Abstract

** Bill Moredock  **
 * What your vendors won't or can't tell you **

What your vendors won't or can't or just don't know to tell you. It’s not their fault, often you don’t know what to ask. It’s a vendor’s job to sell you their product; it’s your job to know your school’s technology needs to develop effective twenty-first century knowledge and skills. What are the latest United States Department of Education requirements in National Education Technology Plan 2010? This presentation is based on the 2010 Technology Plan’s executive summary “Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology” which states that “…this gap in technology understanding influences program and curriculum development, funding and purchasing decisions about educational and information technology in schools, and pre-service and in-service professional learning. This gap prevents technology from being used in ways that would improve instructional practices and learning outcomes.” It’s time to change our basic assumptions of what comprises the tools of a successful classroom.

The time is past for 20th Century Skills, the three r's. Skills for the 21th Century i.e., critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity (the four C's) must be imbedded in the curriculum. These skills are already required in the workplace and our students are not prepared. Writing your technology plan, understanding the basic needs of technology (power, bandwidth, and maintenance), and technology components of the school and the classroom are addressed in depth in this presentation. A question that should drive your plan is, “how invested are administrators and teachers?” Without instructional leaders’ buy-in, a good plan is just that, a plan that might as well be fiction. Technology Integration calls for revolutionary transformation rather than evolutionary tinkering.

Technology integration requires that teachers and students are engaged in the process. Collaboration among teachers, students and professional learning communities is a necessity for good data collection and evaluation. This cycle is critical for good instruction and technology provides the tools necessary for immediate data to drive instruction and instructional delivery that engages students and teachers. A burning issue is choosing the model you are going to use whole-class instruction or direct- diverse instruction. Which one best facilitates the four Cs? Where are you headed? The vendors and the educational establishment tell you what an interactive classroom is, are you going to buy it? Or, are you going to look deeply at your school’s data and unique needs and choose for yourself what makes your school truly interactive? This presentation explores the pros and cons of projectors, computers, document cameras, student response systems, operating software, assessment systems, and all the miscellaneous items that make them work. When the presenter is through you’ll be asking yourself, “What is it we really need?” and you will leave with a new understanding of aligning your technology plan with the requirements in National Education Technology Plan 2010. You will become part of transforming education powered by technology.