Ed-tech groups issue urgent call to action

ED-TECH GROUPS ISSUE URGENT CALL TO ACTION
[SOURCE: eSchool News]
The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) have release a position paper that makes an urgent case for why -- and how -- school leaders should integrate technology into instruction. "How will we create the schools America needs to remain competitive? For more than a generation, the nation has engaged in a monumental effort to improve student achievement. We've made progress, but we're not even close to where we need to be," according to the paper. "It's time to focus on what students need to learn--and on how to create a 21st-century education system that delivers results. In a digital world, no organization can achieve results without incorporating technology into every aspect of its everyday practices. It's time for schools to maximize the impact of technology as well." Profound changes in the world's economy "make it imperative for the nation to be much more strategic, aggressive, and effective in preparing students to succeed," the paper says. "The rest of the world is catching up in terms of innovation, economic competitiveness, and educational achievement." Schools can prepare their students to succeed in this new 21st-century environment, the paper says--but this will require "broad and intensive use of technology." Two major obstacles stand in the way, according to the report: The use of technology in education today is too narrowly conceived, and the assumption that schools already are using technology widely is unfounded.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showstoryts.cfm?Articleid=7461

* Maximizing the Impact: Why Technology Must Play a Pivotal Role in 21st Century Education
http://www.setda.org/web/guest/maximizingimpactreport