Blog #1: Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology - Teaching and Learning

     One of the four main areas of the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology is the area of Teaching and Learning. This is an extremely important area because the 21st Century learner is going to have to have skills that will allow them to learn and communicate in a technology based world. In order to keep up with other people learners will need to have access to the different forms of technology 24/7/365.
     As we are all aware there has been a lack of funding at the national, state, and local levels which has caused problems for the Long-Range Plan. If the Plan does not receive the resources and funding it needs to work, implementation of the Plan will be virtually impossible. And although funding has taken a hit, there has been an increase in implementation across the state, but there is still room for improvement in helping reach the goals of the plan. So, we need to continue to strive to increase the funding and providing the resources needed so we can help our students, otherwise it will take much longer than 2020 to reach our goals.
     When looking over data I saw that at the State Level, Teaching and Learning was at the level of Developing Tech. At my school we are also in the category of Developing Tech. I feel this trend could be due possibly to financial resources from district to district. If a district has a bigger budget or even budgets more toward technology than a neighboring district, they more than likely will be able to afford more technology for their school and additional professional development opportunities. The larger budget will eventually cause there to be a huge discrepancy in the Teaching and Learning section of the Long-Range plan between these neighboring districts.
      My number one suggestion for helping to improve this area is to develop sponsorships with technology companies such as Apple. By developing a relationship with a corporation such as Apple, would help the school districts to stay up to date on the latest technology and technology training. As we all know there are schools out there that have "ancient" technology and there are some that still have very minimal technology available to them. When the schools do not have up to date technology or no technology at all, we are putting those students "behind the eight ball" so to speak in competing with other students and their education. My recommendation for us to reach the Target Tech Level of progress for Teaching and Learning we have to make access to the various different forms of technology, resources, and services available to both our staffs and students. Both teachers and students must also have a desire to be lifelong learners of technology.