LME 537-Blog 2: ISTE & CREaTe Excellence Framework Connections

After reviewing the ISTE standards (ISTE Standards for Students, 2016) and the CREaTe Excellence Framework (Maxwell, Stobaugh, & Tassell, 2015), I feel that they are well-aligned in most areas. Both the ISTE standards and the CREaTe Excellence Framework really focus on the higher levels of learning and the use of technology to create a final project. The CREaTe Excellence Framework delves into five levels of complexity that allow students to use critical thinking skills while learning and interacting with the real world. It promotes student engagement and technology integration. CREaTe provides a framework for students to become “experts” in the topic being studied in order to work towards improving something in the real-world. The ISTE standards are for the use of technology in teaching and learning. ISTE provides a framework for adapting to the constantly changing technological world we live in today. It is a framework that helps to prepare students for the global economy.

After viewing the TED talk on “killing creativity” by Sir Ken Robinson (2006), I believe that the new standards, if implemented properly, will completed address the concerns and views of Sir Ken Robinson on creativity. In Do Schools Kill Creativity (2006), Sir Ken Robinson says that all students have tremendous talents that are squandered in schools. He also states, “Creativity is as important in education as literacy and we should treat it with the same status,” (Robinson, 2006). I completely agree with both statements. Students today are sometimes expected to do things a certain way. We, as educators, are too quick to give the correct answer due to time constraints and the number of standards that must be taught in a given amount of time. It is important that we allow students to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. The ISTE standards and CREaTe Excellence Framework help to guide teachers and students develop that critical thinking process. They provide guidelines that allow teachers to lead students into a real-world learning experience where they are the experts in the field and they discover, test, and create projects that can help improve the world in which they live. They promote the use of technology to research and create products that can be useful to them in the global economy.

After reading information, reviewing frameworks and standards, and watching the TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson, I believe it is critical that educators today focus on fostering creativity in our students. Allowing students to fail and learn from that failure is extremely important to their development, creativity, and innovativeness. I work for a county that promotes STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math). This year we have implemented STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, & Math). I think these are all important in the academic growth of our students to prepare them for the 21st century workplace. Technology will continue to expand and our students need to know how to fit in and advance with their peers in this area in order to be competitive in the workplace. By allowing students to engage in real-world activities using technology, we are providing an education that can be advantageous to the future lives of our students. Not only does it make our students more competitive in the workplace, it builds confidence, knowledge, critical thinking skills, and the desire to want to improve and learn more about something that matters to them. I believe that the ISTE standards and CREaTe Excellence Framework are great promoters to the advancement of knowledge in our youth and encourage creativity in all areas of learning.

Resources

ISTE Standards for Students. (2016). Retrieved October 15, 2016, from

https://www.iste.org/standards/standards/for-students-2016

Maxwell, M., Stobaugh, R., & Tassell, J. L. (2015). Real-world learning framework for

secondary schools: Digital tools and practical strategies for successful implementation.

United States: Solution Tree.