opportunities to develop ways to engage students in the NETS. Having students digest the standards to represent them visually is just one way to go. Students developing games, apps, podcasts, screencasts, mind maps, etc., around the NETS could be other avenues for students to think, create, innovate, and communicate.

The provided video gives an excellent overview, including student voices in the project. And here is a chart provided to list some activities that support each standard. Check out the Tech Titan Web page for more information on this FCPS program.

Tech Titans

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