NETP - Learning Powered by Technology

The National Education Technology Plan, Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology, states that, “technology is at the core of virtually every aspect of our daily live and work”. With this said, we must move forward in giving our students a meaningful, engaging experience in the classroom. The plan calls for applying technologies that we use every day in our professional and personal lives to our classrooms to better student experiences. Schools have to expand technology uses in the classroom to offer competitive, challenging experiences for all students. There are five goals for state, district, government and stakeholders are divided into five areas: learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure and productivity.
The first goal, learning, calls for all students to receive a more challenging and empowering learning experience outside of school and inside. Students need to be prepared for this competitive and technological society by being creative, active and knowledgeable. It is recommended to meet this goal; we must offer opportunities for all learners to access technology anywhere and anytime. The STEM program should be encouraged and enhanced to enhance and develop new methodologies. As we advance in these powerful learning experiences, our students will receive a truly advanced opportunity to excel.
Teaching is the next goal of focus. All educators will be provided opportunities to receive learning technology experiences in order to enhance, inspire and challenge all students. Teacher will have access to data, content, resources, and expertise to technology either individually or in groups. It is recommended that online learning communities are developed for collaboration with other professionals so that learning is encouraged and enhanced. By using technology in areas that it is not normally provide, we are provide more options for students at every level.
The next goal, assessment states that our education systems will influence the power of technology to measure and assess data for continuous growth. Assessment gives teachers, students and other stakeholders opportunity to provide feedback about the development and improvement of technology practices in the classroom. The STaR chart is one option for this that most schools participate in.
By providing access to an infrastructure for students and educators when they need it, additional learning can take place outside of school rather than just in school. Due to budget issues, every student in most districts don’t have access to an Internet device outside of school. I would like to be optimistic about this, but I just don’t see how our district can provide this for every student.
The last of these goals, productivity, clearly calls for more efficient and effective use of time, money, and staff in regards to using technology to improve learning. It is recommended that we rethink and improve general assumptions in education to improve learning for every student. By defining “productivity” in education, we can provide a more meaningful and relevant experience or learning outcomes and costs.
The goals stated above are current, reachable and optimistic for technology in our education system.