To draw attention to the role of technology in teaching, learning, and everyday life, the State Educational Technology Directors Association designated January as Technology Impact in Education Month.
A Web site developed for the online occassion, www.edtechimpact.org, offers lesson plans, activities, and materials for teachers, parents, and students. The site is to remain available indefinitely, the association says.
Last spring, SETDA sponsored National Imagine a Technology Blackout Day to inspire discussions about the importance of technology in education. This year’s project was designed to build on that effort.
“The goal is to bring awareness of how big a role technology plays in our education and in our lives in general,” said Melinda G. George, the executive director of SETDA, an Arlington, Va.-based association for state-level educational technology directors and other staff members.
Teachers who registered with the site and submitted online comments both from themselves and their students on the role of technology in schooling were eligible for prizes, such as a digital camera or an interactive whiteboard. Submissions were to have been accepted all month.
Teachers also can continue to use any of the materials or lesson plans without registering.
“We definitely want teachers to sign up, but it is a site where everything is accessible to everyone,” Ms. George said.
The Web site also poses questions for parents, such as “How do modern technologies help make your child’s learning experiences more meaningful?”
In addition, the site offers instructions for getting in touch with congressional leaders to ask for more federal funding for technology education. “It’s a civics lesson and a language arts lesson, too,” Ms. George said.
