National Educational Technology Plan Summary & Reflection

The main goals set forth in the National Education Technology Plan (NETP) states that the students graduating with either a 2-year or 4-year degree need to increase from 41% to 60% by 2020.  It also states that we need to close the gap that currently exists from those students leaving high school and entering college or the workforce.  The plan states that learners need an environment where they need to be able to learn 24/7.  Testing needs to be done though technology.  By having these assessments done through technology data will be gathered so that we, the teachers, can learn about how our student’s best learn.  By providing learning through technology, students can become self-learners with real world experience.  In the Executive Summary portion of the document it stated that“…widespread agreement exists that teachers by and large are not well prepared to use technology in their practice…” (Kay 2006). Pre-service teachers need to acquire the technology in order to incorporate it in the classroom while in-service teachers need to continue in their education to keep up on the most recent technologies available. Teachers become separated from knowing what is taking place in the real world and need to build  partnerships with the work community so their students can begin to make connections. Teachers need to have available 24/7 access to data and analytical tools to aid their students in learning.  Teachers need to also be facilitators and collaborators in their students self-learning.

A downside that I see with this plan is concerning an issue that the educational system has no control over families that do not have access to the technology for the 24/7 learning experience.  In my classroom, this is normally the case at my school which has many low socioeconomically classified students.  With the downsizing of the monies coming from state and local level, I don’t see that the educational system can support equipping these students to have the 24/7 access to learning.

Resource:  National Educational Technology Plan (http://www.ed.gov/sites/default/files/netp2010.pdf)