Reflections on the Development of the National Educational Technology Plan

Need a comprehensive framework for addressing various ways to access, design, and use of technology in education, you are in luck since the 2024 National Education Technology Plan can be accessed and downloaded for free. You can learn about utilizing principles of University Design for Learning to foster active and engaging learning for all. Learn how you might be able to close the digital divide. You can also learn how to build evidence and capacity among educators to enhance their instructional practices, competencies, and general design approaches and implementations. One might also learn how to integrate digital health and wellness tools and practices, thereby fostering the learner safety and ethical practices. This includes student data privacy and other issues mandated by government policies and regulations. Finally, educators might discover how they can efficiently locate, access, and use innovative professional learning resources to improve their pedagogical skills and competencies related to educational technology.

Some questions that the report fosters include:

Are there ways that schools can effectively form partnerships with families and caregivers to ensure that students have the sufficient support to maintain their wellness, digital health, and learning related energy and active inquiry?
What are some of the strategies to empower educators in collecting stories as well as data. What is some other evidence of the utility, effectiveness, and results of educational technology?
How can various departments of education across the 50 states of the USA help support school districts and schools to improve their educational technology decision making and training.
Describe some of the ways that the Educational Technology Evidence Toolkit can better inform technology-related decision making and instructional practices among educational leaders in different educational sectors?
Are there proven ways for schools to address digital divides issues and attitudes and attempt to enhance access learning across students and provide more equitable opportunities for all learners?

Press Release (January 22, 2024): New Report: https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-releases-2024-national-educational-technology-plan

Team: https://tech.ed.gov/team/

Zac Chase: Digital Equity Impact Fellow
Zac Chase serves as Digital Equity Impact Fellow within the Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology. In his third decade in public education, Zac is leading OET’s development of the new National Education Technology Plan. Zac is returning to OET where he previously led the development of the 2016 NETP, represented ED on President Obama’s Broadband Opportunity Council. and led efforts to improve technology preparedness for novice teachers. Zac has worked nationally and internationally with schools and school systems on designing equitable and accessible learning experiences. Most recently he worked at St. Vrain Valley School District where he undertook the development of the district’s first open-licensed, freely-available curriculum for 6-12 English language arts.

Susan M. Bearden, CETL is the CEO of Bearden Education Technology Consulting, supporting district leaders, edtech vendors, and non-profit organizations. She co-authored the 2024 update to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Educational Technology Plan. For nearly 3 years, she was the Director of Digital Programs for InnovateEDU, where she led Project Unicorn, a collaboration of 18 organizations seeking to support and promote data interoperability in K12 education. A former teacher and K12 technology leader, she previously served as the Chief Innovation Officer for CoSN and as a Senior Fellow at the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Education Technology. The author of “Digital Citizenship: A Community-Based Approach” is passionate about facilitating best practices in education technology to support innovative teaching and learning.