National Goals for Technology

In response to the Obama administration's goals for education, the NETP has created five goals for states. The first of these goals is that learning experiences for all learners will be engaging both in and outside of school. These activities should prepare them to be good, active citizens in a global society. Recommendations for meeting this goal include revising and developing new standards for all subject areas that is technology driven. Other recommendations are to use or develop learning resources that use the power of technology and to enhance STEM programs. The Second goal has to do with using technology for assessment purposes. The recommendation is to develop and use technology to help educators find meaningful ways to assess student progress including using technology for immediate feedback. Goal three address teacher access to data. It states that teachers should be able to have supported access to the data needed to be a better teacher. Recommendations include developing content based programs that allow easy access and inservice training to teach educators how to use the software. Another recommendation for achieving this goal is to establish a core of teachers who are experienced in on line education. Goal four is about all students and teachers having access to the necessary resources at all times. Having the necessary infrastructure and internet access are two recommendations made for this goal. The last goal concerns budgets and alignment with technological goals. In order to meet this goal the NETP recommends using technology to help manage funds and expenditures, funding the development of software that will facilitate data disaggregation allowing educators to adequately track student progress. In regards to education and learning the NETP speaks about what the 21st century learner looks like and how they learn. Most students today are tuned into technology in one form or another. They use technology on a daily basis in creative, and collaborative ways. We as educators must make the paradigm shift in our teaching practices to incorporate technological pieces into our lessons. This will help provide an engaging environment for learning. While a agree with most of what was stated in the article, I take exception to the assumption that technology is the only way to address the shortcomings of the current system. This policy does not recognize the role that many courses provide that are hands on and not based on interaction with the computer or internet. Courses like culinary arts and auto tech may use computers as a component of the curriculum, but certainly we would be doing the students a disservice by never putting them in the lab with actual hands on experience. I also worry that by placing such a strong emphasis on some of the applications of technology, we are moving from a society that understands the importance of interpersonal skills and relationships to one of isolation and minimal human relationships/skills.