EDLD 5352

BLOG POST 1 EDLD 5352
Teaching and Learning Area (Texas Long Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2010)

In the Teaching and Learning area the emphasis is on the learner being able to have access to technology and being able to use this technology to communicate with others. They should be able to convey knowledge about the real world and are supposed to be able to use research in the curricular areas they study in school so that they will be able to improve in their academic endeavors. Collaboration skills will be enhanced as they progress through the advancement of technological exposure and practice as stated in the goals of the classification and area descriptions found in the Long Range Plan (Texas Long Range Plan for Technology, 2010).
In this area my school district has maintained a Developing Tech classification for the last three years. This information reveals that there has been some advancement in the area but confirms the need to move on to the Advanced Tech classification (Star chart, 2010). At the state level in the 2009-2010 school year 59.3% of our schools are at this same level. However, as I examine this data there is significant increase of the advanced tech classification at 37.8% for the state. This shows a trend in the use of technology being integrated into the foundation of the TEKS (Star chart, 2010).
At the national level there is progress as most of stats I found disclose that there is a 59% to 69% developing tech classification confirming that the trend is aligned with the state of Texas in their classification status.
Upon the discovery of this information I would recommend that our state focus on the utilizing technology to advance in the Teaching and Learning area of the Star Chart. In my opinion, I believe that there should be more of an importance place on the utilization of technology by our teachers and students. We seem to use it to some degree but need to get to a place where it is actually an integral part of teaching and learning. It would seem that our school as well as many others would and should to get to the place where the foundation of the TEKS are integrated into technology use as it states in the goals for Advanced Tech classification (Texas Long Range Plan for Technology, 2010).
Sources:

Texas Campus StaR Chart. (2010). Retrieved from http://starchart.esc12.net/

Texas Long Range Plan for Technology. (2010). Retrieved from http://portal.esc20.net/portal/page/portal/doclibraryroot/publicpages/netvision20/n20files/LrptBrochure.pdf