Commitment to
Technology
Today’s society demands
that K-12 schools produce students
skilled in “communication, technology,
leadership, teamwork, creativity,
management, problem-solving, production,
risk taking, and cultural awareness.”
(Business Higher Education Forum, 2003;
Partnership for 21st Century
Skills, 2003b; Thornburg, 2002) if they
are to be successful. In order to meet
this challenge K-12 schools have moved
to technology enhanced curriculum,
changed how they assess teacher and
student performance, and determined what
knowledge and skills are now considered
important in the workplace and for
continuous learning (Merrill Lynch &
Co., 2000).
The demand for
knowledge-based K-12 graduates has
resulted in new standards and
expectations for both in-service and
pre-service teachers a well as
educational administrators.
In
Alabama the need for knowledge-based
professional education preparation
programs and the projected growth in
retirement of teachers over the next ten
years prompted the Alabama Department of
Education to apply for the Preparing
Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology
grant funding. Through this funding a
consortium of fifteen universities, the
Alabama Department of Education, and one
business partner worked to research,
develop, and implement P-20 technology
standards designed to improve K-12
student achievement and meet the high
standards that the governor, the state
superintendent, and the state board of
education have initiated. Utilizing
the results of this work, ten technology
standards, based on the ISTE standards
for both initial and advanced
professional teacher certification
programs were developed and presented to
the Alabama State Board of Education.
The Board approved the new standards,
March 2002. The UAB Professional
Education Unit played a dominate role
by: (1) assisting with the development
of technology standards for Alabama’s
Teacher Education Programs, (2) housing
grant staff, and (3) providing
evaluation services for the grant.
These standards have been integrated
into the professional education unit’s
existing courses at the initial and
advanced levels and implemented spring
2003. |
