For this week's assignment, I was very interested to read about the Vision 2020 plan for technology as well as seeing the STaR chart rankings for my campus. The area that most interests me in both of these publications is the are relating to Infrastructure for Technology.

In the Long Range Plan, the state of Texas indicates that the 21st Century infrastructure necessary for educational incorporation of technology should offer real time 24/7 connectivity between the schools, businesses, Higher Education Institutions, as well as nationwide and worldwide resources for information. The equitable access of ALL students to technology is paramount as is an infrastructure that is safe, secure, and flexible in order to meet the needs of the tech savvy student. Technical assistance, when necessary, should also be offered as part of the infrastructure, and cross platform and collaborative programs and products must be provided. Each of these items will be the support for the technology initiatives set forth by the state.

Progress is definitely coming along, especially for those areas that are easiest to incorporate immediately. Nearly 95% of school is the state have real time Internet access, and the remaining 5% are well on their way. Many schools are creating situations of 3:1 2:1 and1:1 access to computers, with a number (Irving ISD in particular) having a 1:1 laptop program for their High School students. Safety and security is becoming a concern, and many schools are maintaining flexible and secure file systems.

All of these areas play directly into the STaR chart analysis for VISD. The infrastructure is the lowest, and will continue to be the lowest for us, as we struggle to maintain the integrity of the IT system and strive to keep current with technology. Bandwidth continues to be an issue for us in VISD (and when we fix that, we should be easily in the Target Tech area for our STaR chart). All in all, however, the infrastructure in place does provide the framework for teachers to integrate technology into the classroom.

One major area that is not address by anything either in the STaR chart, or Vision 2020 is the lack of Internet for the students households. Clouding of neighborhoods is the norm for areas outside of Texas, yet the lack of clouded cities is blatantly obvious in Texas. Clouding (or the blanketing of wireless access for an entire community) is a very cost feasible, and easy way to establish Internet connections for an entire community (private homes, businesses, schools, government entities, etc.) and would allow students and teachers the freedom to work "no strings attached." I would highly recommend each district and community surrounding the district look at establishing a cloud Internet access system in order for us to vault our technology use into the next phase.