For my Values, Ethics, and Foundations class through Seattle Pacific University’s Digital Education Leadership program I had the opportunity to interview an administrator about digital readiness. For my interview, I talked with the associate director of teaching and learning technology integration at the district office. To help shape my interview questions I used Ribble’s nine elements of digital citizenship and ISTE Coaching Standards.
After completing the interview and doing some of my own research on the district website I discovered that my district has many systems in place to address accessibility, equity, and digital citizenship. My district has their own adopted Technology Standards and Tech Skills Continuum as well as the access to resources such as Common-Sense Media. One thing I learned from this experience was that my district survey’s the entire staff to identify any professional learning to make sure teachers are equip with the skills and understanding to implement the technology standards and continuum.
When asked about supporting expanding schools and what is next for the district the associate director stated that “planning for technology within new buildings is built in to each project plan. New buildings are provided with the most current classroom footprint technologies. Schools will receive the same ratio of netbooks”. She also stated that the district is current in the process of passing a new tech levy to support the roll out of new SMART panels as well as replacing student devices as needed. Teachers have also been equip with new Surface Books as a part of the tech levy.
After their interview I felt like my district is well prepared with they technology integration and digital citizenship. I also feel relieved that they are listening to teacher voices to provide quality professional learning related to technology.
Sources
ISTE Standards: Coaches. (2011). [PDF file] International Society for Technology in Education. Available at: http://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/20-14_ISTE_Standards-C_PDF.pdf
Ribble, M., & Northern Miller, T. (2013). Educational leadership in an online world:
Connecting students to technology responsibly, safely, and ethically. Journal of asynchronous learning networks, 17(1), 137-45.
