TESOL Technology Standards

As you use assessment in your classroom, technology is a great way to get your students excited about what you are working on! Students are typically great with technology and love the opportunity to use it in the classroom. TESOL Technology Standards (which you can purchase here) is a tremendous resource as you seek to implement technology into the assessment cycle. There are three goals, with a total of eleven standards for students (language learners). There are also four goals, with a total of fourteen standards for teachers. The standards for teachers allow teachers the opportunity to self reflect on their use of technology, as well as giving teachers ideas for ways to use technology for professional purposes, teaching and learning, record keeping, and communication, to name a few.

What I want to focus on in this post are the goal and standards for students. According to the text, research shows that "there are important benefits to be gained from the use of technology in language learning and teaching" (p. 8). Additionally, research also shows that "technology in learning is not being used to its full potential and that inadequate teacher training and learner training are some of the main reasons for this" (p. 8). The TESOL Technology Standards seek to address these issues in several ways that I will post about in the next few days. For now, I'd love for you to take a look at the book and read more about the research. Teachers need to be convinced, by their own exploration, that technology in the classroom is indispensable.

As for the standards for learners...they can really help you as you design formative assessment in your classroom in several ways. One, your students will be excited to use technology. Secondly, as you can see from the research, technology is an important way to engage students in the learning process and there are a lot of really neat instruction ideas that involve technology. The TESOL Technology Standards allow you to make sure you are implementing technology in a way that is effective and appropriate for your students. I'll talk in later posts what this looks like practically!