ISTE Standards 2025–26

My formal goals for 2025–26 are documented and linked in my goals post, but goal-setting for me doesn't stop at the official portfolio program. I maintain my own projects and pursuits outside that structure, and technology is essentially ubiquitous across all of them. This year that's included sharing designs with the world, such as a modular LED system that has been downloaded by thousands of people. I also took a deep dive into building and running a home "datacenter", learning everything that entails from the ground up.

Self Assessment: Proficient+. Formal goals plus personal projects, thousands of downloads, a home server, and a web tools to help others with microcontrollers exceed proficient.

As noted in last year's post, I'm an active member of a WeChat group connecting Design teachers and industrial designers. This year I presented again at the EdTech GZ conference, and in the previous year exhibited my work at Maker Faire Shenzhen. Staying current with technology and connected to the people pushing it forward is something I do naturally. I plan to share my original resources with the DP design chat and communities on Facebook once a bit more refined.

Self Assessment: Proficient. EdTech GZ, Maker Faire Shenzhen, and an active design teacher network cover this thoroughly.

Staying current isn't something I have to remind myself to do, it's just something I do and it also happens naturally through the projects I pursue. A few concrete examples from this year: I've kept pace with developments in 3D printing technology, followed the rapid evolution of AI closely enough to set up and run local AI models on my own hardware, and built out a home network of devices I'd describe affectionately as my own small data center. The student tools and activities on this site are perhaps the clearest evidence of where that research goes. They reflect my ongoing efforts to bring genuinely current technology into the classroom in practical, accessible ways.

Self Assessment: Proficient+. Running local LLMs, building a home data center, and deploying student-facing tools puts this beyond the rubric's frame of reference

I talk frequently with our head of technology integration, and that's been a genuine two-way conversation about joint initiatives. My push into microcontrollers, for example, is something I've shared progress on at nearly every step, with the intention of working to develop something transferable to students and to the school's broader technology goals. Beyond that, I've worked to bring more STEM into Design, across MYP and now DP, by incorporating engineering and mechanical thinking, including building machines using Lego Technic. Broader, better STEM education is a shared goal at the school, and it's one I'm actively pushing forward.

Self-assessment: Proficient. Ongoing dialogue with the head of technology integration, explicit shared goals around microcontrollers and STEM, and active cross-division curriculum work all demonstrate this clearly.

Every student in middle and high school at our school has a MacBook, which establishes a solid baseline. As a result equitable access in practice means more than hardware, it means ensuring the tools I direct students to actually work for them at home. I'm intentional about this. The student tools on this site were built and deployed specifically to be accessible without a private network or proxy, preventing issues like students not being able to access their work at home. Getting the site set up in a way that loads reliably here took real effort, and that effort was worth it.

Self Assessment: Proficient. Deploying tools that load without a VPN in China is a concrete, deliberate act of access advocacy that goes beyond occasional discussion.

Modelling digital tool use is a constant in my classroom, whether that's walking students through Fusion, Bricklink Studio, or any of the other tools we use for class. I also model how I use AI, which I think is increasingly important. The goal isn't to present AI as something to be suspicious of, but to show what genuinely productive use looks like, and using it to advance a project in a way that holds up to scrutiny and upholds academic integrity. If students can see how I use it, they have a better frame for how they might use it well themselves.

Self Assessment: Proficient+. Tools produced and methods shared go beyond identification and use.

The tools and activities I've built for students are a direct attempt to create positive, productive online experiences. My Moodle classes and this website were both built to give students a wealth of useful resources in one place and reduce the need to venture outside of those spaces to find what they need. The more I can provide within a curated, reliable environment, the better the experience for them.

Self Assessment: Proficient. Online experiences are intentional and augment learning, without adding fluff or feeling like a chore.

This comes up regularly in DP Design Technology in particular. When we review videos or outside resources, we talk about who made them, what their perspective might be, and where potential bias could come from. Credibility isn't assumed and it's something we actively discuss.

Self Assessment: Proficient. Active discussion of source bias and author perspective in DP class meets this standard comfortably.

This isn't always an explicit, spoken-aloud lesson, but it's a consistent presence. Whether it's how I approach AI use, how I cite sources, or what I communicate as expected practice, the modelling is there. Students see what careful, ethical use of technology looks like in practice, and that's often more effective than a direct instruction.

Self Assessment: Proficient. Consistent modelling of AI ethics and citation practice, even when not explicitly foregrounded as a lesson.

This hasn't required detailed attention yet, but it's on the horizon. As my DP students move into more involved survey work for their IA projects and hands-on experience we'll have intentional discussions around user data protection.

Self Assessment: Proficient. Not yet actively modelling this, but the groundwork for DP survey work is being laid with intention.

Collaboration with colleagues has taken several forms this year. Within the department I've worked actively with Francois and Brett on curriculum improvement, and reached out to the DP Sciences team to understand their practices and find ways to strengthen my own. As a member of the DEIJ committee I've presented twice this year on promoting diversity and equity in the classroom, and have taken ideas from other teachers back into my own practice in the same spirit. Arts Week and various school events have brought further opportunities to work across departments. The collaboration here is ongoing and varied rather than confined to any one context.

Self Assessment: Proficient. DEIJ committee presentations, curriculum co-development with Francois, Bret, and Joyce and cross-divisional outreach to DP Sciences cover this well.

I model this as often as I can. I'll demonstrate programs and provide answers where I have them, but I'm not at all unsettled by not knowing something and I don't pretend otherwise. When a student asks something I can't immediately answer, I work through the process of finding one with them and make a point of naming what I've just learned. My favourite version of this is when a student teaches me something new. That happens, I celebrate it, and I think it sends a message worth sending.

Self Assessment: Proficient. Modelling not-knowing as a feature rather than a flaw, and celebrating when students teach you something, is a more sophisticated take on this than the rubric anticipates.

The clearest example this year is Moodle, used with forums to have students post work, share ideas, and discuss elements of their projects and learning. Beyond that, Bricklink Studio, used in grade six for Lego set design, has a Build Together mode that allows multiple students to work on the same project simultaneously, enabling genuine real-time collaborative building.

Self Assessment: Proficient. The tools discussed explicitly allow digital collaboration, while additional semi or non-digital collaboration continues to occur.

As a member of the DEIJ committee I've spent considerable time this year focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion, both in terms of what I've presented and what I've taken back into my own classroom from others. Living and working in China as a foreigner makes a baseline level of cultural competency a daily necessity rather than an aspiration. I've gone further than that by taking Mandarin lessons outside of school, developing enough language to better understand what students around me might be saying. Where situations arise that carry the potential for cultural misunderstanding, I try to approach them with care and intentionality.

Self Assessment: Proficient. DEIJ committee membership, Mandarin lessons, and deliberate handling of cultural situations exceed a baseline awareness.

For younger grades I translate task instructions and success criteria into students' native languages so that what they need to do and what success looks like is accessible regardless of English proficiency. The same applies to vocabulary lists and challenging concepts, where I do my best to provide models so that no student is left guessing. Assessment design follows the same principle: I work hard to build tasks that don't penalise students for language skills, while also setting a high enough skill ceiling that strong students aren't held back by an assignment that's already been maxed out. The goal is for every student to have a genuine opportunity to do their best work.

Self Assessment: Proficient. Translanguaging instructions and vocabulary, bilingual posted materials, and assessment design with both a low floor and a high ceiling go well beyond personalising for some learners.

Much of my class is built around extended project work, but a few specific activities stand out as intentionally authentic. The DP web activities, including the material selection text adventure, put students in the position of navigating real constraints: budget, material properties, and tangible project needs, in a format that's more engaging than a worksheet. In grade seven, the Slowest Car Challenge asks students to use only gears to reduce a motor's speed as much as possible with no programming, no controllers, just mechanical problem solving and trial and error. Students have taken real satisfaction in producing cars whose motion is almost imperceptible, which says something about how much more invested they are when the challenge is concrete and the outcome is their own.

Self Assessment: Proficient. Maximum Learning!

Seating is shuffled regularly to make sure no student ends up consistently out of reach or out of notice. Materials are posted in both English and Chinese, and two screens on different walls mean there are no bad seats for viewing demonstrations or presented content. For the more challenging software used in class I provide considerable support material to ensure students can keep pace regardless of their starting point.

Self Assessment: Proficient.Rotating seating, dual screens, bilingual materials, and software support scaffolding are evidence-based design choices that consistently serve all learners.

The projects I design for students are built around the idea that they should end up with something they're genuinely proud of that required real time and effort to produce. As students get older, more autonomy is introduced and they're expected to take an increasingly active role in directing their own work. By the time they reach DP, that autonomy is substantial, and the work reflects it.

Self Assessment: Proficient. Progressive autonomy from MYP through DP, with project work students are genuinely invested in, demonstrates this clearly.

For younger grades I use Apple Classroom to monitor device use and keep students on task. In the upper grades students are progressively brought into the full 3D printing workflow, learning to slice files and operate the printers themselves so that, once trained, they can print their own work without needing teacher sign-off at every step. The goal in both cases is the same: technology managed well enough that it stays in service of learning rather than becoming a distraction or a bottleneck.

Self Assessment: Proficient. Apple Classroom for younger students and a full 3D printing workflow handoff to trained students are well-matched examples.

Free space. There is ample evidence of this throughout the portfolio.

Self Assessment: Proficient+. I'd hope this one is self evident.

Students have considerable room to be creative in my classes, frequently within real-world constraints like specific programs, materials, budgets, timelines. I'd argue those constraints don't inhibit creativity so much as direct it somewhere useful. The guardrails are there to place creative thinking into a context that resembles how design actually works.

Self Assessment: Proficient. Creativity within real-world constraints is a more sophisticated model than the rubric describes, and the student work reflects it.

I don't offer alternative assessments, and I'm not especially concerned about that. Every student works on the same project. That said, in a project-based learning context the range of what students actually produce is enormous. The student who completes an assessment and earns 3's for each criteria and the student who earns 8's for each if them have, in many meaningful ways, completed different projects. In essence, task

Self Assessment: Learner. Same-project, variable-outcome feels like a reasonable and defensible position, but it doesn't map neatly to what the rubric is asking for.

Technology is woven into assessments across the board. Students use Canva, Moodle, Teams, and various other tools depending on the task. If a word processor counts, then yes, technology is involved at every level. More deliberately, I've used AI as an ideation tool when developing units and projects working through possibilities and refining ideas before they reach students. The intent throughout is to use the best tools available to produce the best possible learning experience.

Self Assessment: Proficient. Technology is embedded throughout assessment; from tools used to AI-assisted unit ideation.

At the class level I consistently revise units and projects based on how students have performed, what's proved challenging, what's been too straightforward, what needs rebalancing. That feeds into the next iteration of the assessment, whether later that year or the year after. I also draw on reading and literacy data from the school database to identify concerns early and factor that into decisions like seating arrangements, making sure students who need more support are positioned to get it.

Self Assessment: Proficient. Iterative assessment revision and the use of school literacy data for seating and support decisions both demonstrate consistent, purposeful data use.