National Educational Technology Plan

The National Educational Technology Plan is an extensive plan that outlines how and why the educational system in the United States needs to change. 

The plan has five main goals. The first goal is titled “Learning: Engage and Empower” (U.S. Dept. of Education, pg. xvi).  The point of this goal is to engage learners in and out of school and empower them to be active participants in our society.  The second goal, “Assessment: Measure What Matters” is about making continued improvements in the way that technology is used in education (U.S. Dept. of Education, pg. xvii).  The third goal, “Teaching: Prepare and Connect” focuses on educators and creating resources to enable and inspire creative teaching with technology (U.S. Dept. of Education, pg. xvii).  The fourth goal, “Infrastructure: Access and Enable” focuses on creating an infrastructure that will make it possible for students and teachers to connect with technology (U.S. Dept. of Education, pg. xix). Goal five is “Productivity: Redesign and Transform”.  This goal is about changing the educational system at all levels to use technology in way that makes efficient use of time, money and staff (U.S. Dept. of Education, pg. xx).

The plan explains that learners need to be given more options on how and what they learn.  It explains that there are core standards and competencies that all students must learn, but beyond those there must be more options.  The technology that is available to students in their free time has had an impact on the way they think and learn.  The education system must be able to make adjustments in order to capture the attention of the students.

The plan explains that teachers must be prepared to use new technology tools in the classroom.  Ongoing professional development needs to be available in order for teachers to be effective in this rapid climate of change.

The plan says that funding is an issue.  It also says that the time for change is now.  I think that if the government wants a complete overhaul of our educational system to be complete by 2020, then they need to make education a priority in the budget.  As much funds as possible need to be funneled into education to ensure that these changes will happen.  Unfortunately, our government expects rapid change without financially investing enough for this to happen.  I think this will lead to a lopsided change in education.  Some schools will manage to make the necessary improvement, but others will fall short of the mark.

U.S Department of Education. (2010, Novermber). National Education Technology Plan. 2010. Retrieved from http://www.ed.gov/sites/default/files/netp2010.pdf