Long Range Plan for Technology

The Texas Long Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2010 is made up of for components. One of those components is Infrastructure for Technology. This area of the Long Range Plan is important because technology can allow students to receive a personalized, customized education tailored to fit their individual learning needs. It also provides the opportunities for success in the workforce and higher education. The goal is to have a truly high-performance infrastructure to take advantage of new technologies that can significantly reduce costs, increase student access, and improve communication and collaboration among all stakeholders. Districts should build an infrastructure that is safe and secure, flexible, scalable and reliable. The infrastructure that provides easy access to tools that will allow students and teachers to access online information and materials. A technology infrastructure will create a community that is conducive to learning beyond the traditional classroom. The infrastructure should allow for scalability to support the growth in students, applications and functionality.

Texas has worked during the last decade in connecting schools to each other, to external resources, and to the Internet. The Internet is used as a major educational resource by teachers and students alike. Texas schools have had the support of the Texas legislature and the federal government in building the technology infrastructure. Unfortunately not all districts, campuses and classrooms have the connectivity and tools that they need to integrate technology into the teaching and learning process. The most negative impact on Texas Long Range Plan for Technology has been the loss of funding from the Telecommunication Infrastructure Fund. This has caused many districts to struggle to maintain current connectivity and keep network equipment functioning. Some schools have been able to pass bond to elevate the stress.

I believe that I crucial for Texas to continue to strive for a technology infrastructure. Technology is the future and the future is now. More than ever students need to be exposed to all facets of technology. Texas has done a great deal to ensure that this infrastructure make its way into existence and is sustained. However, more funding will be needed as new technologies are introduced and to keep the basic technologies up and running. This infrastructure is vital to the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology.