CODE77 rubrics 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008 at 07:26AM One of the most interesting and perhaps important questions I have been trying to answer for the past 15 years or so is -
What should a "technologically-literate" teacher know and be able to do?
I always believed it was patently unfair to ask teachers to become "computer-literate" and then not be able to describe what that means in fairly specific terms. Since I was one the people advocating for computer literate teachers back in the early 90s, I wrote a set of rubrics for our district - the Beginning CODE 77 rubrics. These later became the backbone for my book, The Indispensable Teacher's Guide to Computer Skills published in 1998. I also wrote two additional sets of rubrics - Internet rubrics and advanced rubrics in the mid 90s.
I revised all these rubrics in 2002 to bring them into alignment with the ISTE NETS for Teachers standards and to reflect changes in technology at that time. I also added a set of leadership rubrics for the second edition of The Indispensable Teacher's Guide in 2002.
Guess what? The 2002 rubrics are looking pretty dusty. I used them in a workshop last month and asked participants what things teachers now need to know about and be able to do that weren't reflected in the 2002 rubrics. Here is just a partial list:
- Interactive white boards
- Audio systems
- Podcasting
- Web 2.0 - wikis, blogs, social networking, RSS, media sharing
- Safety
- Video streaming - online content
- Graphic tools for planning and brain storming
- Webquests
- Online learning environments
- Distance learning
- Virtual worlds
So, over the next few weeks (or months - whatever), I am going to be using the Blue Skunk to get feedback on an updated set of CODE 77 rubrics. I will be looking at just one rubric at a time, beginning with each of the beginning rubrics then moving to the Internet rubrics, advanced rubrics and leadership rubrics. I'll categorize each entry as CODE77 and rubrics. We'll also discuss whether some additional rubrics need to be added or if some can be dropped.
I have defined each set as follows:
Beginning: These rubrics primarily address professional productivity. They are the foundation on which more complex technology and technology-related professional skills are built. Teachers who have mastered these skills are able to use the computer to improve their traditional instructional tasks such as writing, record-keeping, designing student materials, and presenting lessons. These skills also build the confidence teachers need to use technology to restructure the educational process.
Advanced: These rubrics below are designed to help teachers move to a second (and final?) level of professional computer use. Rather than the computer simply being a tool which allows a common task to be done more efficiently, these skills fundamentally change how instruction is delivered, how student performance is measured, and how teachers view themselves as professionals. The technology is used to actually restructure the educational process to allow it to do things it has never been able to do before.
Internet: These rubrics focus on using the Internet skillfully and purposely for educational purposes.
Leadership: These rubrics are designed to help superintendents, principals and directors determine how well they use technology to improve administrative effectiveness through efficient communication, planning, and record keeping.
Looking forward to reading your ideas for improvements.
Reader Comments (6)
I think there needs to be a statement to the effect of being able to critically evaluate which tool is appropriate for a given topic/lesson/purpose and not just using technology in a potpourri, haphazard approach "just because they can".
Thanks so much for this list! In our district (and probably in many others) there is a big issue of Teacher Technology Competencies. How do we measure them? How do we encourage teachers to move along that continuum toward using technology well?
My most current thought is that there are unmeasureable things that we don't even notice. One example is the teacher who comes into the lab and has all of her students wait while she shows them step by step what to do and get's frustrated when they go ahead or don't pay attention. How do you measure the skill of allowing the kids to explore and be experts? And more importantly how do you encourage teachers to be that way? Is it just a personality thing?
Thanks for the food for thought!
Janice
p.s. Nice to know you are following me on twitter! You won't have too much following to do because I often forget to go there... too much else going on.
Hi Janice,
You are welcome for the rubrics. At the rate I am going, it will be 2010 before they are all updated!
Great question about the competencies teachers need to teach kids tech stuff effectively. I've always thought we all need to consider ourselves "co-learners" if we are to survive!
Oh, I am not a big user of Twitter myself - only when REALLY bored at meeting!
All the best,
Doug
Hey, Doug! Ever paint the Golden Gate bridge? That's what this rubric update seems like. Why? Just when you've finished your job, it's time to start all over again. :-) Updating what a technology knowledge/skills a teacher (or anyone) needs to know and use is a job without end. Must be a corollary to Moore's Law or the 4th law that Newton never wrote down or a modern day version of Sisyphus pushing that boulder up the hill only to see it roll back so he had to start all over. Good luck. Please keep me/us informed of your progress.
Ever see these lists?
Obsolete Academic Librarian Skills
http://acrlblog.org/2008/02/20/obsolete-academic-librarian-skills/
Obsolete Skills
http://obsoleteskills.com/Skills/Skills
Hi John,
Always good to hear from another "former" ISTE Director. (My last meeting was a week ago!)
I will continue to update these rubrics. I did correlate the 2002 version to the NETS-T standards and I will do that with these as the new standards become finalized. At an initial glance, the advance rubrics will be more applicable to the new NETS-T.
Take care and hope to see you at NECC!
Doug