A National Look at Educational Technology

The National Education Technology Plan, Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology, calls for Americans to leverage technology to “provide engaging and powerful learning experiences, content, and resources and assessments that measure student achievement in more complete, authentic, and meaningful ways.” The five goals presented in the plan focus on the areas of learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure, and productivity. With each goal, the plan makes recommendations for education systems at the state, local district, and federal levels to implement the plan, understanding the biggest challenge will be coordination and funding at the national level. For each goal, the plan states:

Learning – “All learners will have engaging and empowering learning experiences both in and outside of school that prepare them to be active, creative, knowledgeable, and ethical participants in our globally networked society.”

Assessment – “Our education system at all levels will leverage the power of technology to measure what matters and use assessment data for continuous improvement."

Teaching – “Professional educators will be supported individually and in teams by technology that connects them to data, content, resources, expertise, and learning experiences that enable and inspire more effective teaching for all learners.”

Infrastructure – “All students and educators will have access to a comprehensive infrastructure for learning when and where they need it.”

Productivity - “Our education system at all levels will redesign processes and structures to take advantage of the power of technology to improve learning outcomes while making more efficient use of time, money, and staff.”

In order to achieve the goals, teaching and learning must change through sufficient professional development and training. The article acknowledged that often teachers are held accountable for student achievement but are often not provided with the latest technological resources to accomplish the goal. Teaching will improve when teachers practice connected teaching, where teaching is accomplished as a team. Online communities help to facilitate successful connected teaching for students. Additionally, ongoing professional learning must take place through collaborations. Providing teachers with extra time to learn from one another increases their content knowledge and will provide them with the additional strategies needed to impact student achievement in their classroom. The extra time afforded teachers also allows for additional time to attend professional development workshops on how to infuse technology into their content area lessons.
As I think to the many suggestions throughout the plan, I focus on the section devoted to extending learning time. Many schools have shown success with extending the day. A way to extend learning and make an impact on achievement would be the infusion of technology. Extending the day, I believe, should look different than the regular day in order to increase student achievement. My concern is that teachers may not change the way extended day looks because they do not know how to make it different. This is the time to use the innovative technology of a weblog or interactive whiteboards to incorporate rigor in lessons and enhance student learning. Thus, professional development is essential for ensuring students create an extended day that is beneficial for students.

Reference:
National Educational Technology Plan: Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology. (2010). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education.