The Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020

Teaching and Learning (17-22)

This area of the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology addresses the need for and the process of teaching and learning. It provides recommendations for student development and institutes a timeline for skill acquisition. Although progress has been made at the national level including NCLB mandates and expectations, the actual implementation of many of the programs has yet to be espoused by the state and the local school districts. The government has mandated that all students become literate in technology by the eighth grade, yet there are still schools in Texas which have yet to receive the resources necessary to maintain technology development.

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has issued a standard which includes a technology component. The Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) ensure that every Texas student is exposed to technology beginning in Pre-K and ending only when a student completes high school. Local school districts have made great strides toward fulfilling the mandates of the TEKS, but there is a definite disparity between schools in affluent areas and schools in inner city areas. I have witnessed firsthand the difference which exists between the two. Technology usage gets diluted when schools are forced to make budget decisions regarding testing subjects and technology. Thus, much of what the students learn in low income schools is taught in the technology applications class and not integrated in the core subjects. Since many teachers remain untrained and undertrained in the area of technology, few requests are made for the types of technology which moves the students from novices to experienced users in the educational arena. The bottom line is schools are held responsible for test scores. Principals are reluctant to spend money on expensive programs which would not be put to use. Instead, they invest their budgets in the low tech resources with which their teachers are accustomed.

Teaching and learning in the area of technology could be improved with teacher buy-in and appropriate training. One-day workshops are not enough to encourage the fundamental change needed to make the program successful. Just as students are introduced to technology usage step by step, teachers should be trained on the job, step by step until they are comfortable in its use. Support should be provided for veteran teachers just as it is for new teachers. New teachers need mentoring from veteran teachers to learn to teach, and veterans need mentoring from literate computer users to learn how to integrate technology. It would be a win-win situation.