ICT competencies of teachers

Teachers’ ICT competencies Mart Laanpere Head of the Centre for Educational Technology, Tallinn University [email_address]

Competencies
Defined as “ personal characteristics (e.g. skills, knowledge, attitudes) that an individual possesses or needs to acquire, in order to perform an activity within a specific context, whereas performance may range from the basic level of proficiency to the highest levels of excellence ” (Sampson & Fytros)
Highly context-bound
Should not be broken down to “atomic level”
Used for: outcome-based education, quality assurance of training programmes, accreditation of prior learning and experience

ICT competencies in curriculum
Until 1992 computer science was a compulsory subject in Estonian schools
1997 national curriculum: informatics as an elective subject, IT as cross-curricular theme
2002 national curriculum introduced ICT as a compulsory cross-curricular theme, defined by 11 competencies
National sample-based testing of ICT competencies in grade 9 in 2002-2005

ICT competencies in grade 9
Operates hard- and software
Manages files
Uses correct ICT terminology
Follows legal & ethical aspects of ICT use
Creates effective and aesthetical presentations
Uses ICT tools to find information and communicate with others
Understands the needs for critical evaluation of Internet information
Collects and analyses data with ICT tools

National test on ICT competencies
Alternative to ECDL exams
Written test, 13 multiple-choice questions (30 min)
Keyboard, computer misuse
Op.system: user interface, file types
Word processing and WWW mistakes
Computer viruses, error messages
What is not allowed (copyrights, personal)
Practical task (60 min)
Find, rename, edit and save text file
Find additional information on WWW
Design a booklet

New trends
No more testing
Our study 2008: few schools were concerned with teaching and assessing cross-curricular themes
Curriculum 2011: informatics as elective subject in grades 6, 8 and 10.
Portfolio-based assessment of students’ ICT competencies – legitimised by the new national curriculum

Teachers’ ed.tech. competencies
Educational technology competency standard for teachers in Estonia 2002 (based on ISTE):
Three levels: basic user, advanced user, expert
Six domains: the use of ICT, designing the learning environment, e-learning in curriculum development, assessment in e-learning, ICT in professional development, social and technical aspects of technology use at school
No audience, no legitimisation, were used only for developing/assessing training programmes

Competency models for teachers
Until 2006: the teacher education framework and teachers’ accreditation requirements
2006: professional qualification standard for teachers:
8 domains: planning and leadership, designing the learning environment, facilitating learning, motivating the learners, collaboration, communication, analysing and assessing the learning, self-directed professional development
Not fully compatible with de facto standards: teacher education curricula and teacher accreditation requirements

Teachers’ e-portfolio 2006
Competency Manager: our self-developed add-in module for Plone CMS
Two views to competency model:
Global view: publicly accessible, can be edited by admin and commented by registered member of the portal
Personal view: used for organising learning goals, reflections and other evidences
Several parallel competency models: teachers’ PQS, ed.technology competencies, mentor etc

Teacher training in ICT
Initial teacher education:
Compulsory ICT skills, those who do not pass the test (80%) have to take a course “Computer as a tool”
Compulsory subject “Learning environment”
Elective subject “ICT in school”
Subject-specific ICT courses for student teachers
In-service teacher education in ed.tech.: mainly provided by Tiger Leap Foundation for free. 10 000 teachers were trained 2002-2005 on 40 hrs Intel course TTF

ISTE CNETS for Teachers 2008
See http://cnets.iste.org
Four ed.tech. competency domains:
Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
Model Digital-Age Work and Learning
Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

Current situation
A common ed.tech. competency model HTPM (based on ISTE CNETS 2008) for teachers in primary, secondary and vocational schools as well as for university staff – one A4 page
Two detailed assessment rubrics for:
Teachers
University lecturers
Not yet legitimised, might end up as appendix to new PQS for teachers
Plans: teachers’ portfolio at Koolielu.ee

DigiMe project 2011
Self-assessment of teachers’ ed.tech. competencies, based on HTPM
Web-based tool, automatically graded responses, based on authentic cases (video or slideshow scenarios)
Used for ICT competency audit, training needs analysis, forming more homogenous training groups etc.

Discussion and conclusions
E-portfolio seems to be a suitable tool/approach for assessment of teachers’ ICT competencies
Legitimisation is needed (both for HTPM competency standard and portfolio tool)
Future: e-portfolio as a state-provided free service in citizen’s portal eesti.ee?

ICT competencies of teachers

by Mart Laanpere on Mar 08, 2011

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ICT competencies of teachers — Presentation Transcript