8.1 Improved Teaching
8.2 Enhanced Learning
8.3 Facilitation of Management
8.4 Enhanced Communication
8.5 Improved Community Development
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Successful creation, adoption, and implementation of the Mississippi
Master Plan for Education Technology will yield many benefits to the citizens
of Mississippi. Thousands of people will have to work diligently and collaboratively
if the dream specified in the vision statement is to be realized. It is
anticipated that numerous examples of accomplishments will exist within
the first year of implementation.
The successes that will be realized as a result of systematic adoption
of instructional technology into the educational process can be shared
among a vast array of partners. Further, as evaluative data from initial
implementation phases are gathered, successful strategies will be further
strengthened. This will enable Mississippi youth to benefit from a healthier
learning environment.
Technology will never replace teachers. Technology may, though, serve
a pivotal role in displacing ineffective, unwilling teachers. When coupled
with appropriate peripheral equipment and excellent software, technology
will assist teachers in many ways that are not imagined currently. All
Mississippi educators must stay alert, though, to ensure that teaching
is conducted properly.
Educators are familiar with the adage that teachers must become the
guide by the side rather than remaining in the traditional role as the
sage on the stage. The most effective teachers are comfortable with this
philosophy. When technology is incorporated into the process as a natural
partner, the effectuation of the adage becomes much simpler. Technological
accessories have the potential of being used to free teachers to think
about issues associated with learning that time did not allow previously.
The United States Department of Education released an informative report,
Prisoners of Time, that reminded us of the many ways that teachers' time
is encroached upon by trivialities and minutia. Demands of the fast-paced
society drain teachers' energies during extra-school activities. The advent
of new, fast, powerful technologies loose the fetters that have bound teachers
and administrators for too long to tasks that consumed time in huge chunks.
It has been said that, "Teaching will become better when we make it
easier." Technology certainly has the potential to make some parts
of teaching easier; however, the extra-creative teachers will not succumb
to ease. Rather, they will fill the new-found time with learning activities
that challenge their students to attain new vistas of achievement.
Learning, bolstered by technologies, cannot be limited by the walls
of classrooms. While increased use of technology will not drive learning
from the classrooms, expectations include witnessing a renewed love for
learning by youth and adults alike.
Technology-coupled education will reveal learners who are engaged,
in the truest sense of the word. One benefit of finding computers in learning
environments will be that students of all ages, races, and socioeconomic
demographics are able to realize satisfaction in the challenges of discovering
new, constantly changing information. Learners will be creators of their
own wisdom-this is not an insignificant phenomenon.
Technologies will challenge learners. No longer will students have
to succumb to knowledge-level, cognitive domain information. They can be
challenged to strive for increasingly higher and more intellectually invigorating
realms of learning.
Learners will enjoy the benefits of new sources of knowledge-and more
of them. The information explosion will reveal a much greater quantity
of materials that are readily accessible to ordinary individuals. Further,
these same individuals will be able to contribute to the body of knowledge.
Not only will the quantity of terrific learning and information resources
increase, but the access to such materials will become greater. Citizens
of Mississippi stand at the precipice of an increase in the number of access
points as well as an increase in the bandwidth of the "pipes"
that constitute the infrastructure. This scenario will allow significantly
higher quantities of data to flow at a much higher rate, thereby helping
people become accustomed to "just in time" learning. When learners
who traditionally have been deprived of this intellectual playground suddenly
have access to an unimaginably rich world of material, Mississippi will
witness a potential explosion in the development of human capital. This
scenario represents a clarion call to educational leaders in Mississippi
to "make it so."
Enhanced learning conditions, bolstered by technological advances,
will enable the creation of online collaborations. Virtual communities
of learners will be created where socioeconomic, geopolitical boundaries
dissipate. People will become empowered to form teams and develop relationships
on-line, and using technologies, to attack problems and propagate solutions.
The numerous positive benefits of such poly-dimensional bonding cannot
be predicted accurately; human interactions will seed the potential.
Perhaps the most positive benefit will be subtle. With the advent of
technologies into instruction at all levels, students will have time to
think! If an environment is carefully crafted that encourages the wise
thrift of time and other precious resources, we will realize a savings
in time that can be used to free students to ponder, reflect, make conjectures,
and predict.
The full, appropriate integration of technologies into school environments
will allow the management of resources to become significantly easier.
When managers have ready access to a plethora of up-to-date data and information,
they can make decisions that impact operations almost instantly. When this
scenario is realized, educators in classrooms and school offices will be
much better served.
Databases and other open-architecture applications can be used to streamline
auditing capability. Technology leaders will have a handle on what is happening,
actually, in their system. Possessing and being able to use information
of this nature will facilitate the wisdom that is essential as Mississippi
witnesses a virtual explosion of technology-related activities reaching
classrooms and learning environments of this state.
Better, higher quality data that become information through effective
use should result in better decisions. A supremely-important component
of the technology-rich community being constructed is the support mechanism
for ensuring extremely high-quality decisions.
Students should be invited to become involved in the decision-making
process in the development of a revolutionized, technology-enhanced educational
system deployed throughout the state of Mississippi. Students have an acute
ability to wrench the truth of a situation from the labyrinth of mere facts,
often. They will assist in establishing frameworks where the decisions
can be reached quickly and efficiently and where the decisions that are
made can enjoy sustainability through their life of effectiveness.
Students should be encouraged to engage in simulations that may help
demonstrate the positive aspects of various decisions being considered.
This scenario represents a significant benefit to the decision support
system that must be ongoing in the state.
Organizational structures have become flatter during recent history,
as a result of such movements as the Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy.
Increasingly, important decisions are being made at lower levels in organizations.
As students and teachers are empowered to make decisions-and to be a part
of decision support structures- a spirit of unity will emerge that complements
the improvements in management operations significantly.
Technology planners anticipate recognizing multiple manifestations
of ways that organizational operations become more efficient. Potential
benefits that can be expected from a technology infusion program will include
streamlined purchasing procedures. Mississippi schools, at all levels,
should find it easier to purchase new equipment, new software, updates
to equipment, peripherals, and services in a manner that is streamlined
greatly. Districts will want to find individual pieces of technology, as
well as bundles, that they can purchase "hassle-free." They will
want to be sure that some system exists where the products available for
purchase are being tested within the state and that reliable, timely information
can be acquired so they will be able to avoid costly wastes of money.
The proliferation of multiple data sets that support management decisions
will make it possible for many Mississippians to participate in the ongoing
propagation of increased effectiveness. With the onslaught of this increased
scrutiny by vast numbers of citizens, it is expected that the efficiency
of management operations will improve. Though the potential benefits of
these arrangements cannot be predicted accurately; these benefits will
be substantive. One potential outcome is that some of Mississippi's youth
who participate in this new scenario of collaborative decision-making will
be prepared to enter professional fields within the state. They will not
have to leave Mississippi to seek greater fortunes elsewhere, partially
because they may feel like they have made such a significant contribution
here. Too, Mississippi will reap a great economic benefit because the vested
resources it has poured into these young lives will be retained in the
state. Technologies deployed appropriately through Mississippi schools
will be the strong vehicle for this kind of change in the state.
Advanced technologies deployed throughout Mississippi, using a robust
infrastructure capable of carrying great quantities of voice, video, and
data simultaneously, will enable Mississippi citizens to communicate in
a much more natural mode than can be experienced presently. A major potential
benefit will be that greater quantity of information transmitted may result
in, or lead to, greater quality of information. Technology futurists can
predict that, if an infrastructure capable of handling extremely high rates
of transfer is put in place, sufficient time will be saved that will allow
and encourage people to develop stronger management strategies.
Certainly, community development activities will become enhanced as
a result of infusing technologies into instruction at all levels. The word
"community" has taken on new meaning during recent years, as
people who are using telecommunications technologies are empowered to meet
and work collaboratively, with total disregard to distance and time. The
economic impact will be great as learners at all levels will be interacting
to discover new ways that their communities can be bolstered.
Numerous state-level and local government offices should be prepared
to work closely with Mississippians who are using the telecommunications
network as a virtual "town hall." A strong increase in this type
activity will enable more people to have direct involvement in day-to-day
strengthening of the state through development opportunities. A brain trust
will be developed on-line so that new solutions to persistent problems,
along with fresh directions for now and the future, can be crafted quickly.
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