Owens Online: 2011

The document Tranforming American Education: Powered by Technology outlines the Obama Administration plan for the future of technology in the classroom. It describes the essential nature of growing technology to reach the most amount of students and increasing their preparation for the real world through skills learned in the classroom to support future uses of technology. Through the achievement of these goals this plan believes it can increase the amount of American who hold degrees from 2 and 4 year institutions to 60 percent up from its current rate of 39 percent. It also holds that American students can close the gap to becoming more prepared for college and jobs after graduation from public school systems. The plan specifies specific changes to Learning, Assessment, Teaching, Infrastructure, and Productivity. Most of the issues and changes specified in this plan fall under the realm of "good teaching strategies" that all good teachers use anyways but the outline must be necessary for some to get the message to integrate their classrooms with the use of technology. The increased benefits will far outway any potential shortcomings. This plan I believes echos the voices of previous generations begging our youth to stay ahead of the curve and keep reaching for the next big thing. Our teachers need to be prepared to lead them into these new discoveries.

EDLD 5352 Week 2 Post #2

As I read the report by the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology and their report card released in 2008, I cannot help but wonder if my school is truly aligned on the right track. Our schools fill out the STaR Chart surveys as we are expected but there is no accountability on those charts. There is no way to determine if the teacher is being honest of true when filling the STaR Chart out as it is not carried with the educator everyday to evaluate the use of technology within the classroom. A best you are dealing with a estimated projection of how we "feel" we are doing in the field of technology. A field that is so rapidly changing that what is released yesterday is far obsolete by the time I finish this post. How can we ever hope to compete in this world with variables of change so high. Everyday we are faced with the impossible in the classroom and are expected to make do, struggle on and find results where others have given up. This battle reflects those. Our answer cannot simply be to throw up our hands and do nothing as time and technology progression without us. Investing in this form of human capital is so directly correlated with our future and our potential for growth in this country that surrender cannot be the answer. A suggestion that I have after reading this report is to incorporate the most important stakeholder into the fray. Bring the student on stage to help us the educator introduce technology. Most often students are more familiar with technology then we as educators will ever be so why not use that to our advantage. Through this mentality I have been able to bring new ideas in to the classroom such as prezi presentations and xtranormal films. These were all done with the help of students who want to be taught how to properly use these tools successfully not just what to do with them. These progress reports are valuable information but we must change the culture of the classroom if we want them to give us meaningful data.

EDLD 5352 Week 2 Post #1 Reflection

The Texas Long Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2010: Teaching and Learning; Educator Preparation and Development; Leadership, Administration and Instructional Support; or Infrastructure for Technology provides the backbone for improvement of technology in today's classrooms. The Texas school system must keep pace with our ever changing world and our ever changing students who are more connected with technology them we as students and young people ever where. This plan provides for the development of the STaR Chart which I have fill out every year for the the last 8 years as an educator and I never realized the importance until attending Lamar's program. We must forge ahead become leaders in the classroom with technology an our students and prepare them for a world that will expect them to have these skills as well as understand the morals behind their usage. I find a lot of the fault does not rest on the district, with the exception of some districts that have not be able to upgrade since the 1970s in the fields of technology due to low funding and community support, but with the educational leaders and educators within the building. Most staff development in the field of technology is poorly done. Little preparation with presentations designed to discourage use of new ideas. Teachers are thrown technology with no ways to appropriately incorporate it into the classroom routine and predictably they choose to ignore its very existence. Teachers cling to their old routines and ignore the new ways of accomplishing the objectives further isolating the students who need the new skills in order to be competitive in a new job market requiring the latest technology. Schools can no longer afford to be dinosaurs and technology cannot be the white elephant in the room.