Digital age language teacher

Digital age language teacher

1. The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)

   • has published ISTE Standards for Educators, providing guidelines which follow the seven quality standards for teachers in the digital age
     • 1. LEARNER
       • Learn from and with others and explore promising practices that leverage technology to improve student learning
     • 2. LEADER
       • Seek oportunities to support student empowerment, help shape a shared vision and advocate for student equity.
     • 3. CITIZEN
       • Inspire students to contribute responsibly in the digital world and guide them to be curious, wise, empathetic, safe and etihcal
     • 4. COLLABORATOR
       • Collaborate with others to improve practice, discover and share resources, and solve problems with others around the globe.
     • 5. DESIGNER
       • Design authentic, learner-driven activities and evironments thah recognize and accommodate learner variabilty.
     • 6. FACILITATOR
       • Model creative expression, empower students to take ownership of their learning and create opportunities for students to innovate and solve problems.
     • 7. ANALYST
       • Use data to drive instruction and provide alternate ways for students to demonstrate competency and use assesment data to guide progress.
     • Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL)
       • Schcolnik talks about “digital natives” (as current students are often called) and “digital immigrants” (normally teachers that were not born in the so called digital age) and explains that there is a misconception when talking about these concepts because “we cannot assume that digital natives, who know how to use technology, also know how to learn with the technology”.
         • according to this author, digital age language teachers have four important responsibilities
           • 1. Be aware of online resources that are available, in order to make language learning more authentic and relevant.
             • 2. Critically select those resources that are suitable in content and level for the specific student population and develop suitable activities that will create opportunities for enhancing both language and digital skills.
               • 3. Teach the skills that are necessary to function in the digital age, including reading and writing digital texts and communicating and publishing online.
                 • 4. Ensure that the introduction of the digital literacy skills is done in an integrated manner so that the language course is coherent as a whole rather than a collection isolated activities.

2. ISTE Standards for Students

   • emphasize the skills and qualities that would be desirable for students, enabling them to engage and thrive in a connected, digital world. These standards are designed for use by educators, and both students and teachers are responsible for achieving foundational technology skills to fully apply them
     • 1. Empowered Learner
       • Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences
       • 2. Digital Citizen
         • Students recognize the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of living, learning and working in an interconnected digital world, and they act and model in ways that are safe, legal and ethical.
         • 3. Knowledge Constructor
           • Students critically curate a variety of resources using digital tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts and make meaningful learning experiences for themselves and others.
           • 4. Innovative Designer
             • Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions.
             • 5. Computational Thinker
               • they develop and employ strategies for understanding and solving problems in ways that leverage the power of technological methods to develop and test solutions.
               • 6. Creative Communicator
                 • they communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals.
                 • 7. Global Collaborator
                   • Students use digital tools to broaden their perspectives and enrich their learning by collaborating with others and working effectively in teams locally and globally.