2010 National Educational Technology Plan Unveiled
Classroom, Inc. also attended the session “The National Ed Tech Plan” at this year’s WNET Celebration of Teaching & Learning expo in NYC. The session was held the same day a draft of Obama administration’s five-year National Educational Tech Plan (NETP) was released for public comment. Panelists were Karen Cator, current Director of the Office of Educational Technology, Dr. Linda Roberts, who held the same job in the Clinton administration, and Lucy Gray, Tech. Specialist at the University of Chicago.
The Plan calls for 100% of schools to be technology-ready by 2015. The FCC’s Broadband Plan, [link to http://www.broadband.gov] released on March 16th , will accelerate broadband deployment across the nation, resulting in more connectedness, which in turn will allow the NETP to reach one of its goals of greater communication among teachers, parents, after-school staff, and colleges of education.
Points made in the report or by panelists that particularly reflect Classroom, Inc.’s pedagogical approach and its program:
- Current research and development shows great results for using simulations and games for learning. NETP wants to transfer these immersive learning tools to schools.
- Assessments should give real-time feedback embedded in classroom instruction, thereby creating a “persistent learning record.”
- To extend the day, teachers and students should be able to leverage technology 24/7. In a climate in which education is under budgeted, leveraging of technology is a cost-effective approach.
Panelists assured the audience that the standards set by the new NETP are more about learning than technology. “It’s not the toys, but the instructional strategies,” one panelist pointed out. “”But, said another, “presently technology is over there, assessments are over there and textbooks are over there. These three elements need to come together.”
Download the latest draft of the 2010 National Educational Technology Plan.
