21st Century Teachers

The image below describes  the Connected Teaching Approach. 

In a connected teaching model, connection replaces isolation. Classroom educators are fully instrumented, with 24/7 access to data about student learning and analytic tools that help them act on the insights the data provide. Educators are connected to their students and to professional content, resources, and systems that empower them to create, manage, and assess engaging and relevant learning experiences for students both in and outside school. They also are connected to resources and expertise that improve their own instructional practices and that guide them in becoming facilitators and collaborators in their students’ increasingly self-directed learning.

In connected teaching, teaching is a team activity. Individual educators build online learning communities consisting of their students and their students’ peers; fellow educators in their schools, libraries, and afterschool programs; professional experts in various disciplines around the world....

source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/langwitches/3458534773/

Connected teaching also enables our education system to provide access to effective teaching and learning resources where they are not otherwise available and provide more options for all learners at all levels. This is accomplished by augmenting the expertise and competencies of specialized and exceptional educators with online learning systems and through on-demand courses and other self-directed learning opportunities.

The technology that enables connected teaching is available now, but not all the conditions necessary to leverage it are. Many of our existing educators do not have the same understanding of and ease with using technology that is part of the daily lives of professionals in other sectors and with this generation of students. The same can be said of many of the education leaders and policymakers in schools, districts, and states, and of the higher education institutions that prepare new educators for the field. This gap in technology understanding influences program and curriculum development, funding and purchase decisions about educational and information technology in schools, and pre-service and in-service professional learning. Too often, this gap prevents technology from being used in ways that would improve instructional practices and learning outcomes.

http://www.ed.gov/technology/draft-netp-2010/principles-connected-teaching