Teachers’ ICT competencies

Mart LaanpereHead of the Centre for Educational

Technology, Tallinn UniversityMart.laanpere@tlu.ee

Competencies Defined as “personal characteristics (e.g. skills,

knowledge, attitudes) that an individual possesses or needs to acquire, in order to perform an activity within a specific context, whereas performance may range from the basic level of proficiency to the highest levels of excellence” (Sampson & Fytros)

Highly context-bound Should not be broken down to “atomic level” Used for: outcome-based education, quality

assurance of training programmes, accreditation of prior learning and experience

ICT competencies in curriculum

Until 1992 computer science was a compulsory subject in Estonian schools

1997 national curriculum: informatics as an elective subject, IT as cross-curricular theme

2002 national curriculum introduced ICT as a compulsory cross-curricular theme, defined by 11 competencies

National sample-based testing of ICT competencies in grade 9 in 2002-2005

ICT competencies in grade 9

Operates hard- and software Manages files Uses correct ICT terminology Follows legal & ethical aspects of ICT use Creates effective and aesthetical presentations Uses ICT tools to find information and communicate

with others Understands the needs for critical evaluation of Internet

information Collects and analyses data with ICT tools

National test on ICT competencies

Alternative to ECDL exams Written test, 13 multiple-choice questions (30 min)

Keyboard, computer misuse Op.system: user interface, file types Word processing and WWW mistakes Computer viruses, error messages What is not allowed (copyrights, personal)

Practical task (60 min) Find, rename, edit and save text file Find additional information on WWW Design a booklet

New trends

No more testingOur study 2008: few schools were concerned

with teaching and assessing cross-curricular themes

Curriculum 2011: informatics as elective subject in grades 6, 8 and 10.

Portfolio-based assessment of students’ ICT competencies – legitimised by the new national curriculum

Teachers’ ed.tech. competencies

Educational technology competency standard for teachers in Estonia 2002 (based on ISTE):Three levels: basic user, advanced user, expertSix domains: the use of ICT, designing the learning

environment, e-learning in curriculum development, assessment in e-learning, ICT in professional development, social and technical aspects of technology use at school

No audience, no legitimisation, were used only for developing/assessing training programmes

Competency models for teachersUntil 2006: the teacher education framework

and teachers’ accreditation requirements2006: professional qualification standard for

teachers: 8 domains: planning and leadership, designing the

learning environment, facilitating learning, motivating the learners, collaboration, communication, analysing and assessing the learning, self-directed professional development

Not fully compatible with de facto standards: teacher education curricula and teacher accreditation requirements

Teachers’ e-portfolio 2006

Competency Manager: our self-developed add-in module for Plone CMS

Two views to competency model: Global view: publicly accessible, can be edited by admin

and commented by registered member of the portal Personal view: used for organising learning goals,

reflections and other evidences

Several parallel competency models: teachers’ PQS, ed.technology competencies, mentor etc

Teacher training in ICT

Initial teacher education: Compulsory ICT skills, those who do not pass the test

(80%) have to take a course “Computer as a tool”Compulsory subject “Learning environment”Elective subject “ICT in school”Subject-specific ICT courses for student teachers

In-service teacher education in ed.tech.: mainly provided by Tiger Leap Foundation for free. 10 000 teachers were trained 2002-2005 on 40 hrs Intel course TTF

ISTE CNETS for Teachers 2008

See http://cnets.iste.orgFour ed.tech. competency domains:

Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and CreativityDesign and Develop Digital-Age Learning

Experiences and AssessmentsModel Digital-Age Work and LearningPromote and Model Digital Citizenship and

Responsibility

Current situationA common ed.tech. competency model HTPM

(based on ISTE CNETS 2008) for teachers in primary, secondary and vocational schools as well as for university staff – one A4 page

Two detailed assessment rubrics for: TeachersUniversity lecturers

Not yet legitimised, might end up as appendix to new PQS for teachers

Plans: teachers’ portfolio at Koolielu.ee

DigiMe project 2011

Self-assessment of teachers’ ed.tech. competencies, based on HTPM

Web-based tool, automatically graded responses, based on authentic cases (video or slideshow scenarios)

Used for ICT competency audit, training needs analysis, forming more homogenous training groups etc.

Discussion and conclusions

E-portfolio seems to be a suitable tool/approach for assessment of teachers’ ICT competencies

Legitimisation is needed (both for HTPM competency standard and portfolio tool)

Future: e-portfolio as a state-provided free service in citizen’s portal eesti.ee?