The National Educational Technology Plan: Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology sets goals and provides recommendations for improving the use of technology within our nation's schools. President Obama has set two major goals he hopes to accomplish by 2020. The first is for 60% of the population to hold a two or four year degree. The second goal is to decrease the achievement gaps based on race, location, and economic status. The plan encourages the formation of a connected teaching model where teachers have access to resources and can create learner-centered communities to help share ideas. The plan denotes the importance of creating a learning environment that will encourage and help all students graduate high school ready to continue their education and prepared for the technology-based jobs of the 21st century. Teachers need to be able to teach on-line courses and prepared to individualize and differentiate instruction so that students stay engaged.
The plan had five major goals focused around using technology to improve student learning. The first goal encourages schools to create learning experiences that prepare students for our global society. The second goal encourages using technology to assess and continually monitor student learning rather than depending solely on end-of-year testing. Another goal focuses on providing educators the proper resources and training to improve and upgrade their teaching to match this new connected teaching model. The fourth goal outlines the need for an infrastructure to support this type of teaching and learning. The fifth goal centers around building an educational system that uses technology to improve learning while minimizing cost and other limited resources.
There were a couple of points that concerned me. In several places the plan mentioned how colleges need to work to reduce dropout rates. I believe they will have to shift their teaching and learning strategies but I don't want to see standards lowered just so we meet a goal of 60% postsecondary graduates.
I was also disturbed by the notion that "a classroom educator's primary job is understood to be covering the assigned content and ensuring that students test well" ("National Educational Technology Plan", 2010, p. 39). I take offense to the idea that our job is simply to make sure students test well. I don't believe current educators view their job as this and it demoralizes the profession to describe it as such.
Office of Educational Technology U.S. Department of Education. (2010). National Educational Technology Plan: Transforming American Education. Retrieved from http://www.ed.gov/sites/default/files/NETP-2010-final-report.pdf
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