Week Two Assignment: Part Two

The Texas Long Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020 is a detailed attack plan aimed at increasing teacher proficiency in and school's commitment to the integration of technology in the classroom instruction and learning. It provides goals and measurement of improvement. The plan separates four key areas: Teaching and Learning, Educator Preparation, Administration and Support, and Infrastructure. Let's focus on Key Area IV: Infrastructure for Technology. The broad idea of this key area is to provide students and teachers connectivity, access to equipment, support and maintenance. Infrastructure has to be part of the conversation of budget makers, instructional leaders and teacher training developers. The “who”, “when”, and “how” of integrating technology hinges directly on Infrastructure. There are six indicators for the key area: students per computer, internet access and connectivity speed, other classroom technology, technical support, LAN and WAN, and distance learning capacity. Local progress on this key area is classified as “Target Tech.” It has steadily risen a few points each year. State-wide progress mirrors that of our district. Infrastructure is the has the highest rate of Target Tech scores (6.7%), which has also steadily risen a few points per year. When reviewing the progress and trends of improvement in the key area of Infrastructure, I am struck that this is the area of highest Target Tech. To me, it speaks volumes about equipment not always being the biggest hurdle in improving the technological aspects of schools. Before analyzing this information, I would have assumed that the teaching and learning, educator preparation and administration and support areas would be most developed and just waiting for the fiscal ability to upgrade their infrastructure. When in reality, the opposite seems to be true. Perhaps this is because teaching and learning would follow educator preparation in the area of integrating technology into classroom instruction. Educator preparation would need administration and support. Now the question of which would need to come first: the infrastructure or the educator preparation/administration and support? Can they evolve simultaneously or would they have to fall like dominoes? I would hope that districts, schools and teachers would utilize their current infrastructure to the utmost all the while learning and preparing for future accessibility and connectivity.