#3 The National Educational Technology Plan: Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology (DRAFT)

In the National Educational Plan, there are five goals which include learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure, and productivity. Each goal is accompanied with recommended actions on how to successfully meet the goal. In regards to teaching and learning, the national plan separates them into different goals. Learning focuses on the learner being engaged and empowered with technology during their learning experiences in and out of school in order to successfully participate in our global network society. Teaching entails educators being supported individually and in teams by technology that connects them to data, content, resources, expertise, and learning experiences that will inspire effective learning for all learners. Professional development and training falls under the teaching goal. There are several recommendations directed toward professional development and training. The goal initially requires teachers to be supported. To successfully reach the goal, the following actions should be implemented. First, opportunities need to be created for educators to collaborate to learn more effective teaching strategies through technology-based content, resources, and online learning communities. Also, pre-service and in-service be provided to educators to close the gap between students’ and educators’ fluencies with technology, and to develop a teaching force skilled in online instruction. One concern that stood out for me dealt with serving the underserved. These students are actually digitally excluded from many technology opportunities. Many of my students are low socio-economic resulting in existing at home without the internet. Only a handful actually visits the county library occasionally to experience the internet outside of school. I look forward to the day where students have no boundaries in order to experience technology 24/7. For those students who are unable to access the internet from home, all schools should check out laptops/notebooks with a mobile internet card.