Are you a teacher with Edtech skills?

Educational technology or edtech skills is an essential characteristic of any teacher in this era. Whether a teacher is teaching in the pre-school level, a mentor at the high school level, an instructor or lecturer in the tertiary level or even a PhD professor in the graduate school– a teacher is not complete without any form of edtech skills.

Individuals who are not teaching would possess certain degrees of digital skills. So what about digital skills for teaching? So this is where edtech skills come in. Edtech skills would refer to the baseline know-how of technology, tools and applications blended and delivered to synchronize with the teacher’s teaching strategy.

For teachers aspiring to acquire edtech skills, what are the minimum know-how skills they need to achieve in the 21st century:

5. The teacher has familiarity of the fundamental Google applications — Gmail, Drive, Doc/Slides, Hangouts, Keep and Maps.

Knowledge and use of the Google applications provide the teacher agency to organize and manage her files. Moving and navigating around these Google applications also orient her to the push-pull and linking nature of the web. This makes her adaptive to collaborating in the other activities.

4. The teacher has knowledge of ready-to-use sites and online references for practice. This means she should know very well her subject matter. If she knows her subject matter, she should build a list of online useful sites for her teaching.

3. The teacher is able to independently design and create digitized, reusable, instructional materials. She understands her context and must continually improve her teaching craft through development of learning materials in digital format. It could be creation of slides (maybe animated or interactive), web/google sites, activities/exercises in shareable google docs, infographics, interactive activities and assessments etc. These materials become part of the teacher’s portfolio.

2. The teacher uses web applications to effectively deliver the context of her teaching  and able to communicate as well. Apart from using programs for developing and organizing learning resources, the teacher delivers in the context of technology. If she is teaching Literature, she can use and introduce Toondoo or StripGenerator for storytelling. If she is teaching statistics, Gapminder is a platform that generates insightful figures for discussing world issues.

There are overlaps in no. 3 and no. 2. But it is recommended that the teacher finds the suitable applications and programs that would augment her subject area.

In addition, the teacher is able to communicate to her students using a channel beyond the classroom walls.

1. The teacher knows how to use a Learning Management System: register, plan a course, distribute the materials in a timely manner, deliver and interact with the students or learners and perform evaluation and reporting.

All millennials, post-millennials and Google generation learners have one way or the other, interfaced with a LMS. So without any inhibition, a teacher, amateur or senior, must be able to organize and manage a course whether in a blended or fully online course using a LMS.

The list I made maybe perceived as very demanding. But as we look at the digital now which we often call as the 21st century, a situation that merges learning, technology and communication, edtech skills are evolving. It is not a matter of counting the tools the teacher is familiar with or pushing away one and espousing another set of applications. The baseline bubbles of tools and applications go hand in hand. The teacher needs to unravel how these would enhance her teaching profession and be effective at the same time.