It can help affirm and advance relationships between educators and students, reinvent our approaches to learning and collaboration, shrink long-standing equity and accessibility gaps, and adapt learning experiences to meet the needs of all learners.
Our schools, community colleges, and universities should be incubators of exploration and invention. Educators should be collaborators in learning, seeking new knowledge and constantly acquiring new skills alongside their students. Education leaders should set a vision for creating learning experiences that provide the right tools and supports for all learners to thrive.
However, to realize fully the benefits of technology in our education system and provide authentic learning experiences, educators need to use technology effectively in their practice. Furthermore, education stakeholders should commit to working together to use technology to improve American education. These stakeholders include leaders; teachers, faculty, and other educators; researchers; policymakers; funders; technology developers; community members and organizations; and learners and their families.
The National Education Technology Plan NETP sets a national vision and plan for learning enabled by technology through building on the work of leading education researchers; district, school, and higher education leaders; classroom teachers; developers; entrepreneurs; and nonprofit organizations.
Accessibility refers to the design of apps, devices, materials, and environments that support and enable access to content and educational activities for all learners.
In addition to enabling students with disabilities to use content and participate in activities, the concepts also apply to accommodating the individual learning needs of students, such as English language learners, students in rural communities, or students from economically disadvantaged homes.
Technology can support accessibility through embedded assistance—for example, text-to-speech, audio and digital text formats of instructional materials, programs that differentiate instruction, adaptive testing, built-in accommodations, and other assistive technology tools.
To illustrate key ideas and recommendations, the plan includes examples of the transformation enabled by the effective use of technology. These examples include both those backed by rigorous evidence as well as emerging innovations.
The identification of specific programs or products in these examples is designed to provide a clearer understanding of innovative ideas and is not meant as an endorsement. The NETP also provides actionable recommendations to implement technology and conduct research and development successfully that can advance the effective use of technology to support learning and teaching. Intended to be useful for any group or individual with a stake in education, the NETP assumes as its primary audiences teachers; education leaders; those responsible for preparing teachers; and policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels.
The concepts, recommendations, and examples are also applicable to post-secondary institutions, community organizations, and state-level initiatives. The NETP focuses on using technology to transform learning experiences with the goal of providing greater equity and accessibility see Section 1: Learning. When carefully designed and thoughtfully applied, technology can accelerate, amplify, and expand the impact of effective teaching practices.
However, to be transformative, educators need to have the knowledge and skills to take full advantage of technology-rich learning environments see Section 2: Teaching. In addition, the roles of PK—12 classroom teachers and post-secondary instructors, librarians, families, and learners all will need to shift as technology enables new types of learning experiences. For these systemic changes in learning and teaching to occur, education leaders need to create a shared vision for how technology best can meet the needs of all learners and to develop a plan that translates the vision into action see Section 3: Leadership.
Technology-enabled assessments support learning and teaching by communicating evidence of learning progress and providing insights to teachers; administrators; families; and, most importantly, the learners themselves. These assessments can be embedded within digital learning activities to reduce interruptions to learning time see Section 4: Assessment. Learning, teaching, and assessment enabled by technology require a robust infrastructure see Section 5: Infrastructure.
Key elements of this infrastructure include high-speed connectivity and devices that are available to teachers and students when they need them. BioTutor is a good example of where digital technology can be used to great effect in teaching and learning. Catching up on missed work no longer involves copying notes off of your friend, but actually taking the lesson and understanding the topic, just online.
The fact that the video lessons can be paused allows students to work at their own pace, or to ask the teacher questions if the videos are used in class. It also enables students to complete the lesson planned for them even if the teacher is absent. So what do schools who want to use digital technology in teaching and learning need to think about before implementation?
Drawing on my experiences, I would suggest a few key points:. It seems as though many schools are interested in the potential of digital technology, but few have cracked how to really benefit from it.
Experiments are being conducted in some schools that are entirely tech based, not using books, paper or pens. This is of course unlikely to become the norm any time soon, but perhaps there is something to be learned from these experiences that may benefit other schools in the future. Our guest blogger, Miranda Cook, is a 16 year old secondary school student living in London.
By Kathleen Sullivan. Good Night: my name is Edith Florian, iam from Peru. Here we have populations in the sierra of Peru, where they doesnt have television, or computers, no phone signal and of course no wifi.
The kids just have a few books and thats it. So I have a little non-profit organization where we want to use digital technology in teaching and learning with this kids. But we dont know if this can have repercussions on them in a good or a bad way. Because with this technology they can see a lion or animals running, different places, beaches,etc. Thanks, hope you can answer this comment.
Close Menu Home All blogs. However, this does not always work out in practice. However, this reduced the utility of having iPads in the first place, as the restrictions inadvertently extended to useful websites As it turned out, our school had not laid the necessary foundation to ensure a successful roll-out. Drawing on my experiences, I would suggest a few key points: Pilot programmes should be conducted with different groups of students and teachers, not only with one class.
Graphing calculators, spreadsheets, and graphing software provide mathematics students with the ability to visualize difficult mathematical concepts. In the social sciences, electronic communication tools e.
Internet conferencing, e-mail, electronic discussion groups allow students to communicate with their peers from many parts of the world. In the language arts, students use handheld computers and wireless networks to create joint writing exercises and read electronic books that allow them to explore related topics. Concept-mapping software provides all students with the opportunity to build the framework for a story or report and to map out linkages among complex characters, such as those in a play by Shakespeare.
In the arts, students can explore images of original artwork through the Internet; with appropriate software they can create original digital artwork or musical compositions. Physical education students can use electronic probes to learn about the relationship between the impact of physical movement and physiological changes.
Authentic student inquiry extends beyond data collection. It also implies the opportunity for students to investigate questions or issues that concern them. Communications technology allows students to contact experts such as scientists, book authors, and political leaders. Electronic communication tools support interactions and increase the probability of prompt responses. Students who want to learn more about a current event, such as an experiment on an international space station, scientific endeavors in the Antarctic, an international meeting of environmentalists, or a musher during the Iditarod dogsled race in Alaska, can use the Internet to investigate the topic, participate in a virtual field trip to the event, and watch the event as it unfolds through a web camera.
In this manner, instructional technology assists students who wish to investigate their own questions and concerns. Constructing new knowledge. James Pellegrino and Janice Altman believe the penultimate use of technology occurs when students use technology to move from being knowledge consumers to being knowledge producers.
Results of original student inquiry usually take the form of printed reports or oral presentations. With advanced technologies, students can present their original data or newly interpreted data by integrating digital video, audio, and text into word-processed documents, multimedia presentations, videos, or web-based documents. Local, state, national, and international media fairs provide opportunities for students to demonstrate the new knowledge representations that students are capable of creating when given the opportunity.
Media fairs showcase photographs, original digital images, overheads, videos, and interactive multimedia projects from students of all ages.
In the past, award-winning projects have included a video created by fourth graders that demonstrates their feelings regarding acceptance, diversity, and compassion; an interactive, multimedia presentation by second graders about the water cycle; and an interactive multimedia project by a high school student depicting the history of war experienced by one family.
Each of these projects illustrates student-generated knowledge that could have been demonstrated through a traditional paper or research report. However, the instructional technology tools provided students with a way to express their knowledge in a more interesting manner.
Access to learning resources. Some schools lack the resources to provide all of the courses that students may need or want. Advanced placement and foreign language courses can be particularly expensive for a school system to offer when there is not a high level of student demand. A variety of technologies e.
Instructional technologies can also serve the instructional needs of students who may be unable to attend classes in the school building. Students who are homebound, home schooled, or who may be forced to drop out of school can take advantage of course-work offered over the Internet.
Virtual high schools, online college credit courses, and for-profit companies all make courses available to students through the Internet. Through an online program, students can obtain their high school diplomas or GED without attending a particular school. Instructional technologies also provide some students important access to traditional classroom instruction. Students who have physical or learning disabilities can use a variety of assistive technologies in order to be an active member of a mainstreamed class.
Braille writers and screen readers allow students with sight limitations to use a computer for work and communication. Various switches allow students with limited mobility to use a computer to speak for them and complete assignments.
Switches, similar to a computer mouse, manipulate the computer through a touch pad, by head or eye movement, or even by breath. Handheld computing devices and specialized software allow students with learning disabilities to function in traditional classrooms by helping them organize thoughts, structure writing, and manage time. Instructional technology is also used to provide alternative forms of assessment for disabled students, including digital portfolios that electronically capture the accomplishments of students who are not able to complete traditional assessments.
The function of computers in schools differs from that of other educational technologies. In the case of films, radio, instructional television, overhead projectors, and other instructional media, educational technology is used to support and enhance the teacher's role as instructor.
Teacher support has also been one of the justifications for the introduction of computers in schools, but it has not been the only, nor the most important, justification.
Computers are also promoted as an important part of the school curriculum. Learning about computers and acquiring computer skills have been accepted by educators and the lay public as a necessary curricular requirement because they give students tools needed to function effectively in modern American society. The role and function of computers in schools can be classified according to three categories: 1 computer literacy, 2 computers as tools, and 3 computers as a catalyst for school transformation.
Computer literacy. Beginning in the s it was assumed that all children should become computer literate. While the meaning of the term computer literacy has changed over time, all children are expected to graduate with knowledge about the role of computers in society and essential skills in their operation.
Educators continue to debate what skills are essential and when and how they are best learned, but there is little controversy about whether students should be competent in the use of computers.
No such discussion surrounds the school use of film, radio, and instructional television. Computers as tools. With the continuing increase in computer power and the decline in cost, schools have steadily increased the numbers of computers in schools and their use by students. Rather than place computers in specialized laboratories where students have access to them for only a limited period each week, computers have increasingly been placed in libraries and in classrooms.
Beginning in the s the goal became to make computers ubiquitous and to integrate them across the curriculum. Computers had become something more that a curriculum topic; they had become a tool that students needed in order to perform their work. Students were expected to use the Internet to gather information and to use word processing and multimedia software to produce their reports. While other instructional media were seen as tools for teachers, computers are accepted as tools for both teachers and students.
Computers as a catalyst for school reform. Throughout the twentieth century, technology zealots have heralded one technology or another as having the capacity to transform schools, but such transformations have not occurred.
Film, radio, television, and other instructional media have enriched the classroom resources available to teachers. However, rather than challenging traditional classroom practices, they were used to maintain traditional practices. The culture of schooling, with teachers in charge of instruction before a class of students, has remained relatively constant.
Some proponents believe that computers have the power to transform schools because they empower learners in ways that previous technologies were unable to, because they challenge the authority of teachers to be the sole source of information, and because they encourage an active, rather than a passive, learner.
Computers may eventually provide the catalyst that will result in school transformation. The effective use of technology in schools involves more than the purchase of educational technologies and their integration into the curriculum.
The existence of technology within a school can create special concerns—particularly regarding legal issues, ethical issues, media literacy, and funding—that must be addressed. Legal issues. Software piracy the installation of nonlicensed software is an important legal concern. When software is purchased, generally the buyer obtains one license, which allows that software to be installed on only one computer.
Schools may purchase site licenses that permit the software to be installed on multiple computer stations. While the practice of loading software without licenses onto multiple computers piracy may seem benign to school officials, it is a form of theft that results in billions of dollars in lost revenue to vendors, and it can result in fines to school corporations.
Technology also raises important legal issues regarding copyright and privacy. Technology allows for easy duplication of many types of media.
With a videocassette recorder, a teacher can record a television program for reuse in the classroom. Artwork, photos, and articles can be scanned and reproduced digitally. The Internet provides easy access to digital images, movies, music, and written works from all over the world; these can be downloaded and used in multiple formats, raising not only questions about copyright, but also plagiarism.
When a student or a teacher uses a piece of media that is not in the public domain copyright-free , they must be certain that they have not violated the doctrine of Fair Use. Fair Use Section of the Copyright Act considers the purpose of the use, the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount used in comparison to the entire piece, and the impact of classroom use on the work's commercial value.
Therefore, while showing videotape in a classroom to illustrate a point of history may be permissible, the downloading of images from the Internet into a calendar for the student council to sell is probably not. The right to privacy and free speech is considered an essential American ideal. However, with computer technologies and the Internet, there is little actual privacy.
All electronic communications e-mail, web forums, etc. During that process, information is saved that can be read by anyone who has the knowledge to do so. In order to ensure the safety and security of everyone, students and teachers need to be informed that electronic communications from their school are not private and can be accessed.
In Congress passed the Children's Internet Protection Act CIPA and the Neighborhood Children's Internet Protection Act NCIPA , which require all schools and libraries that receive federal technology funds to have an Internet safety policy to protect children from visual depictions that are obscene, contain child pornography, or are otherwise harmful to children. An adequate technology protection measure can be an Internet block or filtering software that prevents the objectionable material from being displayed.
However, blocking software and other practices to eliminate access to websites raises issues relating to rights of free speech guaranteed by the U. The conflict about free speech, privacy, and the obligation of schools to protect children make this issue quite controversial within some school systems.
Ethical issues.
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