Can we get there from here? National Education Technology Plan is released.

In case you missed the news, the "finalized" version of the National Education Technology Plan was released by the Federal Govt last week.

Here is a good blog post that summarizes some of the most significant content, by listing 5 current assumptions (misconceptions) about ed technology, which the plan says will be re-thought in the coming years:

The National Education Technology Plan: 5 huge assumptions about learning are about to change.

The intro to the blog post states:

Corralled by Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Director of Educational Technology Karen Cator, hundreds, if not thousands, of the luminaries from every sector of the education world have weighed in on the plan, which addresses virtually every aspect of modern edutech: assessment, infrastructure, lifelong and informal learning, video games, adaptivity, collaborative learning, teacher tools… the list goes on.

But perhaps one phrase, repeated throughout the document, wraps it all up:

“Rethink basic assumptions.”

Here’s one: In true Web 2.0 fashion, the NETP draft has been publicly available for the better part of this year, with every individual section open to comment. Many an edutech twitterer and blogger have weighed in, and the distinct voices of k-12 educators, education researchers, data wonks, and privateers were all heard in the brilliant, if cacophonous, debates.

Here is a link to the full plan (don't worry, there's an executive summary if you want to skim it):

If you have 35 minutes, you can watch this video of Karen Cator, Director of the Office of Educational Technology, presenting the plan and covering the highlights.

I'll be reading the plan carefully with an eye toward assessing and implementing the principles here in Ridgewood. Let's put it this way: we have a lot of opportunity here! Great things are happening...great learning is happening.