Thursday, April 15, 2010

Educational Technology

On March 10, 2010 the Department of Education and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) met to discuss the future of technology in K-12 education in Washington DC. 

The Department of Education presented their National Technology Plan which takes a look at the following areas related to technology: 
  • Learning
  • Assessment
  • Teaching
  • Infrastructure
  • Productivity
I'd like to take a look at these five areas related to MSSD as I think they serve as an excellent spring board in restructuring Ed. Tech.

I'd also like to offer my assistance with the teaching piece of this focused on how to better integrate technology into the classroom by continuing Tech Tuesdays at MSMS next year during our professional development time.  Over the past two years Tech Tuesdays has fluctuated with attendance but rarely do we get more than five teachers attending these informal meetings to discuss using technology in the classroom. 

Also, the FCC presented the National Broadband Plan which includes three recommendations:
  1. Supporting and promoting online learning
  2. Unlocking the value of date and improving transparency
  3. Modernizing educational broadband infrastructure
I think the district wikispace we are about to embark on will do good job of improving transparency within our district in regards to curriculum and it's relationship to essential learnings.  Stay tuned.