5352 Week 2 Blog Posting #2

5352 Week 2 Blog Posting #2

The Texas Long Range Plan for Technology is composed of four parts: teaching and learning; educator preparation and development; leadership, administration, and instructional support; and infrastructure for technology. The report explains that today’s students are different because they have grown up with technology and are comfortable using it in their daily lives. The goals of the plan are to give students 24/7 access to digital tools and resources tailored to their own individual needs and learning styles. It wants give parents more direct participation in their children’s education and access to student information. The plan seeks to provide educators with: on demand student information to individualize instruction, 24/7 professional development opportunities, and increased communication and collaboration between school, homes, and the community.

The Long Range Plan wants to create a dynamic and diverse learning community presenting information in a variety of media formats from a wide range of sources. It seeks to create students who can excel in the global economies of the 21st century. This requires students to develop critical thinking and complex decision making skills.

The teaching and learning section recommends continued support for teaching and using technology. However, I did not see any specific technologies or strategies mentioned in the report. It was rather a broad and general overview. The educator preparation and development section focused on educator prep programs that modeled current technology, distance learning, on-line assessments, and electronic portfolios. It seems the Lamar Master’s program is in alignment with this goal.

Leadership, administration, and instructional support focused on embracing technology for daily tasks and budgeting for technology. One of the biggest areas of need mentioned later in the report dealt with a lack of realistic and dependable funding for the project and cited that additional funding is needed. This problem will only get worse in the current budget crisis. The infrastructure for technology section focused on broadband 24/7 connectivity for all users, secure and accurate data, and a 1:1 ratio of students to computers in schools. I do not think the 1:1 ratio will be achieved without additional funding for technology. On the whole the Long Range Plan for Technology sounds incredible, but the question is if the budget will be available to make it a reality.

Citation:

Progress Report on the Long-Range Plan for Technology. 2006-2020
http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/technology/EktronAttach/FinalCombinedLRPT2020.pdf