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Verizon Thinkfinity Integration Framework
By Verizon Thinkfinity
Certification: June 2008–2010
Category of Alignment / Partnership:
ISTE NETS Aligned for Development
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Description
The Verizon Thinkfinity program (www.thinkfinity.org/pd) is a nonprofit consortium of eleven of the nations premier education organizations and the Verizon Foundation, each dedicated to providing the highest quality, standards-based, online educational resources for teachers and students nationwide. Thinkfinity content partners are: the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Council on Economic Education, International Reading Association, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, National Center for Family Literacy, National Council of Teachers of English, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Geographic Society, ProLiteracy, and Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Thinkfinity's goal is to provide the best online educational resources and to help educators learn to use technology effectively within their instruction.
It is the intention of the Thinkfinity Professional Development team, to embrace a philosophy about the integration of Thinkfinity resources into the classroom (curriculum), and train teachers to successfully integrate resources, based on that philosophy. This “integration philosophy” is coined as the “Thinkfinity Integration Framework.”
Thinkfinity has developed a graphic representation of the Framework and subsequent tools that a teacher can use to understand the Framework and therefore successfully integrate Thinkfinity resources. Trainers can also use these tools to facilitate teachers’ understanding of the Framework and thus facilitate the successful integration of Thinkfinity resources. The Thinkfinity Integration Framework and subsequent tools used to employ the Framework embody principles from a coaching/mentoring model, in which an educator is presented a variety of questions and prompts, to which he/she responds. By doing so, the educator is able to clarify and advance his/her own ideas about/plans for integrating a Thinkfinity resource that is pedagogically sound and enhances student learning by doing one or more of the following:
- Empowering students to develop and demonstrate 21st Century Learning and Innovation Skills (creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, communication and collaboration)
- Engaging students in learning activities, in which they acquire current, accurate, and up-to-date information
The intention of the Integration Framework is to provide a model that supports teachers to:
- Design and customize technology-enriched learning experiences that engage students in learning activities that deepen learning in core subject areas and promote 21st century skills development, such as creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, and communication
- Facilitate student learning by recognizing preferred learning styles, work strategies, abilities and developmental levels of students, then develop and use specific strategies to effectively differentiate learning experiences
Review Summary and Statement of Alignment
The International Society for Technology in Education (www.iste.org) completed review of the Verizon Thinkfinity’s Integration Frameworkon June 12, 2009. ISTE determined that the program clearly supports implementation of the ISTE National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS•T 2008) in a specific, carefully reviewed and documented manner and prepares participants to substantially meet the following standards:
| NETS•T ALIGNMENT |
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Meets: 1.a., 2.a. |
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