In 2010, the U.S. Department of Education released a National Educational Technology Plan that emphasizes the essential role that technology plays in the development of 21st century students who are prepared to actively participate in our global digital society. It included five goals centered on Learning, Assessment, Teaching, Infrastructure, and Productivity. The first goal, Learning, is focused on engaging students and helping them learn to utilize the most current technology to be active participants in our global society. The second goal, Assessment, emphasizes the importance of providing quick and accurate student assessment data to schools so that instruction can better meet the needs of all learners. Teaching, the third goal, focuses on providing teachers with the technology tools, resources, access, and training they need to be able to create better learning experiences for all students. The fourth goal, Infrastructure, includes ensuring easy access to the Internet and to adequate technology resources and tools for students and teachers both inside and outside of school. Productivity, the final goal, focuses on making the best, most efficient use of technology in teaching and learning.
If our schools fail to prepare our students to be competitive in the technologically-rich, global world in which we live, we are not really “educating” them. As the world around us changes and evolves, what we do in the classroom must change as well. We can’t continue to do what we’ve done for the last three decades and expect our students to be able to successfully enter the global marketplace of tomorrow.
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Chelsey, I am with you. Teachers need to really go deeper with technology in the classrooms, but we lack the resources at times or support to do it.
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