Transmission Project

Yesterday the Department of Education released their National Education Technology Plan (NETP), an 18-month project that details how to better integrate technology and media into a cradle-to-college system. Just like the FCC’s Broadband Plan, HHS’s Health IT Plan, or DOE’s Smartgrid Proposals (to name a few), this plan recognizes the need for broader digital literacy and a strengthened media infrastructure across communities—not just within the education (or telecommunications, or health, or energy) sector:

The technology that enables connected teaching is available now, but not all the conditions necessary to leverage it are. Many of our existing educators do not have the same understanding of and ease with using technology that is part of the daily lives of professionals in other sectors and with this generation of students. The same can be said of many of the education leaders and policymakers in schools, districts, and states and of the higher education institutions that prepare new educators for the field.

This gap in technology understanding influences program and curriculum development, funding and purchase decisions about educational and information technology in schools, and preservice and in-service professional learning. Too often, this gap prevents technology from being used in ways that would improve instructional practices and learning outcomes.

Still, we must introduce connected teaching into our education system rapidly, and for that we must rely on the organizations that support educators in their profession—schools and districts, colleges of education, professional learning providers, librarians and media specialists, and professional organizations.