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Sunday, June 6, 2010
Blog Posting #3
National Educational Technology Plan of 2010 Summary
What does the US Department of Education have to say about the future of our technology and education on our country? After reading Transforming American Education: Learning Powered By Technology, which is a Draft of the National Educational Technology Plan of 2010, I was given a vast amount of information regarding educational goals.
This draft includes goals for 5 different areas which include: learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure, and productivity. In also includes "grand challenge problems that should be addressed at a national level.
The draft concentrates a heavily on the goal of learning. These goals expect all learners to be motivated and given the opportunity to learn both inside and outside of school. Their schools must train them to be active, creative, knowledgeable, and ethical contributors to society.
The draft also discusses the area of teaching. The goal is for educators to be assisted individually and in groups by technology that includes data, resources, experts and experiences that produces efficient instruction for all learners.
Professional development is another very important goal that the draft addresses. Without the proper training, teachers can not be successful in instruction. The major goal is provide the tools needed before and after they enter the teaching profession. They must acquire the learning experiences that allow technology use by methods that promote learning, assessment and instruction.
The draft challenges the teachers to provide individualized, personalized and differentiated instruction. I feel this is important; however I fail to see exactly how to implement this method of teaching into my classroom. I know that many students learn better this way, but knowing and executing are very different scenarios. I would like to see more specific ideas of how this goal can be accomplished.
Overall, the draft is a great way to assist educators and students in preparation for our technology-rich future. I am eager to see what our nation's educational system looks like 20 years from now. Will our goals be reached?
Reference:
Education, U.S. (2010, March 5). Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology. Retrieved June 5, 2010, from National Education Technology Plan of 2010: at http://www.ed.gov/sites/default/files/NETP-2010-final-report.pdf
Shawntee' Cowan
What does the US Department of Education have to say about the future of our technology and education on our country? After reading Transforming American Education: Learning Powered By Technology, which is a Draft of the National Educational Technology Plan of 2010, I was given a vast amount of information regarding educational goals.
This draft includes goals for 5 different areas which include: learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure, and productivity. In also includes "grand challenge problems that should be addressed at a national level.
The draft concentrates a heavily on the goal of learning. These goals expect all learners to be motivated and given the opportunity to learn both inside and outside of school. Their schools must train them to be active, creative, knowledgeable, and ethical contributors to society.
The draft also discusses the area of teaching. The goal is for educators to be assisted individually and in groups by technology that includes data, resources, experts and experiences that produces efficient instruction for all learners.
Professional development is another very important goal that the draft addresses. Without the proper training, teachers can not be successful in instruction. The major goal is provide the tools needed before and after they enter the teaching profession. They must acquire the learning experiences that allow technology use by methods that promote learning, assessment and instruction.
The draft challenges the teachers to provide individualized, personalized and differentiated instruction. I feel this is important; however I fail to see exactly how to implement this method of teaching into my classroom. I know that many students learn better this way, but knowing and executing are very different scenarios. I would like to see more specific ideas of how this goal can be accomplished.
Overall, the draft is a great way to assist educators and students in preparation for our technology-rich future. I am eager to see what our nation's educational system looks like 20 years from now. Will our goals be reached?
Reference:
Education, U.S. (2010, March 5). Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology. Retrieved June 5, 2010, from National Education Technology Plan of 2010: at http://www.ed.gov/sites/default/files/NETP-2010-final-report.pdf
Shawntee' Cowan
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Blog Posting #2
My Thoughts about The Progress Report of the Long-Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020
After reading the progress report, I have to admit that I am embarrassed to have taught Technology Applications for two years and not have known some of this information. I am very impressed with how the state of Texas has taken such a major step in preparing students, teachers, parents, communities and administrators for a technology-rich future.
The Technology Immersion Pilot (TIP) was both new and interesting to me. This pilot provided each student and teacher with a wireless mobile laptop, software and online resources. Certain schools in the state of Texas were chosen to observe and report gained data over a period of time. Their findings were remarkable. A few of their successes included increased parental involvement, collaboration among staff, students and parents, increased engagement and enthusiasm and fewer discipline problems.
Another section that stood out to me in the report was the Report for Virtual School. I was pleased to find out that TxVSN provides a statewide course catalog for Texas public school districts and charter schools. Students today can learn in an environment that fits their schedule, budget and overall needs. Five professional development providers also train educators to deliver online instruction through TxVSN. This resource is vital for the success of the online community of educational learning in Texas.
This report offers so many different vital components to the world of "Technology in Education". I feel that by reading this report, I now have a better grasp on what technology in education should resemble in our state, campuses and classrooms.
Resource:
Progress Report on the Long-Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020. (2008, December). Retreived June 4, 2010, from Texas Education Agency: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/comm/leg_reports/2008/08pr_to_lrpt.pdf
Shawntee' Cowan
After reading the progress report, I have to admit that I am embarrassed to have taught Technology Applications for two years and not have known some of this information. I am very impressed with how the state of Texas has taken such a major step in preparing students, teachers, parents, communities and administrators for a technology-rich future.
The Technology Immersion Pilot (TIP) was both new and interesting to me. This pilot provided each student and teacher with a wireless mobile laptop, software and online resources. Certain schools in the state of Texas were chosen to observe and report gained data over a period of time. Their findings were remarkable. A few of their successes included increased parental involvement, collaboration among staff, students and parents, increased engagement and enthusiasm and fewer discipline problems.
Another section that stood out to me in the report was the Report for Virtual School. I was pleased to find out that TxVSN provides a statewide course catalog for Texas public school districts and charter schools. Students today can learn in an environment that fits their schedule, budget and overall needs. Five professional development providers also train educators to deliver online instruction through TxVSN. This resource is vital for the success of the online community of educational learning in Texas.
This report offers so many different vital components to the world of "Technology in Education". I feel that by reading this report, I now have a better grasp on what technology in education should resemble in our state, campuses and classrooms.
Resource:
Progress Report on the Long-Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020. (2008, December). Retreived June 4, 2010, from Texas Education Agency: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/comm/leg_reports/2008/08pr_to_lrpt.pdf
Shawntee' Cowan
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Blog Posting #1
The Texas Long Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020, is a plan to supply a 21st Century education to students and to provide employees and administrators with the tools, resources and professional development need to be successful. This plan creates a vision that can be shared through teaching and learning and produces better student achievement. The plan has 4 different components. These components are: Teaching and Learning; Educator Preparation and Development; Leadership, Administration and Instructional Support; and Infrastructure for Technology.
I would like to focus on the area of “Educator Preparation and Development”. This area is highly important to me because it is an area that is overlooked in education as a whole. According to the Texas STaR chart statistics, not much progress has been made on a state level. After analyzing data from a survey taken across the state of Texas over past three years, 71% or more, of the teachers who took the test, were placed in the category of “Developing Tech”. This means that there is room for improvement. After analyzing data from a survey taken from the school I work for (Elizabeth Smith Elementary), I discovered that for the past three years, two of the three years, our teachers were placed in the category of Advanced Tech. Progress has been made on a local level.
The trends that I see are that on a state level, the teachers are continuing to remain nearly the same. The status of “Developing” Tech seems to be the norm. As for my campus, I am proud to say that we are at least higher than the state as a whole. We have increased from “Developing” Tech to “Advanced”. We are heading a step in the right direction.
Although we may be offered the help of an instructional technologist on our campuses and a few training here and there. It simply is not enough. Most educators have busy schedules with work, family and extra-curricular activities. If the national, state and local areas together could come together to provide educators with staff development opportunities that were helpful, affordable, flexible and less time consuming, the benefits would be endless. A few of my ideas include: giving teachers incentives for their time, providing equipment, providing cost-free training, offering substitutes or teachers who attend trainings and establishing follow-up training.
I would like to focus on the area of “Educator Preparation and Development”. This area is highly important to me because it is an area that is overlooked in education as a whole. According to the Texas STaR chart statistics, not much progress has been made on a state level. After analyzing data from a survey taken across the state of Texas over past three years, 71% or more, of the teachers who took the test, were placed in the category of “Developing Tech”. This means that there is room for improvement. After analyzing data from a survey taken from the school I work for (Elizabeth Smith Elementary), I discovered that for the past three years, two of the three years, our teachers were placed in the category of Advanced Tech. Progress has been made on a local level.
The trends that I see are that on a state level, the teachers are continuing to remain nearly the same. The status of “Developing” Tech seems to be the norm. As for my campus, I am proud to say that we are at least higher than the state as a whole. We have increased from “Developing” Tech to “Advanced”. We are heading a step in the right direction.
Although we may be offered the help of an instructional technologist on our campuses and a few training here and there. It simply is not enough. Most educators have busy schedules with work, family and extra-curricular activities. If the national, state and local areas together could come together to provide educators with staff development opportunities that were helpful, affordable, flexible and less time consuming, the benefits would be endless. A few of my ideas include: giving teachers incentives for their time, providing equipment, providing cost-free training, offering substitutes or teachers who attend trainings and establishing follow-up training.
Web Conference (June 1, 2010)
The synchronized web conference that I attended was an interesting experience. I feel that it had great potential to be valuable; however technical difficulties made the event a challenge. When Dr. Borel attempted to give us information about the "Internship Requirements", the sound consistently was unstable. Although the sound presented this challenge, I was able to read the conversations that were taking place through instant messaging. Both Dr. Borel and different colleagues answered questions that I had previously thought about. This was helpful.
Being able to see and meet with classmates who are in various locations at the same time is an amazing opportunity. It was exciting to actually put faces to the names of my course peers. I would like to participate in another conference. Hopefully the technical issues will evade us next time!
Shawntee'
Being able to see and meet with classmates who are in various locations at the same time is an amazing opportunity. It was exciting to actually put faces to the names of my course peers. I would like to participate in another conference. Hopefully the technical issues will evade us next time!
Shawntee'
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