Evidence Based Post #4

My last post discussed the Illinois eLearning initiative. In this post, I would like to discuss the response I received from Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach regarding my first post.
To review, my first post discussed what schools and states do in regard to the changing technology standards and teacher preparation. I examined an article posted on Education World, regarding Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach’s experience training students and teachers alike in technology. After posting my analysis on my blog, Ms. Beach responded by telling me about two more websites that detailed her work with preservice teachers.
The first site directed me to the 21st Century Collaborative page, found at Preservice Class Wiki for a course entitled Edu 330, Tech Enhanced Learning, which essentially trained teachers in various technology and Internet based tools, much like are offered in our class. Clicking on the main home link brought me back to the same page, but, Ms. Nussbaum-Beach offered me, as her second link, a link to her homepage on the 21st Century Collaborative, found at Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach. I wanted to discover more about this 21st Century Collaborative, so I followed a link I found on her webpage marked 21st Century Learning, which lead me to a whitepaper, which described the work that described an organization called the Alabama Best Practices Center, or ABPC. They work with schools in order to train teachers from schools in how to become more technologically oriented. Nussbaum-Beach developed the curriculum, and the teams established a virtual community. ABPC has been offered assistance by Microsoft, and ABPC works with selected schools throughout Alabama.
To switch gears, I wanted to complete this posting with what I discovered about what specifically Illinois does to make sure its teachers are technologically savvy. Perusing the Illinois State Board of Education website, under Curriculum and Instruction, one will find a link to the National Educational Technology Standards, published by the International Society for Technology in Education. Interestingly enough, under this link on the ISBE website, one can find the link to the Illinois Content Area Standards for Teachers. This document contains eight specific standards for all teachers, regardless of content area. They are:
1) Basic Computer/Technology Operations and Concepts
2) Personal and Professional Use of Technology
3) Application of Technology In Instruction
4) Social, Ethical, and Human Issues
5) Productivity Tools
6) Telecommunications and Information Access
7) Research, Problem Solving, and Product Development
8) Information Literacy Skills
These standards closely mirror the National Educational Technology Standards for both teachers and students. It seems like Illinois is trying to figure out a good way to integrate these standards, thus borrowing heavily from ISTE. However, in terms of new teachers, I skimmed the Certification section of the ISBE website, only to find no mention of technology. It seems, as stated earlier, that Illinois is trying to get up to the level set by states like Virginia, but we are not quite there yet.

So what does this mean? Essentially, because education is a state-specific entity, states will largely determine what they feel is “sufficient” for teachers in terms of technology. While Illinois does not mandate an assessment test or the creation of a technology portfolio, this does not preclude the fact that one day this may be a requirement. With the ever changing nature of the teacher certification process, this may not be that unrealistic of a situation. Right now, Illinois simply refers to the NETS standards, and seems to be creating Illinois teacher standards out of them. It will be interesting to see how this continues to develop.

21st Century Collaborative. (2007). Blog. In ABPC 21st Century Collaborative. Retrieved May 28, 2007,
from http://21stcenturylearning.typepad.com/blog/

21st Century Collaborative. (2007). Course Description. In Tech Enhanced Learning. Retrieved May 28,
2007, from http://techenhancedlearning.wikispaces.com/

Illinois State Board of Education. (n.d.). Illinois Content Area Technology Standards for All Teachers
[Data file]. Retrieved May 28, 2007, from
http://isbe.net/profprep/CASCDvr/pdfs/24120_coretechnology.pdf