"Why should collaborative technology tools be a regular part of my students' learning experience?"
"Technology is not the start of learning,
it is the most powerful tool we have right now to learn."
~ Scott Bedley, teacher
The value of collaborative learning is well-established in both the scholarship of education and the practice. However, all that research is outside the scope of this site. Nevertheless, if you're interested in reading and researching more, please see the introductory section of our Curriculum Guide.
successful standards
Technology and collaboration within education go hand-in-hand. Framing this topic as a professional learning experience for educators was directly informed by the lack of regular integration observed by the design team in schools. This direction was confirmed by international standards for technology integration promoted by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), an organization dedicated to facilitating system-wide technology integration in innovative and relevant ways for students, teachers, technology coaches, and administrators. Couched in the familiar language of educational objectives and goals, ISTE has developed distinct sets of standards for each of the major stakeholders in education. Although not mandated by any of our Canadian Ministries of Education, we felt these standards were of sufficient quality to establish strong rationales and provide useful guidance for designing our professional learning experience. Relevant ISTE Standards are laid out below. |
Live from @ISTEconnects |
"Each of us has a key role to play in the transformation of education, but none of us has to go it alone. The family of ISTE Standards works in concert to support students, educators and leaders with clear guidelines for the skills, knowledge and approaches they need to succeed in the digital age. Together, we can innovate education."
~ ISTE
technology collaboartion standards
for students and teachers
If you're using Chrome, you won't be able to see the highlighting but please look through each document below and find the places where the standards refer, whether explicitly or inferentially, to the skills of "collaboration".
Canadian connections
Since all three designers are Canadian educators and we do not presume to be familiar with the expectations and standards of other countries, the target audience of this professional development experience is Canadian teachers. Although we welcome and expect international opportunities to collaborate, with the exception of the ISTE standards that deliberately market themselves as international content, we have not specifically addressed globally diverse standards.
If you are an educator from another country we welcome your help! Please introduce yourself on the Forums and share how the standards of your region are (or are not) connected to the goals of digital collaboration for students.
Although Canada's provinces and territories do not have a country-wide standard for collaborative student behaviour, let alone anything specifically mandating the use of technology for collaboration, there is a precedent in the "learning skills" or "work habits" category of many Canadian regions.
If you are an educator from another country we welcome your help! Please introduce yourself on the Forums and share how the standards of your region are (or are not) connected to the goals of digital collaboration for students.
Although Canada's provinces and territories do not have a country-wide standard for collaborative student behaviour, let alone anything specifically mandating the use of technology for collaboration, there is a precedent in the "learning skills" or "work habits" category of many Canadian regions.
Tell us how these examples are sparking ideas for your own classroom!
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Forum Questions for this page:
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Congratulations! You've mastered the basics!
You're ready to dive in and explore the three collaborative edTech tools we've chosen to spotlight... |