Chapter 3: Exploring the ISTE Standards for Students “Empowered Learner” - Part 3
Date: 20th Feb 2024/Tuesday - 8:00 pm
This is my third blog post exploring the ISTE Standards for students. This post though focuses on the ISTE Standard for students “empowered learner”. The post will share key ideas from my learning from the module 2 of the course. The post will also highlight some ideas of how this ISTE standard can be implemented in schools in Pakistan.
ISTE Standard Empowered Learner says ,
“Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving, and demonstrating the competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences.”
This standard basically talks of empowering learners by giving them both choice and voice in their learning experience, students are given authority to decide their learning goals and select the process through which they can achieve their goals.
This standard has further 4 indicators and I will try to explain each with examples of how we can embed these in schools in Pakistan, The indicators are given in the foot notes below.
Example Standard 1.1a - Students could be asked to fill in an exit ticket by the end of the lesson to check understanding of the taught topic, they could be asked to fill in the exit ticket to reflect on their learning journey. The exit ticket could be made in Google Forms, Padlet, Kahoot or even done on sticky notes (using a traditional paper pencil method).
In the beginning of the lesson, students could be asked to set their learning goals, what is it they want to achieve by the end of the lesson. Thinking out loud, students could be given a set of goals and asked to choose from it, for example they could learn about pollution and explain with examples, or they could explore and explain different types of pollution, or they could explain the impact of pollution on their own lives and the environment. They could choose to decide which target they want to achieve by the end of the lesson on pollution.In the end of the lesson they could teach the whole class about the topics they learned individually or in peers.
In another example students could set a goal related to improving their reading skills, they could set the targets to reading a chapter daily, two chapters a week or five chapters in a month, followed by recording a podcast and sharing on the class blog or social collaborative forum. They could use a rubric to evaluate their reading by the end of the month. The rubric could be made in Google Sheets.
Example Standard 1.1b - Students could be given different options to share their learning on pollution. They could be asked to create a podcast and reflect on their learning, the podcast could be uploaded on the schools website or blog. Students could comment on questions by peers on the blog. Second, students could be asked to create a video documentary of their own community and explain pollution and its effects on health, work etc. This could be shared on YouTube channels for sharing with parents or audience outside class. Third, students could create a 3D model to explain how pollution is created and how it spreads, harms the environment. They could explain in front of the whole class and then upload the video in an online school library. This could be shared in YouTube Live.
If students are studying a unit on diseases in their science lesson, they could be asked to present or share their learning on Covid (for example) in the form of a podcast , a blog, a video documentary or a 3D model. They could also draw and explain in their own words. This could be shared in different forms on different collaborative forums for feedback etc. So students have a choice in selecting the learning environment and customizing it. They get to decide to work in groups or in peers, collaborate online etc.
Example ISTE Standard 1.1 c - in this standard students not only demonstrate their learning in different ways but gather feedback on their performance using a wide variety of digital tools , and also review the work based on the feedback. I can think of comments on a google doc by the teacher on an essay “elections and the impact on people lives in Pakistan”, or feedback in the form of comments on a presentation in Google Slides about “Cultural diversity in Pakistan” or “Impact of pollution on our lives” etc. Students could also run a grammar/spelling check in Google docs to review their writing. Grammarly could be used for checking errors too. I can also think of using Khan Academy or Reading Eggs, both provide feedback and prompts to move forward. Students move forward at their own pace. I came across a slope intercept online game which students could use to learn and practice the concept of slope, with feedback and practice as many times they want too. If they make an error they get immediate feedback, and the students can make changes to the response.
Example ISTE Standard 1.1d - in this standard students demonstrate their understanding of technical and non technical issues related to technology, for example how to fix an audio/video error, upload/download issues, troubleshoot any other issues with technology, explore new emerging technologies and apply their prior knowledge to fix any issues with technology. They should be capable enough to fix a computer if handed over and diagnose the issue with the computer system. They should be able to install or uninstall any issues with the hardware or software without assistance.
Since I had the ability to work on the Computing Curriculum of a school some time back, while working in the capacity of an edtech manager, I had to review and revise the content based on ISTE Standards for students. I think though students work on various hardware and software at school in different grades, they practice various skills but may not be given enough chances to unpack the whole computer. I still remember while teaching at another school many years back as the O'Level Computer Studies teacher and Applied ICT teacher the students work on databases, spreadsheets ,documentation, coding, programming etc but the way they should be unpacking the actual computer devices was not done the way it should be done.
This standard would require students full autonomy while working on the devices, given freedom to fully explore the devices, understand the functioning of the various parts and then fix it back together. So this is not as such applicable to current or existing computing curriculum taught at schools. This should be included while exploring the basic input output devices in schools in the primary years and middle school years. Also the fact our schools do not have ample computer systems that could be used for such tasks. Schools need ample resources if they expect students to be able to achieve this standard. This is my opinion based on personal and professional experience of working technology over the years in different organizations.
Enjoy reading till my next blog post soon innshaaAllah exploring the rest of the ISTE standards for students.
Regards and prayers
Sheeba Ajmal
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