Blog Posting #3 – National Educational Technology Plan - Week 2 - 9/6/2010

The National Educational Technology Plan has five goals in the areas of learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure and productivity. Learners will have authentic learning experiences both in and out of school and will be assessed on important topics and schools will use the data for improving instruction and learning. Educators will be supported by technology and in their use of technology. Students and teachers will have access to infrastructure where and when they need it. All schools will take advantage of technology to improve productivity. (Transforming American Education: Learning powered by Technology) Teaching and learning will be connected to the outside world. Instead of teaching in an isolated environment, teachers can now connect to anyone outside of the school that could help students see the real-world value of a topic. They can use web conferencing to connect to experts in a field or to someone who uses it in their job. This is a great way to engage students and show them ways that knowledge can be used. It can also connect classrooms to other classrooms around the country or in other countries so students can see what their peers are learning and doing. Technology also lends itself to teachers being innovative in their approaches to teaching and hopefully making learning more student-centered. In order for this to happen, teachers must have not only technology training but also have the latest technology to use in the classroom. Unfortunately, this doesn't always happen in our education system. The education system is behind technologically. Often there is only one computer per classroom and they are not the most updated. Although according to Eric Jones in his article Strategies to Put Instruction Ahead of Technology (2007) this shouldn't matter. Teachers can be trained to use what technology the do have to make instruction more student centered. Convincing teachers of this is actually the most difficult part.