With the modern technologies available today, delivering lessons to students can be more interactive and interesting. In the USA, they have the ISTE Classroom Observation Tool (ICOT), an observation tool developed by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).  The ISTE is a membership association for educators and education leaders.

           The purpose of the association is to engage in advancing quality in learning and teaching through technology. It is also responsible for developing the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for students, teachers and administrators. The classroom observation tool was designed to assess the amount of technology being used in the classroom as well as its effective use based on the NETS.

         While the Philippines has no clear regulating and supporting body for this as of now except for the efforts provided by the Department of Education, teachers can utilize online resources if they want to incorporate technology materials into their lessons. There are lots available today in the internet. Choose the ones appropriate for the level of your students to maximize its benefits.

          You can download the ICOT application by registering free online in this site. http://www.iste.org/learn/research-and-evaluation/icot. Once the educator has registered and downloaded the application, classroom observation of both teachers and students can be conducted using a lop tap computer off line. You can also upload the data to a secure online account where the data can be aggregated to generate reports. Of course, this depends on your school’ computer and internet availability. The bottom line is that if you assess that the tools are helpful to you, why not use them or modify them according to your class specification. Anything appropriate that can help in improving your teaching and students’ academic and behavioral performance should be welcomed at all times.

By: Edwina B. Gatmen | Teacher II | Bagac Elementary School | Bagac, Bataan