In today’s word, technology has become a central focal point for everyone. Technology is used is just about ever aspect of a person’s life from social to career. Unfortunately, The United States is lagging behind in the “technology race” that has been established by other countries. In order to catch up and be able to compete in the global technology department, some fine minds in Washington and sat down and spent countless hours on a new plan that will get everyone up to speed and able to use technology proficiently. In reading this 79-page plan, I wonder just how much time these folks devoted to visiting various schools around the country to see the diversity of not only our learners, but the schools themselves.
The plan is very optimistic in wanting to accomplish a higher two and four year college graduate rate and closing the gap so that all students “regardless of race, income, or neighborhood graduate from high school ready to succeed in college and careers” (Atkins, 2010). In the plan, there are various goals which include teaching, learning, professional development, and training.
Learning should be engaging and empowering both inside and outside of school. With this said, since children have unlimited access to technology, they should be learning at all times. This makes me wonder about the “perfect world” scenario. Not all children have access to technology after school. There are many children or varying races, economic status, and geographic locations that go home to bad home environments wondering if they will have food, electricity, and running water; the basic necessities. It’s hard to think about homework and advancing technology if your stomach is growling or you can’t take a bath or have clean clothes.
Another topic for the plan is teaching and training. The plan supports the concept of team collaboration rather than individualism. This allows teachers to access others by way of technology to learn, ask questions, and extended learning through a plethora of resources. With extended learning comes plenty of room for professional development. The “professional development is replaced by professional learning that is collaborative, coherent, and continuous that blends with more effective in-person courses and workshops with the expanded opportunities, immediacy, and convenience enabled by online environments full of resources and opportunities for collaboration” (Atkins, 2010).
The plan within itself is a wonderful set of goals to try to attain for our children and the future of our country, but maybe instead of trying to get us technologically above the rest of the world, we should concentrate on meeting the basic needs of our citizens. Homeless people don’t care about email and texting, and some of our students are barely one step above homeless.
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