The U.S. Department of Education started development of the 2010 plan in Spring 2009 (the last national education technology plan was published in 2004). The final version was published in November 2010 with a goal of creating a vision for strategic application of technology throughout the education system to support student learning and achievement. The question is: How useful is this plan to you? What did you get out of it? How will you use it moving forward?

A lot of work went into it, including input from more than 300 educators and experts and an open comment period with input from hundreds more. The plan’s technical working group involved input from:

Daniel E. Atkins, University of Michigan

John Bennett, Akron Public Schools

John Seely Brown, Deloitte Center for the Edge

Aneesh Chopra, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Chris Dede, Harvard University

Barry Fishman, University of Michigan

Louis Gomez, University of Pittsburgh

Margaret Honey, New York Hall of Science

Yasmin Kafai, University of Pennsylvania

Maribeth Luftglass, Fairfax County Public Schools

Roy Pea, Stanford University

Jim Pellegrino, University of Illinois, Chicago

David Rose, Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST)

Candace Thille, Carnegie Mellon University

and

Brenda Williams, West Virginia Department of Education.

Plan development was directed by Barbara Means of SRI International with the support of Marianne Bakia, Kate Borelli, Judy Brooks, Ed Dieterle, Austin Lasseter, Hannah Lesk, Jeremy Roschelle, Linda Shear, Susan Thomas, and Andrew Trotter. Linda G. Roberts (the first “Karen Cator” at the U.S. Department of Education during the Clinton Administration) served as a senior advisor to the plan development team.

The plan includes five key recommendation areas:

1.0 Learning: Engage and Empower

All learners will have engaging and empowering learning experiences both in and out of school that prepare them to be active, creative, knowledgeable, and ethical participants in our globally networked society.

2.0 Assessment: Measure What Matters

Our education system at all levels will leverage the power of technology to measure what matters and use assessment data for continuous improvement.

3.0 Teaching: Prepare and Connect

Professional educators will be supported individually and in teams by technology that connects them to data, content, resources, expertise, and learning experiences that enable and inspire more effective teaching for all learners.

4.0 Infrastructure: Access and Enable

All students and educators will have access to a comprehensive infrastructure for learning when and where they need it.

5.0 Productivity: Redesign and Transform

Our education system at all levels will redesign processes and structures to take advantage of the power of technology to improve learning outcomes while making more efficient use of time, money, and staff.

So, what do you think? How useful is this plan to you? Again: What did you get out of it? How will you use it moving forward? Anything else you’d like add or emphasize? Share!