Oregon Technology Standards and Requirements

1. How would you explain the big picture of what these standards are trying to accomplish?

The big picture of what these standards are trying to accomplish, in my opinion, is preparing students for the real world in the context of technology. These standards are trying to help students become aware of their own digital citizenship, express themselves creatively through technology, research effectively, work with others, and use technology appropriately. I think the goal is to make students technology literate and critically aware of what this means.

2. Describe some strategies you could implement at your grade level(s) in order to accomplish this huge task. Please relate your strategies/activites to some specific Standards.

I think that at the middle school level there is a need to discuss citizenship and to get comfortable trying new things. I believe this is a good time for discussion on what kind of person an individual wants to be and how to approach that. Technology is a great platform for this type of self-expression. In art, specifically, I could post student projects to a blog and ask classmates to comment and reflect appropriately on their work. This relates to the digital citizenship standards:

Digital Citizenship
Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior. Students:

a. advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology.
b. exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity.
c. demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning.
d. exhibit leadership for digital citizenship

These standards are age and project appropriate because students would be required to reach these standards to fulfill the class goals of digital citizenship.

At the high school level there are numerous possibilities for the use of technology. In the French classroom there are a lot of easy language strategies that involve communication through technology with those from other cultures and countries. A pen-pal project is one example of this project idea. This relates to the following standards:

Communication and Collaboration

Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:


a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.
b. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.
c. develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures.

Students can interact, collaborate, and publish projects using digital media to communicate with those from other cultures and multiple audiences.

3. What are some challenges?

The biggest challenge that I see is a fluency gap. I have witnessed in my pre-student teaching observations numerous computer classes with varied student populations. I was surprised by how many students had never even used a computer before. They were very lost during a power-point art history presentation because even the directions were difficult to understand. It is important to reduce this technology gap. An enormous amount of differentiation is critical to avoid frustration for any group of students. I also fear that students who do not have resources at home to use computers are at a disadvantage because they cannot work outside of school hours and need much more help than their computer literate peers.