Chapters Eleven & TwelveQuestion 3: What is educational technology literacy? Why is it important for educators?
All educators have a professional requirement and a duty to their students to be up-to-date not only in their content area, but also in their teaching methodologies. That is the purpose of professional development programs in school districts. However, teachers should be proactive in their professional growth, seeking out opportunities to learn more and become better educators. The podcast for Chapter 12 gave valuable strategies for teachers to take personal responsibility for professional development in the acronym COPE – collaboration, organizations, publications, and education. These strategies can definitely be applied to the acquisition and maintenance of educational technology literacy.
Educators are charged with preparing students to live and prosper in a technology-saturated information age. Technology is an integral aspect of today’s world. Should it not then be an integral part of how we educate our youth? Educators today must possess educational technology literacy – that is, the awareness of and ability to use current information technologies plus the ability to apply those technologies as teaching tools for the enhancement of student learning.
Education technology literacy is not a static condition. It must be constantly renewed and updated as technology expands and changes. In addition, classroom teachers are not the only educators who need it. Media specialists, the librarians of yesteryear, must be well-versed in cutting edge information technologies. Counselors and specialists need to be literate in education technology as it intersects with core instruction and best educational practices. Administrators and other education stakeholders must also possess education technology literacy to see that their districts are complying with and exceeding technology education requirements and integration of technology all classrooms.
Education technology literacy is a concept that should be important to every teacher and educator. The National Educational Technology Standards for students (NET-S) and for teachers (NETS-T) have been embraced by almost all states. These standards outline the competencies that are essential for technologically literate students and teachers. As a result, pre-service teacher programs must include educational technology components in order to be accredited. State licensure programs incorporate education technology requirements. Also, evidence of educational technology literacy is being required of in-service teachers through professional evaluation instruments, professional development requirements, and re-certification criteria. It is up to each individual teacher to stay up-to-date on particular mandates for education technology professional development and to be proactive in obtaining the necessary competencies.
Beyond the necessity to “dot all the I’s and cross all the T’s” for the required education technology mandates, teachers should want to be education technology literate. After all, technology has opened up vast new options for reaching all learners with innovative instructional methods. Learning best practices with educational technology and incorporating them into the classroom for the benefit of students is more than a worthy goal. It is an ongoing aspect of professional growth that continues for as long as a teacher will teach. In other words, every teacher should be a lifelong learner.
These required standards for educational technology literacy are more important now than ever. It should be an incredibly high priority for our teachers to be able to keep up with issues in technology so that their students can as well. We must remember that their world will be even more saturated in technology than ours is, and if they do not get the foundation they need now, they will not be able to succeed later.
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