From about 2002-2014 I was regularly on the rubber chicken dinner circuit speaking about technology. From blogs, and wikis, to personal devices in classrooms, to the use of social media in schools – technology discussions were front and centre everywhere. You couldn’t go to an education conference without someone talking about innovation and technology – like they were one thing. All eyes were on how the emerging web tools were forever changing teaching and learning.
And like with most trends in education, our hyper attention moved on. Look today and you can’t find a conference that is not about equity and diversity. This is not a criticism of this previous time or today. Our schools and our system both lead and reflect our world around us, and topics of social justice are front and centre right now in our world.
Now part of the reason for this shift in attention is that technology was no longer seen as something separate from learning. Just looking at the last two years, we see how Zoom, Google Workspace, Teams and a suite of digital tools have become common for everyone. It was a novelty three years ago for students to have a video conversation with other students, and now it is just another day.
There is a bit of a sense that we have now embraced technology in schools so we are “done”. This is a huge misread on the world around us.
To think because technology is no longer at the front of as many discussions as it was earlier this century that somehow technology has stopped changing, morphing and evolving would be a major mistake. The speed of the digital changes in our world around us are, if anything, accelerating.
I wrote recently about NFTs and crypto currencies and their potential impact on our schools. And this is just a small example of how the digital landscape around us will likely have a major impact on not just the “what” of school, but also the “when”, “where” and “how” of school. It is hard to imagine the increasing use of wearable technologies, the coming normalcy of driverless cars, higher quality virtual reality experiences, and a boom in 3D printing around us will not impact how we operate schools and structure learning for students. My West Vancouver colleague Sean Nosek gave a primer of what this might be in his recent post on school in the metaverse.
We have a habit to get narrowly focused in education, and lose the interconnections. We need to think about the important equity and diversity work, the still foundational skills of literacy and numeracy, the ever changing digital landscape and many other big rocks in education as one conversation and not siloed discussions that can only be focused on one at a time.
For the person that told me “educational technology is so 2010”, I think you are missing the plot. I appreciate the challenge, in a world when we just wish some things would stay the same for a bit and we could catch up, technology is not a willing partner.
We might not be debating if Facebook has a role in our schools, or if iPads are appropriate for primary aged students, but the amazing shifts in the tools that will impact our lives and our work continue.
Our schools have always reflected the world around them and as educators we have helped make sense of that world for students. No matter what we wish, we will continue to help bring our teacher values to the ever changing digital landscape.
Nothing about Education should be siloed. Serving the whole child demands it.
It’s interesting to think about our mindsets and dispositions today vs 10-15 years ago when folks like you and me were super zealous and excited to share the possibilities and promise of tech. While we have a majority of the population and educators using technology every day, our objections and concerns have also increased. In the past we were often about to “wow” people with innovative uses but I’m haven’t been “wowed” for a long time.
So we are in a place where we don’t have to convince people anymore about the inherent value but we’re still trying to push past technology as simply an efficiency tool. To something that amplifies and even can transform how we learn. That’s an old conversation that needs revisiting and revising.
Maybe technology at its best is just an efficiency tool?
Just saying.
Cheers
Without a doubt the tools that have had the quickest and deepest impact are those that have made found efficiencies in teaching and also allowed teachers to do things that might not have been possible without technology. Why does everyone using Google tools in our district- they just work. We had used other tools prior that promised to do similar things but they just didn’t really work as you would think they should. I think the same goes for Zoom – it does what it is supposed to do and does it well.
That is interesting about being “wow”ed. I think you are right – there was a time early in the century that I would have that wow feeling almost every week learning about a new tool or listening to a new speaker. And I know I am not a great ambassador as when I talk about technology I am far more balanced in my views on it than I was back then. I should be wowed by some of the amazing technology out there right now but I am not – maybe the problem is with me.
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I found this an interesting perspective as I have a 15 year old daughter in high school with a school issued Chromebook and a mobile smartphone on my family plan (with parental control apps). Having a 20 year career in technology primarily in Information Technology, I very much found the focus of technology 10-15 years ago optimistic in how it can improve lives and change the delivery of curriculum. Nothing or very little was discussed about the negative side of technology such as the increased need for web filtering, significant increase in negativity between students anonymously, and the tendency for students to disengage with decreased supervision from teachers. I’ve struggled daily with my daughter to stay focused on the hybrid cyberschool/in-person school program that she’s completing for her freshman year of high school because no one at the school has been adequately prepared to understand the challenges that technology has created due to a worldwide pandemic. It’s a complicated situation and not any one particular organization or groups fault, rather I believe its the progression of technology without regard for the consumers of said technology being ready or not. Keeping my daughter as safe as possible online while still respecting her privacy and freedom is a full time job as a parent and there are many times I don’t get it right. I can only imagine the job that schools have trying to tow that line with their student body AND the parents of those students.
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[…] wrote a post this year Technology is Not Done and I really think many in education have taken their eyes off of the potential transformative […]
[…] As I wrote in a post last year, we might think with kids with laptops and mastering Zoom we are now fully digital – but Technology is Not Done! […]