New Jerseys Educational Technology

Training Centers
Technology Proficiency Courses and "Techlist"
2001

The ETTCs were founded in July, 1997, and, since that time, all twenty-one have
worked collaboratively to establish the best possible training classes for New Jerseys
teachers. Keeping a balance between discrete skills training and project-based learning, a
four-level outline of Technology Proficiency Courses has been developed to provide
teachers with a comprehensive education in all aspects of educational technology.
Approved by the State Department of Education s Office of Educational Technology, this
collection of courses provides a framework for each ETTC to offer comparable courses
Statewide. As participants complete each of the four levels (Beginner, Intermediate,
Advanced, and Mastery), they are eligible to receive a certificate from the State.
Each course is supported by Proficiency Checklists which both explain the
requirements for each course and enable trainees to determine what they dont know as
well as what they do. Since this program has established a set of standards for instruction in
educational technology for teachers, the ETTCs have also developed an ETTC "Can-do
Techlist" that can be used by districts to complete the STAFF DEVELOPMENT section (see
p. 2) of the Three Year Local District Technology Plan Checklist.
Underpinning the design of the scope and sequence of these courses is our recognition
of the unique requirements of teacher training in technology. Unlike most professional
development in the disciplines where the teachers know the content and can usually
concentrate on a new approach to teaching it, technology training requires a three-phased
learning process: learning a new hands-on skill; determining if and how and where it
meets instructional needs; and developing the confidence, strategies, and equipmentmanagement skills to teach the skill to their own students. This requires a lot of spiraling
in the design of educational technology curricula as teachers master a discrete skill,
application, or piece of equipment; reflect on its use; determine how to teach it (and often
where - classroom, lab, library?); and then try it out with their students. In the face of all of
this and the usual time constraints, the ETTCs are endeavoring to both teach skills and
integration strategies as well as to model a more transformational classroom approach.

In order to achieve that goal, the ETTC courses have been designed to meet the
following three objectives:|
Micro Skills are competencies that comprise technical literacy; they answer the
question, How does this work?
Macro Skills are applications that comprise contextual literacy; they answer the
question, Where can I use this?

Mastery is the process of inquiry that comprises transformational literacy; it seeks to

answer the question, How does use of technology transform teaching and
learning in my classroom and in my life?

If todays teachers are going to inspire the children of the 21st century, they need to be
the kind of transformative curriculum leaders described by Henderson and Hawthorne in
their book, Transformative Curriculum Leadership (2000), as ...people with a passion for
making life better for children... (p.182) [who] ...must be willing to tirelessly work to redesign
school programs..., begin[ning] with a deep ethic of care for others... (p.186).
According to Nel Noddings in The Challenge to Care in Schools (Teachers College
Press, 1992), Caring implies competence; when we care, we take responsibility to work at
our own competence so the recipient of our care is enhanced.
The ETTCs of New Jersey are dedicated to providing opportunities for teachers to
continuously increase their technological competence in a caring environment.
Click here to find your countys ETTC
Educational Technology Training Centers of New Jersey
2001