Texas Long Range Technology Plan

The state of Texas has designed and planned for the new generations of learners that are now being to hit reach the high school level, and will be the only type of learner from now until something new is generated. The new learner does not learn the same way as most of the teacher’s administrators that are the ones responsible for teaching these students. So the state understands we must makes future plans and goals to ensure we are capable of teaching in the 21st century. Teaching and Learning focus areas include all aspects of educating and the one being educated, the goal being that technology is the primary education tool used in the classroom. The advanced target allows the teachers to create and integrate web-based lessons. Another concern for the state of Texas is the Educator Preparation and Development, the teaching and knowledge of the educators responsible for using and teaching our students technology needs. The guidelines will regulate the increase of models and access of professional development for educators and staff members. The standard will be for all educators to gain knowledge until they have the ability to teach content or courses online. The advancement of classroom technology cannot be successful unless the leaders of the school buy into the goals that are set in place. The state categorizes this by calling it Administration and instruction support. This deals with all aspect involved in managing the school infrastructure of technology. The new duties will include discovering ways to budget for expensive technology equipment and the expense of resources to train teachers. The administrator will be responsible for using a variety of media formats to communicate with the community and stake holders. The administrator will be the campus leader that must positively encourage and demand that teachers gain the needed knowledge and use the proper technology resources available. Schools will have to take a close look at how our schools have been designed and create an infrastructure that promotes technology advancements. The most basic need will be the ability to connect to the World Wide Web through several different means. The state hopes to fully equip all classrooms with immediate technology to enhance student learning. The goal is to add additional support for technical service and repair by having 1 tech to every 350 teachers.
I believe the state is making the appropriate steps to meet the needs of the next generation; hopefully we can keep up with the continuously changing market. As older teachers retire and new teachers join the industry, I think technology will become as common as black boards and chalk.