Essential Conditions
I am away at an ISTE Institute workshop/conference for a few days working with some colleagues on developing and implementing a plan for professional developement in our high school. I am really enjoying working with our team, and we are learning some interesting things.
One of the things we focused on today was what ISTE calls Essential Conditions. Essential Conditions are defined by ISTE as aspects that need to have been addressed in order to make progress toward technological developments. These essential conditions include: shared vision, equitable access, skilled personnel, professional development, technical assistance, content standards and curriculum resources, student-centered learning, assessment and accountability, community support, support policies, and external conditions.
As a team we discussed each of these, evaluating our district on on a continuum from no progress to we’re there. There was general consensus among my team that my district has a long way to go before we arrive at WE’RE THERE! for all of the conditions. But we all agreed that having this professional development opportunity is a move in the right direction.
We decided that based on our plan, three areas we needed to address right now are shared vision, professional development and student-centered teaching. Key to our discussion was the fact that without shared vision, none of the other essential conditions is really possible. Tomorrow we will be spending much of the day working on our plans, so I’ll share some specific thoughts on what we accomplish and where we are going tomorrow. I think our plan is a really good one, and I am looking forward to sharing it here.
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