This progress report was very helpful for me as an educator who is striving to learn as much as possible about how we can improve the use of technology in our classrooms and better prepare our students. I learned that “Legislation… that impacted educational technology…included the Virtual School Network (Senate Bill 1788), Internet Safety (House Bill 3171 and Senate Bill 136), Technology-Based Supplemental Pilot Program (House Bill 2864), and Technology Literacy Assessment Pilot (House Bill 2503).” In addition, the progress report details the Technology Immersion Pilot (TIP), the Texas Virtual School Network (TxVSN), and the activities being conducted through the twenty education service centers in Texas that assist our schools and school districts.
My reaction to this report and the various readings I have read so far for this course are the same. I believe if more teachers were made aware of these resources and if incentives were provided to reward teachers for their use, that we would see a positive shift in the direction of meeting the technology goals that have been set for us. I keep reading these articles and reports and thinking “Wow! Does anyone in my school even know about this??” I find myself wanting to email every article and report to my principal and saying “please make this required reading!” I truly believe that teachers and administrators have their heart in the right place – they want the best for our students. But if we created an environment that allowed teachers time to investigate these resources and rewards for their use we would see more teachers taking advantage of the tools out there. I would much rather sit through a staff meeting that discussed topics such as the ones covered in this progress report than the required annual TAKS testing rules that teachers who do not even administer the TAKS exam are subjected to attend each year.
Since I am in a small school district in a small town I know that tools such as distance learning could be put to incredible use at our local schools. There are courses that could be offered at the high school that would not have otherwise been available due to a lack of a teacher in that area. In addition, there are many courses that our faculty can take online that would allow them to incorporate technology to more effective use in our classrooms. My overall reaction to this report is that our school and our school district has much growth that is needed to meet the standards set out in the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology but with resources available to us (such as those mentioned in the 2008 and the 2010 progress reports) we can take steps immediately that will not cost a thing.
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