Journal 5: "Harness the Power of Technology" by Arne Duncan (NETS-T I, II, V)

Duncan, A. (2011). Harness the power of technology. Learning and Leading with Technology, 38. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-june-july-2011.aspx


Duncan introduces the article by describing the technological climate that teachers are currently trying to teach in. He believes that the only way to successfully move forward in education is to incorporate technology into the way we teach our students. Technology is a medium that engages  students to try new learning opportunities that may provide more success depending on the child's learning abilities. Duncan details the standards that ISTE has created so that teachers have a goal to look for when successfully using technology in the classroom. Technology provides communities for teachers through reaching out with the use of the internet and social media so that the education that we provide is going to be the best it can be. 


Q1: In the National Education Technology Plan, what are the five goals for the federal government to advance the digital classroom?
The first goal of the NETP is Learning: Engage and Empower which asks that students participate in and out of school learning experiences that "prepare them to be active, creative, knowledgeable  and ethical participants" in technology (Duncan, 2011).. The second goal is Assessment: Measure What Matters which encourages the use of technology as the medium through which teachers should assess their students. The third goal, Teaching: Prepare and Connect, will provide educators with the technology to provide important "data, content, resources, expertise, and learning experiences" that will enable teachers to provide "effective teaching" (Duncan, 2011). The fourth goal, Infrastructure: Access and Enable, will provide students and teachers will a designed structure for learning. The fifth and final goal is Productivity: Redesign and Transform which hopes to completely redesign the education system so that technology will be on all educational levels to "improve learning outcomes" for students (Duncan, 2011).


Q2: The article mentions Connected Online Communities of Practice, what is this?
The State Education Department wants to connect teachers through "social media and other technology to create the Connected Online Communities of Practice" (Duncan, 2011). The goal is to build online communities where teachers can share their ideas, advice, etc.