"Change is easy, but improving is hard"

After reviewing the United States Department of Technology Plan, I was impressed with how comprehensive the Michigan Department of Education Technology plan was.  I was relieved to see indicators of success and multiple strategies for each goal and action steps for each strategy.   However, with no timeline, specific plan for funding or enforcing, it is flawed in some of the same ways as the national plan. 

In the plan there were two goals that really caught my eye, Goal 3 and Goal 5. 

·         Goal 3: Professional Learning: Michigan educators will have competencies in 21st Century Skills, especially information and media fluency, to enable the transformation of teaching and learning to improve student achievement.

You may ask, “What teacher enjoys going to PD?”  And I will say, “Most do not.”  However, if the PD is relevant and useful, even the most reluctant teachers will agree to its importance.  Professional development opportunities involving technology seems to be few and far between.  I feel if we are teaching students skills to be ready in the 21^st century work force then we too must be competent at the skills required in the 21^st century as a new graduate.

·         Goal 5: Data and Information Management: Michigan educators will have access to data for effective classroom decision making and school improvement planning through an integrated local and statewide decision support system, and have access to professional learning opportunities to develop competencies in data-driven decision making.

Goal 5 really stood out because of its practicality.   How many decisions do you just make on a whim?   How many decisions do you make based on information you looked up somewhere?   Hopefully, most people look up information and become informed before making most decisions.  For example, every week my husband does his college and pro football picks, and before doing so he looks up the points spread.   This only makes sense to make the best decision (except for the fact he keeps picking the Detroit Lions, I don’t know how to explain that one).  If we can apply this decision making process to daily activities then how hard could it be to use it in our classroom practices and school policies?  The most intimidating part of this goal would be collecting the data and organizing it, but someone once told me, “Change is easy, but improving is hard.”

Works Cited
(2010, Feb. 9 ). In Teaching for Learning in the Digital Age: 2010 State of Michigan Educational Technology Plan. Retrieved Sep. 23, 2010, from http://techplan.org/STP%202010%20Final.pdf