Keep your finger on the pulse of education in Indiana: Find articles about what Indiana’s schools are doing, legislative news, and read about what’s happening in the General Assembly that pertains to education.
The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) and State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) recently endorsed President Obama’s goals to "equip tens of thousands of schools, community colleges, and public universities with 21st century classrooms ... [and] provide new computers, new technology, and new training for teachers" as a way to stimulate the economy and prepare the nation’s youth to compete in the 21st century. According to a press release, in addition to recommending classroom technology grants, CoSN, ISTE, SIIA, and SETDA recommended the inclusion of "separate, additional broadband and technology infrastructure support for schools" (2009) to complement the influx of technology in classrooms.
President Obama’s stimulus proposal targets technology education as an avenue for job creation in education as well as related technology and education service sectors. According to the New York Times,
[t]he plan would shower the nation’s school districts, child care centers and university campuses with $150 billion in new federal spending, a vast two-year investment that would more than double the Department of Education’s current budget. The proposed emergency expenditures on nearly every realm of education, including school renovation, special education, Head Start and grants to needy college students, would amount to the largest increase in federal aid since Washington began to spend significantly on education after World War II (n.d.).
CoSN, ISTE, SIIA, and SETDA view this as an opportunity to revisit conventional ideas about classrooms, teaching, and learning; to "enable innovative instructional practices in America's classrooms to address the needs of today's digital-native students" (2009); and to take steps towards bringing classrooms into the 21st century.
This article appeared in the ETC...and More! volume 2, number 6 newsletter and is published by the Buddy
Project
(Corporation for Educational Technology), in
collaboration with the Hoosier
Educational Computer
Coordinators (HECC),
Indiana Computer Educators (ICE),
the Indiana Department of
Education, and Promoting Achievement through Technology and INstruction for all Students (PATINS).
Visit our BTLC Partner Web Site!
The Buddy Teaching and Learning Center site, www.btlc.org, is the place to find and register for quality professional development and technology training opportunities offered by the team of Buddy facilitators who are all experienced Indiana teachers and administrators.
"Four groups representing more than one-hundred thousand educators and hundreds of high-tech employers believe that a major spending infusion on education technology will create jobs within the education, education services and technology sectors, as well as enable innovative instructional practices in America's classrooms to address the needs of today's digital-native students" (Education and business leaders, 2009).
