National Educational Technology Plan

The National Educational Technology Plan set five goals with recommendations for the federal government, states, and other stakeholders. The goals of the plan are:

1.0 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 (Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology, 2010, p.xii).

2.0 Assessment
Our education system at all levels will leverage the power of technology to measure what matters and use assessment data for continuos improvement (p. xii).

3.0 Teaching
Professionnal 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 (p. xiii).

4.0 Infrastructure
All students and educators will have access to a comprehensive infrastructure for learning when and where they need it (p.xiii).

5.0 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 ((Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology, 2010, p.xiv).

In achieving the goal of learning, the plan recommends adoption of standards and learning objectives across all content areas that reflects 21st century technology practice.. It further stresses that standards must reflect online collaboration tools. The plans further recommends that learning resources that use technology; exploit the flexibilty and power of technology; use advances in the learning sciences and technology to enhance STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learing should be adopted (p.9).

On the goal of teaching, the plan describes today’ s teaching as practiced in isolation. It expresses concern that may educators do not have enough interaction with other colleagues or expertise. It further expresses that there is little or no professional development training opportunities given to educators. The plan states further that our education system often do not give teachers the tools needed to effectively do their job. There is lack of support for educators, according to the plan, with latest technology. To correct some of these concerns , the plan recommends the following actions: Design, develop, and adopt technology-based content, resources, and online learning communities; provide pre-service and in-service educators with preparation and professional learning experiences powered by technology; use technology to provide access to the most effective teaching and learning resources; develop a teaching force skilled in onlie instruction (p.39).

On professional development for educators, the plan describes that educators should be given opportunity for on-going profession development and training. According to the plan, all institutions that are charged with preparing educators should provide technology-supported learning activities that fosters the use of technology (p.44).

I agree completely with the National Eductional Technology Plan. The one area that stuck in my mind while reading this plan is when the plan descibes that we expect educators to effectively use technology in their teaching but we do not give them the tools to do it. This is a big statement that registered well in my head because I have seen this happened in some campuses. Some principals or administrators want teachers to teach with technology but there are no provision to accomplish it. The excuse I hear from these administrators is that there is no fund to buy or acquire the necessary technology tools needed to carry out this very important goal. We as educator technology leader must do a better job of convincing these administrators that it is important for educators to have the tools needed to effective teach our students with technology in this 21st century learning age.


Source: http://www.ed.gov/sites/default/files/NETP-2010-final-report.pdf