1.
As
you read the Introduction to the National Education
Technology Plan, what did you determine to be the purpose of the National Education Technology Plan? How does it affect
teachers and students, people like you and me? (feel free to be critical if you
like).
When I read the introduction I felt as if I was reading
the same speeches and promises that our government wants to change because we
are lacking as a country in education to our children P-20. The focus now is on technology because it has
changed the world, education, communication; it is now the focus. We are beyond being wowed by new textbooks,
tools and hands on media we now can literally see the vastness of space and
oceans through SmartBoards, SmartPhones and computers the fit in the palm of
our hands yet we still aren’t meeting basic goals consistently as a nation;
why? Why do we think that because we
have instant knowledge at the tips of our fingers that is going to solve our
education needs? I am a huge fan of
implementing technology in our classrooms however when we remain more focused
on assessments, data collections, and pie charts than making sure a child can
read his grandmother’s cursive handwritten note we will always fail. We get bombarded as parents by teachers,
fellow parents and media that we need to limit our children’s “screen time” and
yet in these initiatives our government is wanting to make it so our kids never
unplug, go outside and experience in real life what a changing leaf looks like
or jump in a creek to do field studies because we can now pull it up on our
computers. The teachers I talk to K-12
are so bogged down with reports, assessment, hours inputting into the computer
and more that they are not engaging with our children as much because they are
so worried about not getting their work done.
How can we say that we are effectively implementing technology in our
kindergarten classrooms by showing kids where to have a book read to them and
call it implementation? I watch our kids
crave to stare at the computer and have something read to them instead of being
introduced to meaningful and engaging activities. We wait until our kids are in Middle school
and above to really open the doors to technology freely. Classes are offered for a price that most
cannot afford in Still Motion, Animatronics, computer programming and more
however these are the “engaging and empowering strategies for innovation” that
I believe we should be introducing along with reading, writing, and math in
kindergarten. So to answer what I think the
purpose of this plan is to provide more data collection for the government so
they have a means to personally track our children into early adulthood and
predict their likely paths even before our children figure out their passions
based on number trends, its going to push out the “experienced” teachers to
bring in Digital Natives that are ready to eliminate books, paperwork and move
to computers and our children are going to be a new breed of strategist that
will excel in deductive reasoning and use technology to replace most human
interactive experiences. If we don’t
find a way to improve the love of learning for our children no amount of
technology is going to save us.
- As you read the Introduction to the National Education
Technology Plan (NETP), what were the main
assumptions under which the plan was
developed? (you may copy and paste the main assumptions, and then
answer the question below in your own words). What are some concerns
administrators, educators, or even students might have with these
assumptions?
The plan is based on the following assumptions:
- Many of the
failings of our education system stem from our failure to engage the
hearts and minds of students.
- What students
need to learn and what we know about how they learn have changed, and
therefore the learning experiences we provide should change.
- How we assess
learning focuses too much on what has been learned after the fact and not
enough on improving learning in the moment.
- We miss a huge
opportunity to improve our entire education system when we gather
student-learning data in silos and fail to integrate the information and
make it broadly available to decision-makers at all levels of our
education system—individual educators, schools, districts, states, and the
federal government.
- Learning depends
on effective teaching, and we need to focus on extended teams of connected
educators with different roles who collaborate within schools and across
time and distance and who use technology resources and tools to augment
human talent.
- Effective
teaching is an outcome of preparing and continually training teachers and
leaders to guide the type of learning we want in our schools.
- Making engaging
learning experiences and resources available to all learners anytime and
anywhere requires state-of-the-art infrastructure, which includes
technology, people, and processes that ensure continuous access.
- Education can
learn much from such industries as business and entertainment about
leveraging technology to continuously improve learning outcomes while increasing
the productivity of our education system at all levels.
- Just as in
health, energy, and defense, the federal government has an important role
to play in funding and coordinating some of the R&D challenges
associated with leveraging technology to ensure the maximum opportunity to
learn.
The plan also assumes that with technology we can provide
engaging and powerful learning content, resources, and experiences and
assessment systems that measure student learning in more complete, authentic,
and meaningful ways. With technology-based learning and assessment systems, we
can improve student learning and generate data that can be used to continuously
improve the education system at all levels. With technology, we can execute
collaborative teaching strategies combined with professional learning
strategies that better prepare and enhance educators’ competencies and
expertise over the course of their careers. With technology, we can redesign
and implement processes to produce better outcomes while achieving ever higher
levels of productivity and efficiency across the education system.
I think the main concern after reading this is the government is saying
our teachers are failing our students which for me means that everyone above
the teachers must be failing as well. When
I read the first assumption I agreed with that statement and I believe the
reason why is not because we don’t use technology to engage our kids we have
removed the permissions of our teachers to fully engage with our students. We are not able to hug our students for fear
of being accused of being sexually inappropriate, or discipline in a manner
that students respect teachers. Our
world has not changed so much to say that students did not get violated in the
1970’s or that teachers could spank a child even earlier (and I would not want
that for any child) however teachers were respected and obeyed. If my mom came into my classroom and
volunteered she was respected by the students as an educator and also loved as
a mom. We have stripped our teachers of
being empowered because we now have to cater and react to all parents wishes,
desires and dictates for their children.
It is not just educating children today it is teaching them how to be
respectful socially giving human beings because parents don’t have the time to
do it themselves. If we want engaging
learning experiences quit threatening to take away related arts programs, field
trips and real life experiences for children that connect their minds and
hearts to principles and lessons. An
interactive computer screen cannot give a child the experience of catching a
crayfish in a cool stream wearing boots and manipulating tools and water
flow. Now we can take pictures and
videos of our children and use technology and apps to further the experience
however there is not enough time in the day nor desire in a child or teacher to
make all of that happen yet that is what we are demanding today. These demands aren’t just coming from parents
but administrators, districts, superintendents, and government; we make
unrealistic expectations look easy and obtainable yet set up thousands of
teachers and children to fail by such standards.
3.
As
you read the Executive Summary, the NETP presents a model of learning powered by
technology, with goals and recommendations in five essential areas. (You may
copy and paste the areas directly from the document and then answer the
question below in your own words).
Goals and Recommendations
To transform education in America, we must turn ideas into action. The NETP presents five goals that address the
key components of this plan—learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure, and
productivity—along with recommendations for states, districts, the federal
government, and other stakeholders in our education system for achieving these
goals.
What are the “21st century competencies” - see
the section titled “what and how people need to learn”- listed in the summary?
How will technology support the growth of these competencies?
My question is where is the money going to come
from to support these competencies? I am
all for 3D printing, modeling and having our students use tools that doctors,
artists, cartoonists, writers and so forth use; but our schools are broke. In our district our Administrators and
Principles are always trying to figure out how to buy copy paper and basic
supplies for administrative purposes so trying to add on real life technology
outside of computers in school, I just don’t see it happening. The other vehicle that could get our students
to these places are field trips and project based learning and again in our
school district (our school first hand) all field trips are cancelled because
there isn’t money or our teachers don’t have time to plan it. To acquire 21st century
competencies we need to be creative in our paths to opening the doors to access
these competencies for our teachers and students. My son is now in the sixth grade and I cannot
remember that last field trip that he took to a business or community center to
enrich his learning in any subject; it saddens me deeply. My hopes as a future Professional Educator is
to know the time is required for training, openness of mind to new techniques,
passion to give my students every chance in life that they work for and to
create an environment of learning that students cannot wait to walk into my
doors. Technology can certainly provide
the passion, drive, and empowerment of learning for our students however we
have to be realistic of cost and what it truly is we want to accomplish for our
student.
4.
As
you read The State of Ohio's Educational Technology Plan's "purpose and mission"
(page 6), how do you believe it aligns with the National Education Technology Plan? In which respects are the two plans perhaps not aligned? Why?
I think that both parties are
seeing 21st Century tools as means of connecting students and
teachers with the outside world agencies, businesses and creating this
partnership to bring in real world thinking to all levels of education. I just keep asking myself why everyone acts
as if this is new thinking just because we have more technology and avenues to
get the information to our students don’t mean we have compiled a plan to make
it financially happen. I am a
stakeholder as a parent, future teacher and student and yet I find in most
classes I am taking technology fails and we keep reverting back to good old
fashion hands on experiences. I cannot
wait to get into a classroom to truly give me the experience of teaching and
finding out what age group is my true fit.
If we want to teach our children about anatomy in elementary school why
aren’t we brining in doctors to talk to them, use realistic models or videos
instead of cartoon ones using our Smartboard and calling that implantation of a
technology plan? I think that Ohio’s plan calls for more partnership with
“stakeholder, organization and affiliates” where the NETP feels like a military lockdown and regiment
of our government dictating policy to gather information to profile our
country. The more I read that more I desire
to teach and learn with children in the midst of my negativity toward how the
education system looks from my seat presently.
5.
As
you read Ohio’s State Educational Technology Plan outlined on page 8, how do you believe
this outline aligns with the
"model of learning powered by technology, with goals and recommendations
in five essential areas" proposed by the National Education Technology
Plan? In which areas are the two plans perhaps not aligned? Why?
I believe that the
states that have bought into the Race to the Top program for Federal funding
and adoption of Common Core are trying to keep up with the NETP and seriously struggling due to the
demands of assessments and keeping up with training on curriculum changes and
technology that aren’t truly being passed down to our children/students at this
point in the time line. I think we are
fantastic as creating goals, new policies and creating charts as to what the
needs and demands for successful careers as time marches on however if we can’t
find a means to truly identify how our students learn best and how to motivate
them to want and desire to learn we have just spent the last five years
creating great charts and expectation.
Why can’t we seem to address or truly assess how children learn best or
accept that children learn best through play; of course self control and
subject learning and the foundations of literacy, science, social studies and
mathematics are vital but why do we think a computer test is going to determine
how we teach our students? We need to
access each school surrounds and how we can incorporate our environments to
benefit learning and not be seen as distraction. We have an unlimited supply of information
and ways to collaborate with schools, teachers and businesses who are making
this all work; if we are truly unified in our goals why are we taking advantage
of unification of successes and making sure we don’t have failing schools,
failing students or failing teachers?
6.
As
you read Ohio’s State Educational Technology Plan's "measurements
of success" (page 16), what barriers do you see to fulfilling this plan?
Provide four reasons why it may not be possible to reach these
"measurements of success" in the state of Ohio.
One of the biggest barriers I see in fulfilling this plan
in the State of Ohio is how many people
are we going to have to dedicate to obtain and maintain all of these reporting
measures? The more we open hybrid
teaching to all levels of students how is the State of Ohio going to have the school, parent and
online educator collaborate a students achievements and mastery of skills? Second, when are we as parents going to get
educated on the online courses for our children? It isn’t something that is promoted or
discussed in elementary school and to me that is when our children are most
pliable and open to all information and teachings. Third, training, training and more training
for our teachers to be able to be proficient in integrating technology into
curriculum; are we going to have more teacher and professional days and
substitutes for our classrooms? Again, I
often think why we continue to be so focused on technology when our graduation
rates are what continue to be of concern; if our students aren’t learning the
basics of literacy how does anything else matter? If we can’t teach our students to be
successful problem solvers starting in preschool what means of technology is
going to be there for them as they are in high school? I’m still quite confused about this measuring
tool as its dated 2009 and again our implantations time line ends in 2014….how
have we met any of these goals? When I look at my child’s education in a strong
school district and I ask how our district has implemented any of these goals
and have not one answer I worry.
