The Michigan Integrated Technology Competencies for Students (MITECS)

Just after the calendar struck 2018, the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) released a great gift. The MDE approved the updated Technology Competencies for Students. This update, which is set to replace the 2009 Michigan Educational Technology Standards for Students (METS-S), is based largely upon the International Society for Technology in Education's (ISTE) 2016 Standards for Students. While the METS-S focused more on skills with the technology, the updated MITECS focus almost exclusively on the learning and doing with technology. This is moving away from a more tool-specific approach to a more holistic approach to technology integration. Dr. Liz Kolb, one of the keynotes that the Lake Michigan Tech Conference this summer, phrases it perfectly in her new book, Learning First, Technology Second. To paraphrase Dr. Kolb (2017), you don't choose the tool and then find the problem. The MITECS take that approach to technology integration.

As students progress through their education, technology is becoming more ubiquitous in everything that they do. In an effort to help break down the silos of specific classes and to focus on more cross-curricular, these new competencies are designed to be embedded into core classes and part of the way that students learn. The MITECS are designed to be applicable to almost anything that you are doing in your curriculum. These are easy to apply to your already planned curriculum. When looking at items like a global collaborator, it would be easy to explore ways and opinions from across the world. This can easily be done over the internet and with little outside knowledge from the teacher. The benefit is for the student that realizes that walls of a school are artificial and the skills from learning from others with different backgrounds. It is important that these skills are used moving into the economy of the future.

If you have any questions about the MITECS, I would be happy to work with you on it.