When it comes to technology integration and general innovation of the classroom, there is an inarguable paradox that becomes a stumbling block for education professionals and students alike. The paradox is this: the education system is meant to prepare students for the world beyond the classroom and yet is painfully slow when it comes to integrating integral aspects of that world. Will Richardson is an education professional dedicated to innovation and integration of classroom technology. In one of his older books, he wrote in regard to education technology tools, "As is often the case, education has been slow to adapt to these new tools and potentials" (Richardson, 2010, p.3). It seems that whenever a new tool or software comes out that students use in daily life and will need to master in order to be successful in daily life, the questions that education as a system asks is not "How do we help our students master this tool?" but rather "How do we prevent our students from having access to new technology so they can focus on school work?"
This opposition between mission and practice in education is harming students preparation for life outside the classroom. Pew Research Center (2025) reports that 46% of teenagers in the U.S. are on their phones "almost constantly." Another report from Pew Research Center (2019) finds that while the majority of jobs today require proficient digital literacy skills, many Americans struggle with things as basic as digital organization and personal cyber security despite their exceeding amount of time spent on personal devices. Schools see devices as distractions and restrict them as such, thus causing students to see them the same way. The majority of teenagers I have had in my classroom know only how to view their phones and other technology as toys where the world expects them to use those devices as tools.
The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has put together a set of standards that will help students to be prepared for life outside the classroom and to harness the potential of the technology tools at their fingertips. The ISTE standards for students are as follows:
1.1 Empowered Learner: Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences.
1.2 Digital Citizen: Students recognize the responsibilities and opportunities for positively contributing to their digital communities.
1.3 Knowledge Constructor: Students critically curate a variety of resources using digital tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts and make meaningful learning experiences for themselves and others.
1.4 Innovative Designer: Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions.
1.5 Computational Thinker: Students develop and employ strategies for understanding and solving problems in ways that leverage the power of technological methods to develop and test solutions.
1.6 Creative Communicator: Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals.
1.7 Global Collaborator: Students use digital tools to broaden their perspectives and enrich their learning by collaborating with others and working effectively in teams locally and globally.
(ISTE, 2024)
Each standard is broken up into smaller learning targets on the ISTE website (ISTE, 2024). By including these standards along with content-specific standards, teachers can help their students prepare for what comes after they graduate, whether that's college, a trade school, or just daily life. As students learn to treat their devices as tools rather than toys, teachers will have less to fear of these devices becoming distractions in the classroom, but that is a point that must be worked towards.
References
The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2024). ISTE standards: For students. ISTE. https://iste.org/standards/students
Pew Research Center. (2024, January 5). Teens and internet, device access fact sheet. [Fact Sheet]. Pew Research Center. http://pewrsr.ch/2ijZKcj
Pew Research Center. (2019, October 9). Americans and digital knowledge in 2019. [Report]. Pew Research Center. https://pewrsr.ch/2oYHRJf
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Corwin.
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