Standard 2.6: Facilitator
From the ISTE website (2024):
Educators facilitate learning with technology to support student achievement of the ISTE Standards for Students.
a. Foster a culture where students take ownership of their learning goals and outcomes in both independent and group settings.
b. Manage the use of technology and student learning strategies in digital platforms, virtual environments, hands-on makerspaces and in the field.
c. Create learning opportunities that challenge students to use a design process and computational thinking to innovate and solve problems.
d. Model and nurture creativity and creative expression to communicate ideas, knowledge or connections.
Reflection:
I see a strong connection between Standard 2.6 for Educators and the ISTE Standards for Students, especially Standard 1.1: Empowered Learner. Educators who facilitate learning, rather than just teaching, help students become empowered learners. These are students who take initiative and tap into higher level thinking skills. Instead of memorization and tests, facilitated learning centers around application and projects, often self-directed by the students. Students demonstrate mastery by using their skills to accomplish tasks and solve problems.
Facilitated learning helps students develop critical thinking and creativity. It also helps students with their self-efficacy, how to take initiative, and how to apply their skills to a variety of situations and tasks. The teacher still plays an important role, but learning is more collaborative and open-ended, with students being at the center.
Teaching and facilitating can certainly co-exist. Sometimes, a traditional teaching lesson is needed to cover skills that will be used in the facilitated learning. When it is implemented correctly, students will have enough background knowledge to work through the project, without knowing everything ahead of time. They will still need to do some problem-solving and be creative on their own, but there will be enough scaffolding and guidance in place so that they are likely to be successful at the task.
Featured Artifact:
The artifact I will focus on for this standard is my school's Robotics Program. I utilize robots in both my technology classes and in my after-school club. Here is a presentation about three different robotics technologies that I utilize and how robotics helps facilitate learning. In addition, here is a robotics competition that I designed for Warren County last year.
Secondary Artifact:
Scratch Programming Projects - Interactive stories and games created by 6th grade students.
Sources:
Cherry, K. (2024, June 25). Self efficacy and why believing in yourself matters. Very Well Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-self-efficacy-2795954
DeVol, P. (2010). The difference between facilitating and teaching: Getting ahead and investigations. http://www.ahaprocess.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/GA-Difference-Between-Facilitating-Teaching.pdf
International Society for Technology in Education. (2024). ISTE standards: For educators. https://iste.org/standards/educators