This month, our feature article focuses on the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS). The primary goal of the International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE) NETS Project is to enable stakeholders in Pre K-12 education to develop national standards for educational uses of technology that facilitate school improvement in the United States.

The ISTE web site provides curriculum examples and scenarios to illustrate how technology can support instruction throughout the grade levels and subject areas. These examples provide a great starting point if your school district is looking at how to map NETS to your curriculum.

In Sunapee, New Hampshire, mapping NETS to curriculum has become a priority area for teachers. We spoke with Dan Hudkins, Technology Coordinator for the district to find out about how the process has been going and what he would recommend to other districts that are also trying to integrate NETS with their curriculum.

Jennifer Kagan: Why did your district think that it was important to align NETS with curriculum standards?

Dan Hudkins: Our students have a need to use 21st centuries tools in their daily lives for teaching, learning, and working. In New Hampshire, we are used to operating in a standards-based environment in terms of curriculum, but our state has no technology frameworks. NETS is helping us look at how we can cover this new area of tools (technology) in a standards-based way.

JK: What is your ultimate goal?

DH: Ultimately, we want kids to be able to choose and use the right tool to solve the problems with which they are faced.

JK: How did your district get started looking at NETS?

DH: We’re part of the New Hampshire Best Schools Initiative. Through that program, we started a committee that included myself, the assistant superintendent, some teachers, school board members, and students. Our three-year task was to plan how our district would implement NETS K-12.

JK: Where are you in the process now?

DH: We’re about six months into the process now and we’ve spent a great deal of time getting the word out about NETS and educating the faculty on the proficiencies for students. Our faculty now believes that this is important work. At each grade level, teams of teachers are looking at exactly when and how it makes sense to incorporate NETS proficiencies into lessons and units.

We have found that even across subject areas, there are certain technology skills that make sense to prioritize at the various grade levels. For example, in seventh grade, students will be expected to create PowerPoint presentations because this aligns with the types of projects that they are expected to complete in both Science and Social Studies. Our departments are small enough that it makes sense to work across grade levels, rather than by department

Along with determining what will be taught at each grade level, we’re looking at how to evaluate what students can do with technology. Grade level teams are developing assessments for the NETS proficiencies. At this point, our committee of teachers and administrators has recommended to the school board adoption that students meet the NETS proficiencies at grades, 2, 5, 8, 12

JK: How does NETS fit with your district technology plan?

DH: We started introducing NETS to our faculty three years ago, and at that point NETS had not yet been a part of our technology plan. The work we’ve been doing with NETS will be reflected in our updated technology plan.

JK: How does professional development fit into the work you’ve been doing to get teachers on board with NETS?

DH: Technology professional development has been an ongoing process. We’ve used a variety of forms of training, including Connected University, external consultants, internally designed and delivered training, and peer to peer mentoring.

JK: Where can we learn more about what’s happening in Sunapee and other New Hampshire school districts in the area of technology integration?

DH: Visit New Hampshire Educators Online (NHEON).

JK: What recommendations do you have for other districts that want to get teachers excited about mapping their curriculum to NETS?

DH: To avoid a Roman candle effect — a great idea that flares out quickly — these are some important thing to remember:

• Talk to faculty early so that people are thinking about the important issues.
• Build constituencies for the importance of the skill set itself — find teachers who are well regarded by their peers and get them on board as mentors.
• Do the same thing with administrators.
• Have plenty of training options available.
• Make sure that you build your constituencies before you roll out the plan. Agree on the objectives, the rest will roll itself out.

Return to the December, 2000 Sun Associates News

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