Subtract the 'digital tools' from them (or any permutation of the term) and you are still left with good teaching. That leaves us with two big questions: 1. Do we need NETs?; and 2. Can you be a good teacher without using digital tools?
The answer to number 1? No. I have known great teachers who do not use computers etc. in their classes. Nonetheless, their classrooms resemble in every respect the environment that the NETs evoke (minus the digital tools). Creativity, originality and collaboration do not begin with any particular tools or format. Good teachers find good ways to use good tools. They find ways for students to express themselves and to work together.
I have also known lousy teachers where little of value takes place with or without a digital tool. Their students' work does not reflect analysis, collaboration or introspection. Once again, but in a not so positive way, the tool does not matter.
The NETs serve as guidelines for the kind of work students and teachers should be doing. Of that there is no question. Good teachers will find ways to work with digital tools in great ways whether or not the NETs were ever written. If the NETs serve a purpose it is to guide people to the good pedagogy WITH DIGITAL TOOLS. Shouldn't we just guide people towards good pedagogy? PERIOD - NO QUALIFIERS.
Can you be a good teacher without digital tools? Duh. Do I want to use them in my classroom? Sí. Am I constantly looking for new ways to use them? Definitivamente. Could I go to another school that didn't have a wide array of digital tools available for classroom use? Claro. I would be sad at first, but I know that, just as it always has, my pedagogical practice would adjust to the demands of my environment.
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