What Are ISTE Standards? (And Why Do They Matter?)

Educators in career and technical education (CTE) are consistently tasked with appropriately incorporating technology into their classrooms. Often, instructors are required to follow the standards set by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).

But what exactly is the ISTE? What standards do they set, and how can you meet these criteria in your technology lessons?

In this article, you'll discover everything you need to know about ISTE standards. After reading, you should have a good understanding of each standard so you can incorporate them in your classroom instruction.

What Is the ISTE?

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is the foremost organization in teaching technology in the classroom. As a result, they are uniquely positioned to articulate standards for using technology in classrooms and schools.

Working as a nonprofit organization, the ISTE seeks to help students, educators, education leaders (administrators), and coaches implement technology in academic settings.

To help ensure each of these four groups of individuals succeed, the ISTE has established a unique set of standards for each group. In total, the most up-to-date version includes 26 ISTE standards across all four groups. 

Below, we'll consider each of the standards in more detail. You'll also learn how you can meet these standards to maximize your program's use of technology.

First, we’ll look at the most important group — students.

Group 1: ISTE Standards for Students

It may sound strange to have ISTE standards for students, but education is a two-way street. Students need to be receptive to an education if they’re actually going to learn.

With that in mind, the ISTE has established seven key standards for students to follow.

ISTE student standards are:

1. Empowered Learner
2. Digital Citizen
3. Knowledge Constructor
4. Innovative Designer
5. Computational Thinker
6. Creative Communicator
7. Global Collaborator

They also cover these standards in a fun music video.

Let’s break these standards down a bit further.

1.1 Empowered Learner

The empowered learner standard requires students to take an active part in their education.

To fulfill this standard, students need to:

• Set and work toward specific learning goals (1.1.a)
• Build networks and customize their learning environments (1.1.b)
• Seek feedback using classroom technology (1.1.c)
• Understand how technology operates (1.1.d)

These tenets are fulfilled when students set up individual learning goals and customize their learning environments to achieve those goals.

Then, students get feedback on what they’ve done. This lets them refine their goals and environment to achieve the best results.

Finally, students show that they understand the fundamental principles of modern technology and how to troubleshoot it for common problems. They also show that they can apply these concepts to emerging technologies so they can stay at the forefront of the technology industry.

1.2 Digital Citizen

ISTE standards require every student to be a good digital citizen. To meet this standard, students need to meet the following criteria:

• Manage their digital footprint (1.2.a)
• Engage in safe and positive online behavior (1.2.b)
• Understand and respect intellectual property (1.2.c)
• Manage their digital privacy and security (1.2.d)

Together, these criteria help students understand the rights and responsibilities that go along with using modern technology. Beyond that, it requires students to act ethically, legally, and safely online.

It’s crucial for students to understand how their personal information works online, not to mention who has access to it. Knowing this critical information helps learners contextualize the modern world and how it works, particularly when people reference concepts like “big data,” “data mining,” and hacking.

By fulfilling these criteria, students can understand the unseen factors that affect their lives every day.

1.3 Knowledge Constructor

ISTE’s knowledge constructor standard requires students to understand and contextualize information online, including:

• Demonstrating effective research strategies (1.3.a)
• Evaluating the accuracy and credibility of information (1.3.b)
• Curating information to come to meaningful conclusions (1.3.c)
• Building a knowledge base through exploring real-world issues (1.3.d)

Effective knowledge-building skills are critical in a technology-driven age. The internet has started an age of hyper-information, where it’s all but impossible to keep up with world events using traditional methods.

There’s also a shocking amount of misinformation (intentional or accidental) in the world that makes its way online every day. As a result, students need to know what reliable information looks like and where they can find it.

By self-qualifying data, reports, and connections, students can better understand what’s happening in the world and how they can fit into it. Students do this by learning about accuracy, perspective, bias, relevance, reliability, credibility, and conclusion-based reasoning.

In other words, this tenet requires students to learn critical thinking and apply it to 21st Century technology.

1.4 Innovative Designer

To be an innovative designer, students must understand the basics of problem-solving. This includes these skills:

• Implementing a design process (1.4.a)
• Use technology to understand design constraints and risks (1.4.b)
• Develop and test prototypes (1.4.c)
• Work with open-ended problems (1.4.d)

Innovation helps students take on problem-solving on a grand scale. It requires students to learn solution design, meaning they have to diagnose problems, prescribe solutions, and even make those solutions with digital tools.

By taking this approach to learning, students acquire a taste for answering open-ended problems, supporting their designs, and refining those designs for the best possible solutions.  

1.5 Computational Thinker

To be a computational thinker, ISTE says students must be able to create and employ strategies for solving problems that use technology. Specifically, they should be able to:

• Formulate problem definitions (1.5.a)
• Collect, identify, and represent relevant data sets (1.5.b)
• Break problems into their constituent parts (1.5.c)
• Understand automatic and use algorithmic thinking (1.5.d)

Computational thinking requires students to become familiar with data collection, data analysis, algorithmic thinking, and data representation. It also encourages students to break problems down into component parts, allowing them to better understand a specific issue.

Finally, students learn about automation and the importance of turning step-by-step tasks into machine-run innovations.

As you can see, computational thinking emphasizes efficiency above almost any other quality. That’s because efficiency is critical to success when working with technology. Students who understand the value of efficiency can succeed better both in and out of the work place.

1.6 Creative Communicator

Creative communicators expresses themselves clearly and concisely through digital media. They achieve this by:

• Choosing appropriate platforms and tools (1.6.a)
• Create original works or repurpose digital resources into new content (1.6.b)
• Communicate using digital models or simulations (1.6.c)
• Customize messages for intended audiences (1.6.d)

Creative communication is important for ISTE students because they’re around digital media all the time. As a result, it’s crucial that they understand how to use that media to its fullest potential.

Students learn about digital tools that can help them communicate, along with creating original materials that visualize their ideas. They also must know how to responsibly repurpose digital resources for their own uses with the use of models or simulations.

Most importantly, students must be able to follow through with the final step of publishing and presenting their ideas to the niche audience they want to reach. 

This makes the “creative communicator” requirement pretty open-ended, as each student will probably create a unique idea to communicate. But when they understand the tools available to them, students can express themselves digitally in ways that are otherwise impossible.

1.7 Global Collaborator

To become a global collaborator, students have to understand how their perspectives are different from others’ and work together to achieve a common goal. This includes:

• Using technology to make global connections with other learners (1.7.a)
• Collaborate technologically with others to solve problems (1.7.b)
• Work within and contribute to project teams (1.7.c)
• Explore local and global issues and potential solutions (1.7.d)

To become effective collaborators, learners must work on two levels: locally and globally. In both scenarios, students work with digital tools to broaden their horizons.

They work constructively in teams to achieve mutual interests while maintain a positive, helpful outlook. They also incorporate their knowledge of digital tools to create new solutions to different issues, both online and offline.

After exhibiting this quality, students have achieved each of the ISTE standards and demonstrated success in learning with technology.

Group 2: ISTE Standards for Teachers

ISTE teacher standards hold technology educators to high requirements. These standards prepare teachers to teach technology and advanced concepts in the classroom. They also encourage teachers to communicate with one another for better ideas on how to engage their students.

Overall, ISTE-compliant teachers take an active, innovative role in the education process to help students learn more effectively.

The ISTE standards for teachers are broken into seven roles that a teacher must fulfill. These standards are:

1. Learner
2. Leader
3. Citizen
4. Collaborator
5. Designer
6. Facilitator
7. Analyst

This is how teachers can adhere to ISTE standards.

2.1 Learner

To be effective educators, each teacher must also know how to be a learner. This includes being able to:

• Set professional goals that explore and apply different pedagogical approaches (2.1.a)
• Pursue and participate professional learning networks (2.1.b)
• Keep up with professional research on student learning outcomes (2.1.c)

For teachers, being learners means being willing to learn from and with others in their field to utilize the full potential of technology in the classroom.

It also means setting professional goals, pursuing interests in learning networks, and staying up-to-date with research in education.

As learning sciences advance, teachers must advance as well. That way, students constantly get the best education possible for them, and teachers can rest assured knowing they’re preparing their students for a highly-advanced world.

2.2 Leader

Teachers are leaders, and nowhere is this more appropriate than in the classroom. To meet this standard, teachers should:

• Advance a shared vision for learning with technology (2.2.a)
• Advocate for equitable access to educational technology (2.2.b)
• Demonstrate digital tool use for their colleagues (2.2.c)

To be ISTE compliant, teachers must continually search for opportunities to improve themselves and their classrooms.

ISTE teachers share a vision for the class with their students, and they actively shape that vision as the class continues. They play to that vision with technology, encouraging their students to use technology to join in the learning process.

Digital content, educational devices, and cutting-edge learning theory are all crucial to a teacher acting as an ISTE-compliant leader.

Most importantly, these teachers are pacesetters for their colleagues, taking the helm on identifying, evaluating, and adopting new technology to improve students’ learning. 

2.3 Citizen

A good ISTE teacher is also a great citizen and exemplifies these principles of citizenship:

• Creating positive experiences and establishing empathy with others (2.3.a)
• Evaluating resources for credibility as part of a learning culture (2.3.b)
• Lead students in understanding safe, legal, and ethical practices (2.3.c)
• Demonstrate sound digital privacy practices (2.3.d)

For teachers, exemplary citizenship means teachers regularly inspire students to act responsibly as they participate in the world — especially the digital world.

Part of that requires teachers to help students build and learn empathy, empowering them to put themselves in others’ shoes even online. This behavior promotes community-building among learners, especially as they become more curious of the digital world and learn digital literacy.

This ISTE standard also requires teachers to teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital tools. That includes the basics of intellectual property and the rights that go along with it. Last, teachers help students responsibly manage their personal data to keep it as safe as possible.

Overall, this requirement means teachers act as a role model that demonstrates responsible, intelligent use of digital resources.

2.4 Collaborator

To become ISTE-approved, a teacher has to demonstrate that they’re a collaborator with both colleagues and students. Specifically, this includes:

• Collaborating with colleagues to build learning experiences (2.4.a)
• Learning alongside their students in the use of technology (2.4.b)
• Employing collaborative tools in their instruction (2.4.c)
• Demonstrating cultural competency in their communications (2.4.d)

“Collaboration” in this context means meeting with those who have an impact on education. So teachers should swap ideas with one another and apply those ideas to their students to enhance the learning experience.

But teachers can also take a place alongside students in a learning capacity. In this context, teachers learn with students as they discover new digital resources, problems, and solutions.

Collaboration also requires using online tools to work with (and grade) students as they progress through lessons. Finally, it requires teachers to show cultural competency when meeting with students, parents, and teachers.

In a nutshell, teachers have to stay up-to-date with all of the important people in their professions — students, parents, and each other.

2.5 Designer

Becoming a designer requires a teacher to understand and implement learning-oriented environments to accommodate students at different learning levels. This includes being able to:

• Accommodate learning through differentiated instruction (2.5.a)
• Design standards-aligned learning activities with technology (2.5.b)
• Create an innovative learning environment (2.5.c)

Designing for differentiated instruction means teachers have to understand and implement individualized education plans, or IEPs. It also means teachers need to know what learning activities work with their students to maximize active and deep learning.

In addition, teachers must know how to apply instructional principles to their designs in order to get the best possible results for their students.

All of this requires the use of digital tools. While that may seem like a tall order for a teacher who isn’t tech-savvy, it’s essential as technology becomes a ubiquitous part of students’ lives. 

2.6 Facilitator

A teacher is considered a facilitator when they actively support student achievements through:

• Fostering student ownership of learning in individual and group settings (2.6.a)
• Managing the use of technology at the classroom level (2.6.b)
• Teaching students to use a design process and computational thinking (2.6.c)
• Modeling and encouraging creativity in the classroom (2.6.d)

To become a facilitator, teachers start by creating a classroom culture that places learning responsibility on the student both individually and together.

Teachers also have to manage the use of technology on digital platforms to ensure students use them for their intended purposes. Along with that, teachers innovate new learning challenges through design and computational thinking to promote a problem-solving mentality in the classroom.

Finally, teachers consistently nurture, encourage, and promote creativity to promote individuality in the classroom.

All in all, this helps students become self-reliant, critical-thinking individuals who learn how to adapt to wide range problems instead of simply learning how to solve a specific problem.  

2.7 Analyst

The final ISTE standard for teachers is called analyst. It requires teachers to learn, understand, and apply data to students’ goals.

Teachers exemplify analyst behavior by:

• Offering alternative assessments when appropriate (2.7.a)
• Using technology for formative and summative assessments (2.7.b)
• Using assessment data to guide student progress (2.7.c)

Teachers use that data to find alternative ways for students to succeed, ensuring individual students can play to their strengths instead of struggling along a single learning pathway.

Teachers gather this data using formative and summative assessments to figure out how they can better work with individual students or revamp a curriculum for a whole course.

Then, teachers discuss that data with students and parents to encourage self-direction and individuality among learners.

All told, ISTE standards for teachers require that they take an active-yet-restrained role in student learning. The results are adaptive, intelligent students who can adapt to a wide genre of problems instead of solving specific problems with the same solution every time they find it.

Group 3: ISTE Standards for Education Leaders

For ISTE, it’s not enough to lay out standards for students and teachers.

If a school is going to truly succeed, everyone involved in the educational process needs to be involved — and that applies to administrators as well.

ISTE standards for education leaders include:

1. Equity and Citizenship Advocate
2. Visionary Planner
3. Empowering Leader
4. Systems Designer
5. Connected Learner

So how can administrators adhere to these five ISTE standards?

3.1 Equity and Citizenship Advocacy

The first major quality of an ISTE-approved administrator is becoming an advocate for equity and citizenship. Specifically, this includes:

• Ensuring that students have access to skilled teachers (3.1.a)
• Guaranteeing that all students have access to technology (3.1.b)
• Demonstrating exemplary digital citizenship for teachers and students (3.1.c)
• Creating a culture of responsible online behavior (3.1.d)

Ensuring that students have access to competent instructors and the technologies they need to succeed is paramount to a successful educational experience for all.
But being a quality educational leader goes beyond providing teachers and technology: it also entails demonstrating the very principles of digital citizenship, and safe, ethical, and legal online behavior that every person in a school should demonstrate daily.

By providing the resources students need and demonstrating these positive behaviors, an administrator exemplifies the essential leadership skills at the core of the remaining ISTE standards.

3.2 Visionary Planner

The second ISTE standard for educational leaders is becoming a visionary planner. One can achieve this through:

• Creating a shared vision for their education programs (3.2.a)
• Formulating a strategic plan on the basis of this vision (3.2.b)
• Evaluating the progress of this strategic plan (3.2.c)
• Communicating effectively with students, teachers, and the community (3.2.d)
• Sharing lessons learned with the educational community (3.2.e)

This level of leadership requires dedication and commitment on a large scale. Administrators have to conceive and facilitate a crucial goal — their vision — so their school can become a better educational institution.

They also have to take an ongoing role in creating, implementing, and communicating strategic plans that apply to their vision.

Last, administrators have to be evangelists for their schools and any applicable public policy that helps it succeed. This includes using funding, technology, and program data to help their programs and students. 

An ISTE administrator must take the reins of their institution and become an influential leader. Without that influence and vision, they won’t be able to adhere to the remaining ISTE standards. 

3.3 Empowering Leader

Next, it’s important for administrators to construction a school culture where students and teachers are empowered to learn and innovate in the classroom.

Empowering Leaders exemplify these qualities:

• Empower educators to become leaders and pursue professional learning opportunities (3.3.a)
• Help educators develop confidence and competency in implementing ISTE standards (3.3.b)
• Encourage innovation and collaboration, especially when working with digital technologies (3.3.c)
• Use technology to meet diverse learning needs (3.3.d)
• Analyze data to reflect on student progress (3.3.e)

For administrators, empowering leadership involves creating a culture that encourages student engagement and active learning. This culture is also based on technology so students get consistent exposure to the digital tools they need to succeed.

Next, administrators have to provide teachers with professional development and resources so they can adapt to a diverse range of needs students may have. This plays a major role in a teacher’s ability to help every student excel.

Administrators also have to implement technology across their curriculum to ensure all teachers (and other administrators) are on the same page in terms of resources and procedures.

Lastly, it's critical that education leaders use data to analyze student progress and improve their programs.

In essence, administrators use technology just as much as teachers and students. That means all three groups are unified in terms of what they’re doing, why they’re doing it, and how well it’s working.

That consistency and communication is exceptionally important, especially if a school and its technology programs are to function as an entire cohesive system.

3.4 Systems Designer

To fully adhere to ISTE standards, administrators must exhibit excellent in establishing and improving technological systems at the school and program level. This includes being able to:

• Establish extensive infrastructure necessary for implementing a strategic technology plan (3.4.a)
• Make sure sufficient and scalable resources are available to meet current and future technology needs (3.4.b)
• Protect the privacy and security of students and staff (3.4.c)
• Build strategic partnerships to support the program vision (3.4.d)

Success as a systems designer is a quality great educational leaders share. In order to implement ambitious technological plans and a vision for a program, an administrator needs to be adept at providing the infrastructure and resources necessary to achieve a scalable vision.

Often, administrators will need to look outside their schools to build community partnerships that support this vision. All the while, it's incumbent on them to ensure that the data and security of their students and teachers are protected.

To make this possible, leaders will also need to be learners themselves!

3.5 Connected Learner

The ideal ISTE education leader is also a connected learner. This means modeling these behaviors for teachers and students:

• Staying up to date on innovations in learning technology (3.5.a)
• Take part in professional learning networks (3.5.b)
• Use technology to reflect on their own personal and professional growth (3.5.c)
• Seek continuous improvement for their programs and technology systems (3.5.d)

The best administrators stay up-to-date on emerging trends in technology and education. This keeps them in the loop, and it allows them to invent new ideas to take their schools to the next levels.

They encourage systemic improvement in their organizations by using metrics, data, and analytic standards to improve education and learning.

This also means continuing to learn on a personal level. Administrators have to initiate and participate in communities that let them refine their professional edge. This allows them to bring modern ideas to their schools to teach more effectively.

Ultimately, when education leaders demonstrate a commitment to connected learning, they are showing that they will continually adapt and improve for the benefit of themselves and the programs they serve.

Group 4: ISTE Standards for Technology Coaches

While some educational institutions only set standards for students, teachers, and administrators, ISTE goes a step further.

They also have ISTE standards for technology coaches.

These coaches could have any number of job titles at a school — “tech support,” “IT,” “networking,” and more.

But all technology coaches act as a hybrid of administrators and teachers. They actively participate in a school by acting as a thought leader, but they’re also responsible for instilling values and life skills through the use of technology.

Beyond that, ISTE standards demand that coaches keep up with the latest trends and advancements in education tech.

Coach ISTE standards are:

1. Change Agent
2. Connected Learner
3. Collaborator
4. Learning Designer
5. Professional Learning Facilitator
6. Data-Driven Decision-Maker
7. Digital Citizen Advocate

So how do these seven standards apply to coaches?

4.1 Change Agent

Technology coaches are in a unique position to affect change in programs. To do this, they should be able to:

• Formulate a shared vision and technology culture (4.1.a)
• Ensure equitable access to digital learning tools and content (4.1.b)
• Build a supportive coaching culture to benefit teachers and administrators (4.1.c)
• Recognize teachers who effectively integrate technology in the classroom (4.1.d)
• Maximize a program's technological potential (4.1.e)

Technology coaches should be the driving force behind the adoption of digital tools in their programs. This means inspiring the school with a technological vision and requires coaches to develop, communicate, and implement their vision to support a positive learning environment.

It’s also important for coaches to evaluate the strategies they have for their coaching style and see where technology fits best. They should also identify and celebrate teachers who have effectively integrated technology in the classroom to the benefit of learners.

Last, coaches are responsible for the initiation and maintenance of technology processes in the classroom. Altogether, this places coaches at the forefront of educational technology and program growth.

4.2 Connected Learner

Like students, educators, and education leaders, coaches should also model a commitment to continual learning and improvement.

They can achieve this through:

• Deepening their expertise through ongoing professional learning (4.2.a)
• Participating in their own professional learning networks (4.2.b)
• Establishing goals for continual improvement (4.2.c)

Being continual learners is especially important for technology coaches because these individuals are often the first to know about new digital developments that could affect administrators, teachers, and students.

By continually honing their expertise, coaches can be prepared to present and make decisions that benefit an entire school, allowing everyone to better achieve a program's long-term vision.

4.3 Collaborator

Effective coaches collaborate with teachers and administrators to improve instruction and student outcomes. Coaches demonstrate collaboration by:

• Building trust with teachers through coaching relationships (4.3.a)
• Working alongside teachers to find appropriate digital learning content (4.3.b)
• Work with educators to evaluate digital tools for effectiveness (4.3.c)
• Offer personal technology support to educators (4.3.d)

For technology coaches, collaboration is best exemplified in the nature of their relationships with teachers and administrators.

Coaches work alongside teachers to achieve the best possible outcomes for their students. This involves choosing the right tools, measuring their effectiveness in the classroom, and offering continual technological support along the way. 

The best coaches are able to achieve this in a way that demonstrates that they are partners in learning and reliable teammates in a school's technological journey.

4.4 Learning Designer

While teachers are often learning designers, its paramount for coaches to model learning design for their programs. This includes being able to: 

• Collaborate with teachers to develop learning experiences (4.4.a)
• Help teachers use technology to build effective assessments (4.4.b)
• Assist educators in accommodating learning through differentiated instruction (4.4.c)
• Demonstrate instructional design principles for educators (4.4.d)

Technology coaches can be the lead designers for their programs in so far as digital tools are concerned. Since they have experience with various technologies, they're able to collaborate with teachers to create an ideal digital learning environment for their students.

This includes helping teachers with formative and summative assessments, assisting in differentiated instruction, and modeling instructional design behaviors that others can emulate.

Meeting this ISTE standard makes coaches an asset in a program's ability to use technology in the classroom to satisfy the needs of teacher and students.

4.5 Professional Learning Facilitator

A coach acts as a professional learning facilitator by working with teachers to support student achievement through:

• Designing professional learning to meet teacher needs (4.5.a)
• Develop the capacity of teachers and administrators to implement ISTE standards (4.5.b)
• Evaluate the impact of professional development opportunities (4.5.c)

As an integral part of their role, coaches facilitate professional development for teachers and administrators that enable them to implement technology at the school and classroom level. To do this effectively, they need to be adept at designing high-quality training materials and hosting engaging seminars that align with ISTE standards.

Moreover, technology coaches help achieve scalability by building up the capacity of educators and education leaders to implement both technology and ISTE standards. They then reflect on the success of professional development and use this to improve future training opportunities.

When working effectively, coaches empower teachers and administrators to achieve their technological vision through continual training and support.

4.6 Data-Driven Decision-Maker

Technology coaches are often experienced in dealing with data. They demonstrate the importance of using data in making decisions through:

• Assisting teachers and administrators in securely collecting and analyzing student data (4.6.a)
• Aid educators in the process of interpretating this data (4.6.b)
• Help students use data to set their own goals and record progress (4.6.c)

Effective data use is the single most powerful tool in a program's ability to make future decisions, not only for adopting technology, but for the benefit of everyone involved. Coaches are in a position to influence administrators and teachers to better understand data and use it to make key choices that will set them up for future success.

When learners, teachers, and administrators are all enabled to use data in the decision-making process, a school is prepared for a bright future.

4.7 Digital Citizen Advocate

Finally, technology coaches are in a unique position to advocate for digital citizenship in the educational settings they serve.

Coaches promote digital citizenship by:

• Encouraging civic engagement using technology to meet challenges (4.7.a)
• Create a culture of respectful behavior online (4.7.b)
• Help teachers and students evaluate media (4.7.c)
• Support students, teachers, and administrators in protecting data and privacy (4.7.d)

Coaches are critical for digital citizenship advocacy and play a major role in ensuring that everyone is safe online. They demonstrate what it means to teach digital citizenship, helping everyone work critically to evaluate sources, protect sensitive data, and build a culture of respect.

When all of this is done effectively, coaches can be advocates for civic engagement in their communities, demonstrating how responsible use of technology can lead to solving problems.

Technology coaches that are compliant with ISTE standards ultimately become leaders in digital support and essential in helping teachers, students, and administrators achieve their ambitions.

Understand the Teaching Challenges You Face

In this article, you’ve discovered more about the updated ISTE standards for students, educators, education leaders, and technology coaches. With the new insight you’ve gained, you’ll be well on your way to reaching these standards in your computer applications course. 

However, the true importance of these standards is in helping you address the teaching challenges of your classroom.

These standards are solutions to problems, and to understand how to use them well, you’ll need to better grasp those problems your classroom is facing. 

To that end, check out this guide to the most common challenges teachers face. This guide goes in-depth into struggles like meeting course standards, keeping students engaged, dealing with changing technology, and more.

Once you better understand these problems, you’ll be far better equipped to solve them: