As a whole, the budget for technology is decreasing. In Georgia, the budget went from $20,179,473.00 in 2004 to $8,291,373.00 in just 3 years and nationally from $659,438,400.00 in 2004 to $262,890,721.00. Georgia’s old technology plan from 2002-2006 focused on being aligned with the QCC standards. The plan called for frequent use of technology which would be integrated into all grade levels and contents areas to support learning. The plan called for establishing technology to all students in the public school system. Georgia’s latest technology plans (2009-2010) calls for using technology both informational technology and instructional technology and media. The new plan hopes to achieve this by using the using the performance based standards, assessing and analyzing students data, creating and teaching 21st century environments and learners, differentiated instructional and using highly qualified teachers and leaders.
I was reading the post made by other individuals on the National Education Technology plan when I came across one comment that I found rather interesting. It stated:
“Anyone else find it ironic that a 100+ page paper on the use of technology in
education fails to post the paper in a reader friendly 1 page per slide pdf. Instead they have this left page right page set up so scrolling over/down is a major pain. Ahh government :P”
Submitted by Yaro on Sun, March 21, 2010 12:16 PM.
The funny thing is as I was reading the plan, I was thinking the same thing. The National plan was difficult to read. I found it hard trying scroll page to page and then I later noticed that I needed to scroll left and right.
I think that the plans are very similar in goals, however the national plans looks to achieve technology in the education but it also looks to incorporate it for the later uses of life. The plan makes it a point to educate teachers and students to be life-long learners through engagement.
When doing my tech plan, this information can serve as a resource in trying to make that I not only align my plan with the state by I can attempt to aligned it with the national.
Test from phone
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to see that the budget for technology in education has fallen over the years. I would have expected it to increase. I would like to see what the budget is now as well as where it is expected to be in the next few years.
ReplyDeleteThe national technology standards were a lot to take in. I also agree with the difficulty in reading the document. I also noticed that it talked quite a bit about technology not only in education k-12, but in college and beyond college to the workplace. I did like that it emphasized the use of technology in everyday life, and it showed projections as to where our students need to go.
We seemed to really be on the same page in regards to the tech plans. I noticed that funding seemed to be decreasing over time as well and I found that to be really surprising and frustrating. How can we keep up with technology use if we don't have the money? I hadn't really thought about a tech plan including funding information, but obviously that is a very important part of looking at our current realities and where we are headed.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I found the national plan a little difficult to follow as well. This was frustrating because it really did seem to have a lot of great information. The comment that you quoted really seemed to hit the nail on the head. Shouldn't a technology plan be easy to follow and read so that everyone can implement it?
I did like how the national plan seemed to look at the future and preparing how students to be lifelong technology users.
Very interesting that you started with the budget information. I did not even notice that when I was reading. That does seem to be a component that needs to be taken into consideration. Technology can be expensive with all the hardware, software, and training involved.
ReplyDeleteI liked that the national plan extended into college too. Students will definitely be using technology more and more in school and in life.