eSchool News has posted what is, in my view, an extremely important article on how the United States is lagging behind on support for integrating technology into education. The UK, for example, is spending literally billions of dollars tearing down aging schools and rebuilding them wired from the ground up. They are spending billions of dollars more on training teachers how to use the technology. Other countries are making similar investments. (Mexico and Australia are both cited as examples in the article.) Meanwhile, the U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings is out there saying that the push for funding new technology in the classrooms is “complete” and recommending cuts in the Federal budget for such initiatives.
I believe that those of us who consider ourselves to be “edubloggers” have a moral obligation to speak out, organize, and mobilize on these issues. Beyond simply talking among ourselves about what ought to be done, we should be reaching out to make it happen. We should be encouraging our fellow citizens in our respective countries–and around the world–to insist that our govenments fund infrastructure, teacher training, content development, and R&D for educational technology in a systematic way. If we really believe that what we do matters, then let’s make sure that it really does matter.
I will be posting about specific things that can be done in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, I would love to hear suggestions from my many fine colleagues in the edublogosphere–both writers and readers. What can we do today to raise public awareness and get legislative action?