With the support of Governor Ted Strickland and the General Assembly, Ohio has reached world-class stature with regard to student access to technology, and is recognized nationally as an educational technology leader. As a state agency, eTech Ohio is dedicated to enhancing learning by developing programs and using best practices to serve learning organizations while acquiring, integrating and sustaining educational technology. Charged with empowering learning through technology, eTech Ohio:
- Supports a statewide telecommunications infrastructure that links classrooms and public broadcasting affiliates to each other and the internet;
- Provides funding, technical and telecommunications services to public broadcasters and the K-12 community;
- Offers face-to-face and online professional development and training to P-20 educators and professionals regarding integrating technology and learning;
- Administers funding for Educational Technology entities to support the development of multimedia educational materials; and
- Provides teacher training and the development of educational resources to foster skilled, consistent and effective integration of technology throughout the curriculum aligned to academic content standards.
It is our mission to provide the leadership and support that promotes access to and use of all forms of educational technology needed to advance the education and accelerate the learning of the citizens of Ohio.
History
eTech Ohio was created under Am. Sub. H.B. 66 to merge the technology functions and support provided by the Ohio Educational Telecommunications Network Commission (OET) and the Ohio SchoolNet Commission (OSNC). The eTech Ohio Commission was created in July 2005 to consolidate the state's investment in the telecommunications networks used by Ohio's public broadcasters and the K-12 community. This agency is legislatively charged with aligning content and technology resources and expertise, eliminating unnecessary duplication of services, providing visionary leadership for enhancing learning through the use of technology for Ohioans of all ages and leveraging shared networking to utilize available resources more efficiently.