New ICT Competency Standards for Teachers

January 8, 2008 - The ICT Competency Standards for Teachers were developed under UNESCO leadership in cooperation with ISTE, the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), and corporate partners Cisco, Intel, and Microsoft. Competency standards for teachers are designed to help educational policy-makers and curriculum developers identify the skills teachers need to harness technology in the service of education.

UNESCO and its collaborators introduced the ICT Competency Standards for Teachers along with a set of three support booklets including:
1) A Policy Framework explaining the rationale, structure and approach of the ICT-CST project;
2) A Competency Standards Modules’ Structure which crosses the components of educational reform with various policy approaches to generate a matrix of skill sets for teachers;
3) Implementation Guidelines providing a detailed syllabus of the specific skills to be acquired by teachers within each skill set/module.

CECA Tech Expo

Apply Today to Exhibit Your Student Technology Projects

CECA’s 13th Annual Technology Exposition at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford is scheduled for Wednesday, April 2, 2008. It will showcase the standards-based technology projects that students have created. Thirty schools will be chosen for the annual Exhibition.

We are looking for quality projects on a variety of subjects that integrate technology with the curriculum. Elementary, middle and high school teachers in the state are encouraged to apply.

Online application is available at www.ceca-ct.org from January 1,
2008 to February 15, 2008. With all of the impressive technology integration taking place in the schools, we are looking forward to your application.* Be sure to check out previous Tech Expo photos at the CECA website.

Help us celebrate technology integration in Connecticut schools and share the excitement with Connecticut’s Legislators.

If you have any questions please email them to: TechExpoChair@CECAInfo.org

*Considerations for preparing an application:
- Up to 2 teachers and 4 students may represent the school.
- You will need to provide your own computer equipment.
- There are NO Internet connections available.
- Tables, easels, chairs and electrical hookups will be provided.
- There are three demonstration periods: 9:00 - 10:15 AM, 10:30 -
11:45 AM, 12:00 - 1:15 PM.

EETT Funded at $267 Million in Omnibus Appropriations Bill

Yesterday, the House and Senate passed an Omnibus appropriations bill that will go to the President for his signature. This bill did include a 1.747% cut of all educational programs across the board, and several programs were eliminated, including Title V. Funding for EETT is $267 million. (If this cut sounds familiar, it is because two years ago, a similar amount was reduced from all educaitonal program to help support the costs in Iraq.) What this means to Connecticut is a decrease from the present $2.2M to approximately $1.9M.

Give One Get One

From now through December 31, 2007, One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is offering a Give One Get One program in the United States and Canada. This is the first time the revolutionary XO laptop has been made available to the general public. For a donation of $399, one XO laptop will be sent to empower a child in a developing nation and one will be sent to the child in your life in recognition of your contribution. Up to $200 of your donation may be tax-deductible (your $399 donation minus the fair market value of the XO laptop you will be receiving).