A few summers ago, I attended a STEM conference in Dallas at Fair Park.  This conference really opened my eyes to the many benefits of integrating technology into the classroom.  For this reason, the first organization I searched for was a STEM oriented one.  STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics; this meta-discipline revolutionizes the science and mathematics curriculum by incorporating technology and engineering into the courses.  The STEM Education Coalition (www.stemedcoalition.org) is dedicated to “support[ing] STEM programs for teachers and students at the U. S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, and other agencies that offer STEM related programs.”  This organization is dedicated to educating policymakers and other key leaders on the vital role that STEM education has in the United States, both in our nation’s competitiveness and economic prosperity in the future; by forging strong relationships with these policymakers, members of this coalition are able to “serve as a valued source of expertise to their staffs on STEM education issues.”

The STEM Education Coalition serves as an advocate for adopting novel and successful STEM programs from agencies such as the National Science Foundation and the Department of Education.  The mission statement for the STEM Education Coalition is to “foster new and innovative policy initiatives.”  In so doing, this organization is able to encourage and inspire students, recruit highly-skilled STEM teachers, improve STEM resources in classrooms, and encourage cooperation and partnerships between federal agencies as well as local communities and colleges/universities.

As a Star Wars fanatic, I love everything to do with George Lucas.  When I learned about his educational foundation, I nearly had a fit!  This genius of a man stated that “education is the foundation of our democracy.”  However, Lucas also realized that traditional education had some flaws, including a failure to engage every student all the time.  To combat these imperfections, he developed the George Lucas Educational Foundation (www.edutopia.org). 

This organization has set out to improve the “K-12 learning process by documenting, disseminating, and advocating for innovative, replicable, and evidence-based strategies that prepare students to thrive in their future education, careers, and adult lives.”  In order to complete its arduous task, this foundation has vowed to expose the world-wide community to a new world of learning.  According to the website’s statement of vision, schools need to offer more project-based and social-emotional learning as well as access to innovative technology.  In other words, school should be a place where students can grow academically and also develop critical 21st-century skills such as how to locate information, how to determine the quality of said information, and how to use it – effectively and creatively – to achieve a preset goal.

My definition of educational technology is more of an agglomeration of words and phrases that make me think about technology being integrated into the classrooms.  I truly believe that educational technology is a mixture of different media used to improve instruction.  I also believe that the best educational technology is interactive, allowing students and teachers to connect digitally and socially.  By being interactive, educational technology is also hands-on.  Once instruction is integrated with technology it becomes fast paced.  Immediate or near-immediate feedback is nearly always provided when educational technology is used, satisfying this generation of students who expect instant gratification.  An increased use of visuals, graphics, and colors also help to catch a student’s interest and hold it.  By being both hands-on and a way to prepare children for their future endeavors, my definition of educational technology fits well with my philosophy of educational technology.  I have attached my concept mapping of educational technology below.