In order to bring our children into the 21st century technology world, there has been a push in Texas to make this happen. The Texas Long Rang Plan for technology, 2006-2020 is the plan that includes all the requirements that should be taught and learned to and by our children. The plan is made up of four key areas. I’m going to focus on area number four, Infrastructure for Technology. I chose this area because without the foundation of a solid infrastructure, your technology program is not going to be successful. The infrastructure of a district is more than having a reliable network. It is having computers for every student on a campus. It is providing on-line learning for students AND teachers. It is incorporating other types of technology into the classroom other than the web (IE: flash drives, digital devices, probes, etc). It is having the technical support available on campus. Having a solid infrastructure also provides teachers and students with access to share resources.
Most campuses in our state are still in the Developing Tech area. This is primarily due to funding. With looming budget cuts in the future, it does not look positive that our campuses will move forward in this area. However, there are funds at each campus that can be used according to the administrator’s discretion. If administrators are using more of their allocated funds on increasing the infrastructure of their school, we can see improvement. Our campus has sown its greatest improvement in this area. Our PTA has rallied our community and had several technology devices donated to the school. Many community members have also volunteered their technology savvy skills to making sure the infrastructure of the school is solid. Growth is slow, but the growth is there.
