Texas Long Range Plan for Technology ~Teaching and Learning~

Teaching & Learning focuses on the learning needs of students and the instructional needs of teachers in meeting the vision the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology.

                                              

Provide the learner with:

:  access to technology resources and various methods of collaboration and project based learning.

:  the opportunity to become an active participant in their education while connecting to real life issues in a technology safe environment.

Provide the teacher with

:  the training and technology to prepare a student to live, think, and communicate in the 21^st Century.

:   the resources needed to integrate technology seamlessly throughout the Core Curriculum.

Our campus STaR Chart data demonstrates progress in 4 out of 6 areas.  The data from the 2007-2008 Texas Campus Statewide Summary reflects 70% of campuses are Developing Tech while over 25% of campuses are at the Advanced or Target Tech level.  On a national level, progress had been ongoing – one indication of this are the NETSwS/NETSwS.

Trends in my district include allowing teachers a wide range of technology professional developments, more opportunities to team-teach across content areas.  The middle schools have gone one-to-one with PC tablets and the high schools have gone three-to-one with Macs.   I feel the trends that we are following may be more advanced than many districts in the state and nation, but current trends have an emphasis on a technology rich environment for the students.  Many trends are only distant visions due to funding – school districts must work with 20^th Century funds while the needs are 21^st Century.

To improve in this area, I would recommend teachers have lesson design time to collaborate with their departments, teams and Instructional Technology Specialist (if applicable) to brainstorm new and innovative ways to teach across content areas with technology integrated throughout.  School districts also should offer learning opportunities for teachers to develop web based lessons and the resources to share these lessons with colleagues. 

I also strongly believe that a school being open five days a week, six hours a day, and nine months of the year just doesn’t work for families in our country anymore. Schools should be open longer hours, after school, weekends, and throughout the summer.  I visualize enrichment opportunities, reading intervention classes and project based learning opportunities for older students. This would also provide additional earning potential for teachers. Students need additional learning opportunities to compete in an international economy. And the fact is that many students in other countries such as India and China are going to school 25% longer than our students here.  These are some of the future business colleagues of many of our students. American students need to be competitive in the hiring process and equal contributors to a productive work force.