Technology Skills for College & Career Readiness

Are your students College and Career Ready?  Really college and career ready? That is the goal of the Common Core State Standards, but it goes beyond the academic standards. In order to be ready to enter the workforce or be successful in college, they also must master technological skills as well.

You may be thinking: my kids are on technology eighteen hours a day; they have mastered technology!  This may be true, but there are specific skills that will benefit them not only in taking PARCC (Partnership for the Assessment for the Readiness of College and Careers) or Smarter Balanced assessments.

These assessments are designed for online administration; we want the online format to be an impediment to student success, but these skills are useful well beyond the test, ensuring students are truly ready for College & Careers.  The goal should be seamlessly integrating a variety of technology to guide and assist students in learning and demonstrating understanding.

Here are ten technology skills that students will need to master for online testing as well as for their college & careers:

1. Keyboarding—not only knowing how to type but also how use the keyboard effectively—making various punctuation marks, using the arrows, etc.
2. Reading on a screen—read continual text on an electronic device and be able to adjust color, size, etc.
3. Composing on a device—actually writing and entire piece or taking notes using a keyboard, computer, or other electronic device
4. Dragging & dropping—manipulating stuff on the screen
5. Navigating screens or tabs—clicking on tabs to move from one to another; returning to previous tabs
6. Scrolling in multiple windows—having a text on the left with its own scroll bar (that moves the text up and down) and another window on the write to answer questions
7. Math tools—using a calculator, ruler, protractor, etc. on a computer or device rather than in real life
8. Writing tools—cut & past, underlining, bold, bullets, highlighting, spell check
9. Using media—being able to stop, start, or restart videos, audio clips, podcasts
10. Note taking—jotting down key details, text evidence, and textual information as one reads, views, or listens

How do you accomplish these during your day? Here are three very easy but useful hints for developing technology skills in your students:

• Use an Interactive Whiteboard (SMART Board or Promethean Board) to display the keyboard and show how to make capital letters, different punctuation marks, etc.
• Try a wireless keyboard that can be moved around the room for students to type on. (I got one at Target for about thirty bucks.)
• Use a program such as Microsoft ® OneNote to record details and information as one reads, views, or listens.

Check out an infographic on College & Career technology.