National Educational Technology Plan

Learning is changing at an accelerated, and, some would say, exponential rate. To meet this shift, educators must be willing to learn new methods for engaging a wide variety of learning styles, demographics, and learning deficiencies for the sole purpose of conveying information effectively to create a generation of true and excited learners. To this end, President Obama and has set a couple all-encompassing goals:
• By 2020, the proportion of the population with a 2 to 4-year degree will raise from 29% to 60%.
• The achievement gap will be closed so that everyone has the same opportunity at success. The goal is admirable, surely, but the real question is “How do we achieve them?”

Learning

“All learners will have engaging and empowering learning experiences both in and outside of school that prepare them to be active, creative, knowledgeable, and ethical participants in our globally networked society.” Through the use of technology, a student’s background, disability, or learning style will no longer stand in their way as learning becomes personalized and interesting to them. Although the tried-and-true methods and content we teach has served our students for years, it is now outdated and outmatched by current technology evolution. Understanding students need learning that adapts to change rather than that of stagnancy.

Teaching

“Professional educators will be supported individually and in teams by technology that connects them to data, content, resources, expertise, and learning experiences that can empower and inspire them to provide more effective teaching for all learners.” Teachers and educators of all type must become “connected” teachers, interacting with students, fellow teachers, administrators, and experts through technological networks in a 24/7 process and gaining access to and training for up-to-date technology to better engage and motivate student learning. Professional development must shift from episodic to “collaborative, coherent, and continuous” in order to make a meaningful change in teachers’ personal philosophies.

Issues and Concerns

The issues and concerns maintained throughout the plan deal with obstacles keeping the plan from achieving fruition. Large drop-out rates and disengagement from learning, as well as emphasis applied to non-real-world-applicable material is major hindrance in learning that must be overcome. Additionally, lack of technological “know-how” of not only teachers but administrators and policy-makers has led to a bureaucratic nightmare that threatens to halt technological progress in its steps.