Blog 1 Texas Long Range Plan Infrastructure for Technology
The four key areas, of the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology 2006-2020, are Teaching and Learning, Educator Preparation and Development, Leadership, Administration and Instructional Support, and Infrastructure for Technology. The area I have chosen to discuss and expound upon is the area of Infrastructure for Technology. I believe that there has been momentous progress made over the past several years in Infrastructure for Technology.
The Long-Range Plan requires that, “Professional development opportunities must be provided to ensure that educators have the Technology Applications skills identified by the SBEC Technology Applications Standards, especially those skills that support lesson planning, classroom management, and administrative tasks." (p 2) Texas schools must be willing to devote the necessary funds and resources to adequately prepare teachers to integrate and implement technology in the classroom. Professional development should be focused by administrators to facilitate the use of technology into the classrooms. This can be done by hiring a technology coordinator or allowing time during the day to be spent collaborating in groups to develop much needed strategies. WISD choose to hire a district tech coordinator and she does a fine job making technology easy in the classroom.
Our campus in the past three years for this area has changed radically. The Texas Star Chart shows that we are lacking sufficiently in providing technical support. I would agree that this is a weakness in our school district, however not the most significant. There is a problem with all of the professional development opportunities and the many ways to learn about the new technology but, there is not really any support after you leave the workshops. This should be a very a high priority from our administration. Nationally more options are becoming available since a definite need has been indicated in educator development. In the near future online options will be available to school districts; such as suggestions from T.E.A. are made to Texas school districts. It is my opinion that in the near future our schools will fall under harsh criticism due to the cut backs on the budget and finance from the state.
http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/edex/docs/StepsUpOnlineLearning.pdf
Blog 2 Texas Long Range Plan
The four key areas of the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology 2006-2020, are Teaching and Learning, Educator Preparation and Developments, Leadership, Administration and Instructional Support, and Infrastructure for technology. The area I have chosen to discuss and expand upon is the area of Infrastructure for Technology. I believe that there has been momentous progress made over the past several years in Infrastructure for Technology.
The Long Rang Plan requires that, " Professional development opportunities must be provided to ensure that educators have the Technology Applications skills identified by SBEC Technology Applications Standards, especially those skills that support lesson planning, classroom management, and administrative tasks." Texas Schools must be willing to devote the necessary funds and resources to adequately prepare teachers to integrate and implement technology in the classroom. Administrators should focus professional development around facilitating technology into the classrooms. This can be done by hiring a technology coordinator or allowing time during the day to be spent collaborating in groups to develop much needed strategies. WISD choose to hire a district tech. coordinator and she does a fine job making technology easy in the classroom. Improvements in this area should be seen on the report in the near future.
For the past three years our campus has seen a radically change in this area. The Texas Star Chart shows that we are lacking sufficiently in providing technical support. I would agree that this is a weakness of our school district, however not the most significant problem. There is a problem with all the professional development opportunities and it is seen by the lack of support from administration on newly learned skills. Nationally more options are becoming available since a definite need has been indicated in educator development. In the near future online options will be available to school districts; such as suggestions from TEA are made to Texas school districts. It is my opinion that in the future our schools will fall under great criticism mainly due to budget down falls.
Blog 3 Review of Technology Plan
Upon Reviewing the National Educational Technology Plan, this is the main objective of the plan; Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology. The two main goals in prescribing this plan for technology are to increase the college graduate from high school and be competently prepared to enter college and the working world. In order to accomplish this objective they must complete these goals. The U.S. Department of Education asks that our educators be better equipped to meet the demands that the 21st century learners of today have. They suggest that students should be taught in a variety of ways and that educators must transform teaching strategies to beneficial the stakeholders. For years we have taught students the same things in the same ways, and this just isn’t adequate student learning anymore. To keep up with students, educators must enter a new technology world. The administration plans to implement a variety of professional development strategies, and among these ideas teachers can work collaboratively with each other, as well as with their students. The plan states that "schools must be more than information factories; they must be incubators of exploration and invention. Educators must be more than information experts; they must be collaborators in learning, seeking new knowledge and constantly acquiring new skills alongside their students" (U.S. Department of Education, 2010).
The hard facts to this issue is that nothing can be done immediately, it takes time to reform and adjust to the changing times. The plan never stated how we would use technology in ways to help our students pass the mandatory state testing that is required for them to graduate. I understand that learning is learning, but the reason our education system has gotten where it is today is because of all the tests that students must pass before they can move on to the next grade level or to graduate from high school..Too much attention has been placed on passing tests and not on our students and how they learn the material they are given. Today’s technology needs to be used to facilitate the learning system not incapacitate the teachers.
U.S. Department of Eduation (2010). Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology. Washington: U.S. Department of Education.
