Vision Statement

Our education system today seems to be changing from year to year, maybe even more often. We have new standards and goals to meet each year as individual states adopt new curriculums. Some educators find this to be a burden because they are constantly being asked to change their resources and even their methods. However, we must ask ourselves: if our education system didn’t change as the world around us changes, then would it be education at all? This brings me to another constantly changing subject – technology. Technology, in its own right, is evolving constantly. If, we as educators didn’t use one to help the other, we would be gravely amiss.

As education and technology advance, so do our expectations of those who are entering our workforce. According to the National Education Technology Plan Executive Summary our nation’s goal is “that 60 percent of our nation’s population holds a two-year or four-year degree by 2020.” The Occupational Outlook Handbook, published by the US Department of Labor states that, “the US workforce will become more diverse by 2020” and “demand for these workers will increase as technology advances.” It also states that, “jobs requiring a master’s degree are expected to grow the fastest, while those requiring a high school diploma will experience the slowest growth.” Today’s goal in education is to focus on college readiness for each and every student; this includes technological literacy.

Although today’s conventional student has been surrounded by technologies for the majority of his/her life, we must remember the latest in technology is changing on a second to second basis. As educators, our goal is to produce a productive and successful member of society to the world. Therefore, in order to give our students an edge, we must be able to provide them with the capabilities to access the latest in technology which will help to provide them with the latest information which is the essence of education. Since we will be holding our students to higher standards of technological capabilities, we will need a way to measure them. NAEP is developing the first ever NAEP Technology and Engineering Literacy (TEL) assessment. “In 2014, eighth-grade students who are selected to take NAEP will participate in the assessment.” The assessment will focus on three main areas: technology and society, design and systems, and information and communication technology.

As you can see, our nation is becoming more and more focused on technological growth within our educational atmosphere. We owe it to our youth to provide them with every possible opportunity to better themselves academically, socially, and of course – technologically. As Nigel Willetts once said, “When faced with a steam-rolling technology, you either become part of the technology or part of the road!” As an educator, I want success for my students. I want them to become part of the most current technology — not part of the road. We must dedicate a part of our education system to guarantee that they have every opportunity to succeed, and this can partially be done by helping them to become technologically literate.

References:

“NAEP-Technology Literacy.” NAEP-Technology Literacy. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 June 2012. http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/techliteracy/.

“National Education Technology Plan 2010.” U.S. Department of Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 June 2012. <http://www.ed.gov/technology/netp-2010&gt;.

“Occupational Outlook Handbook.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d. Web. 09 June 2012. http://www.bls.gov/ooh/About/Projections-Overview.htm.