Technology Expansion Essay -- Technology, Education, Teacher

Technology Expansion Technology expansion in Georgia’s K–12 education indicates that learners demand new and more challenging academic experiences to achieve success in a wireless technology rich culture (Hennessy, Harrison & Wamakote, 2010). The Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) developed a plan to meet the â€Å"2008 ISTE National Technology Standards (NETS-T) number 5 â€Å"Engaging in professional growth and leadership† (Oliver, 2010). The Georgia K–12 technology plan mandated the expansions of information and information technology (desktop, wireless technology, handhelds tools, and portable video players) in K–12 classrooms. Essentially, this expansion along with Internet access created a new way to access and send information, thus, impacting teaching and learning in a social constructivism (SC) way. The GaDOE (2008) technology plan was designed to address teacher attitudes and determine ways technology contributes to statewide objectives to Kà ¢â‚¬â€œ12 public school students. In essence, the GaDOE‘s plan also focuses on achieving benchmarks, strategies, and evaluations. To issue common goals to combine efforts of GaDOE, other state-funded education organizations, municipal systems, and education partners supplementary underwent challenges with educational technology innovations. To address the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act of 2001 guidelines and state guidelines enforced their state technology plan. The technology plan is also in place to utilize as a guide for both federal and instructional state technology funding (GaDOE, 2008). All school district teachers participated in the Georgia Technology Plan for 2007-2012 survey. The purpose of the survey was to assess teacher feedback and address ways... ...ional usage. Kay and Lauricella utilized an anonymous, online survey to gather data. The data collections provided assistance and a framework for best practices regarding wireless laptops usage. Kay and Lauricella’s (2010) concurred that there are no conclusive analysis for the general population quasi-experimental methods concerning reliability and validity of the data. Although, the population in Kay and Lauricella’s (2010) study was college and university student, K–12 students will inevitably be faced with working with technology in not only the higher education world, but also in the workforce. Teacher training can facilitate technology based activities aligned to cross curriculum strategies, employ basic information and technology skills on the K–12 level. Innovative technology provides students with an edge on advanced technology (Weston & Bain, 2010).