Of all four areas of the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology, the one that I believe has the most impact of the rest is the Educator Preparation and Development area. We need teachers fully equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to integrate technology into instruction, else technology plan become useless.
The Educator Preparation and Development area is has six sections; Content of Professional Development, Models of Professional Development, Capabilities of Educators, Access to Professional Development, Levels of Understanding and Patterns of Use, and Professional Development for Online Learning. According to the Texas STaR Chart, our school scored overall at the Developing Tech stage in the 2008-2009 school years. An overwhelming majority of the state’s schools, a 74.2% of the schools were at the Developing Tech stage in the 2007-08 year. Nearly 84% of Texas schools were at the Advance Tech or Developing Tech stage. Our campus has not move in the direction of Advance Tech.
Based on the Texas Campus and Teacher STaR Charts, in order to turn these trends around, we need to develop on-going professional development that focuses on providing tech application strategies for educators that will create learning environments where kids are allowed to think critically and where they have the means to collaborate with experts across business, industry and higher education. We also need to offer anytime, anywhere learning available through individually guided activities and inquiry action research. In order for teachers to be able to do this, we must also provide professional development that helps all teachers in technology and it uses. Teachers should also receive year around professional development training in order to create learning opportunities for all students.
It doesn’t matter how much administrative support or advance infrastructure we develop, incorporating technology in teaching and learning will not occur until teachers have the time and knowledge to do it.
Kahan, K, Brite, T, LaGow, R, Torres, T, Freguson, K, & Little, N, The Texas long-range Plan of Technology http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/comm/leg_reports/2008/08pr_to_lrpt.pdf
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I know for myself that this class alone has shown me how tech savvy I am not. I feel very frustrated and inadequate to teach technology. I am a hands on person but I have to walk through something as I am being taught it. I agree with you that technology is our future and we need to be educated on the subject so we can advance with our kids.
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