(This is the first post in a two-part series)
The new 鈥渜uestion-of-the-week鈥� is:
What will ed tech look like 25 years from now?
The last 25 years has seen a big change in the use of tech in the classroom鈥攃omputers and devices are ubiquitous, the use of virtual and augmented reality is growing, and one of my personal favorites鈥攖he document camera鈥攈as generally replaced the overhead projector, (Yay! No more transparencies!)
What will the next 25 years bring?
Mark Estrada, Dr. Jenny Grant Rankin, Sarah Thomas, and Tom Daccord share their answers today. You can listen to a I had with Jenny, Mark, and Sarah on . You can also find a list of, and links to,
Personally, my crystal ball tells me that might be the primary ed-tech difference. I wouldn鈥檛 be surprised if it becomes as widespread in a quarter century as computers are now.
You might also be interested in past posts here on .
Response From Mark Estrada
Mark Estrada is the Superintendent of Lockhart ISD in Texas. He has experience as a middle school social studies teacher, middle school instructional administrator, and elementary principal. Estrada is a class of 2014 and doctoral fellow at the University of Texas-Austin Cooperative Superintendency Program (CSP). Follow Mark on Twitter @22southpaw:
As technology continues to quickly evolve, it is difficult to imagine what the world might look like 25 years from now. Think about how much the world has changed in the past 15 years鈥攖he leap from MP3 players and desktop computers to mobile devices that serve as phones, computers, cameras, video cameras, and broadcast devices all in one.
Changes happen quickly, and with technology, advancements become possibilities previously unimagined. In time, we will see technology not as something that is used without any real change in learning to something that is used to create new tasks that were before inconceivable. Innovation is the key鈥攏ot just doing the same things differently, but doing completely new things to push learning into new frontiers for our students. We are literally preparing our students for jobs that do not even exist with technology yet to be created. So what will educational technology look like in 25 years?
While I believe technology will never replace a great teacher, there will certainly be advancements in how we use educational technology to assess learning, communicate/report learning, learn content, learn skills, and improve the capacity of our brains to learn.
Technology to enhance assessment: Technology promises not only efficiency of assessing formative and summative learning but, in time, will be able to accurately measure discrete learning that pinpoints data for teachers to use to scaffold classroom instruction. Important to note is that although many programs claim to already have this ability, far too many teachers are not able to utilize this type of data and/or disagree that the data is accurate. When technology is able to reliably measure learning and make it actionable for teachers, the promise of data-based decisionmaking will be realized.
Technology to communicate/report learning: As practitioners across the country begin to personalize learning, the need to shift how we report learning to parents is coming to a crossroads. Technology has the potential to accelerate this paradigm shift. As technology improves in its ability to assess learning, so too will it in its ability to communicate learning to parents in a comprehensible format. Personalized learning will force out old, antiquated methods of report cards that utilize points on the 0-100 scale.
Technology to enhance the learning of content and skills: Technology to enhance the learning of content and skills is the bedrock of educational technology and will only be improved in its ability to adapt to how each learner interacts with programs. Because of this, the brick and mortar model of education will continue to be challenged. I believe that schools will always be needed and in use. Even so, as technology improves, what kids come to school for will continue to change. 69传媒 will focus more on teaching kids how to learn and how to best put their learning to work for them.
Technology to enhance how the brain learns and the capacity the brain has to learn: The most promising feature of educational technology in 25 years will be technology鈥檚 ability to wire the brain for learning or improve the functional capacity of the brain. As technology becomes better at assessing learning and using computer adaptation to help students learn content, it will push us all to go beyond teaching standards. Technology will shift our focus from teaching toward a minimum standard and redefine helping each child reach their potential. While we know that the common belief that we only use 10 percent of our brain is only a myth, most agree that kids have learning differences. I believe technology will help level the playing field for many kids who are talented but have neurological differences.
Response From Dr. Jenny Grant Rankin
Dr. Jenny Grant Rankin teaches the PostDoc Masterclass at the University of Cambridge but lives most of the year in California writing for educators like How to Make Data Work and Sharing Your Education Expertise with the World. She has a Ph.D. in education and served as an award-winning teacher, school administrator, district administrator, and chief education & research officer. Dr. Rankin has been honored by the U.S. White House for her contributions to education:
In the future, ed-tech developers will do a better job examining and incorporating recommendations from researchers based on ed-tech study findings. This shift will improve ed-tech products鈥� usability and value in helping students (while simultaneously making educators鈥� jobs easier).
Right now, ed-tech developers often (and should) solicit feedback from a product鈥檚 users and from former educators on staff, but this is not enough information on its own. Users and former educators know what works for them but not necessarily what works for the full scope of users (such as power users鈥� less-techie counterparts), and some research-uncovered realities are counterintuitive to what people think works well. Educators and former educators offer valuable information, but it is a starting piece in the inquiry puzzle.
Some ed-tech companies go an extra step (as they should) and conduct research on their own products鈥� efficacy. Again, this offers valuable information, but it doesn鈥檛 uncover practices and possibilities the developers have not yet put into place and might not yet have considered.
Meanwhile, many researchers of education and/or technology are studying product best practices that support usability and support educator and student needs. Rather than days of old when scholars only published in journals read by folks who say things like 鈥渞egression analysis鈥� and 鈥渃rosstabulated Chi-Square tests鈥� every day, researchers are seizing ways to disseminate jargon-free summaries of their findings to educators and the public. It鈥檚 up to developers to investigate this research, and it鈥檚 up to educators to voice their expectation that researchers do this.
Ed-tech developers can:
- Read books that summarize studies just for them (like on designing research-based ed-tech data systems).
- Use public-friendly research databases like .
- Conduct literature reviews (like Illuminate Education鈥檚 series).
- Forge partnerships with universities and labs conducting ed-tech-related research.
Educators can:
- Include study-minded questions in their ed-tech requests for proposals (RFPs) (like 鈥淲hat are some of your white papers on ...?鈥� 鈥淲ith whom do you partner to research and inform product developments?鈥� and 鈥淲hat research-based industry standards do you follow?鈥�).
- Read books that summarize ed-tech study findings and show you how to advocate for best practices in your ed tech (like on advocating for improved data tools). Include these requirements in ed-tech RFPs, as well.
- Discuss ed-tech research at countywide and regional meetings, so districts can learn from one another without having to read every study that鈥檚 released.
Researchers can:
- In addition to the usual journals, publish in practitioner magazines (like ASCD鈥檚 ) and sites (like ) using accessible, succinct language.
- Even when presenting at research conferences, liven up your presentation and make your content easy for anyone attending to understand (tell stories, get the audience to participate, give a hands-on demo, incorporate more graphics and photos into your slides, etc.).
- Speak where educators and the public will hear you: Give a , get featured on , get interviewed for a podcast, etc.
My latest book, , covers ways to do the above and more.
Educators, ed-tech developers, and researchers should all share the expectation that ed-tech products reflect research-based recommendations. The improved communication and exchange of ed-tech-related research findings can only help students and educators (such as through improved product usability and value) if educators and developers are ready to read and apply these findings.
Response From Sarah Thomas
Sarah Thomas, Ph.D., is a regional technology coordinator in Prince George鈥檚 County public schools in Maryland. She is also a Google Certified Innovator, Google Education Trainer, and the founder of the EduMatch movement, a project that empowers educators to make global connections across common areas of interest. She is also a national adviser for the Future Ready Instructional Coaches Strand, and an affiliate professor at Loyola University in Baltimore:
I鈥檝e noticed that, in the past 15 years or so, major innovations in education technology have involved devices, artificial intelligence, and social media, as well as any combination of the three. I鈥檓 excited to see what innovations new combinations will bring, as well as the rise of blockchain.
Response From Tom Daccord
Tom Daccord is an educational technology speaker, instructor, and author, as well as the director and co-founder of EdTechTeacher. Daccord works with schools, districts, colleges, and educational organizations all over the world. His book explores education technology and shares real-world skills our students need for success:
Businesses are pouring billions of dollars into AI (Artificial Intelligence), and 鈥渕achine learning鈥� is expected to bring about tremendous changes to the workforce and society. AI will also likely result in drastic changes to the nature of the student-teacher relationship. The fundamental issue for schools is whether machines will replace teachers or whether machines will serve as subordinates.
For years, I鈥檝e said that teachers will not be replaced by technology. Parents and teachers strongly agree that the student-teacher relationship is a fundamental aspect of a child鈥檚 education and personal development. Hence, it鈥檚 hard to imagine parents being enthusiastic about their children being taught by robots.
But I wonder if parents will have the same attitude in 25 years. There鈥檚 growing evidence that we are becoming accustomed to interacting with nonhumans. We鈥檙e already speaking and listening to computers regularly to conduct various transactions. Moreover, machines are becoming increasingly lifelike. Have you seen the video interview of the lifelike Sophia?
It鈥檚 not inconceivable that in the future we will become comfortable with machines leading classroom learning.
Many parents believe that the student-teacher relationship is less important as a student ages. The socialization goals of a nurturing elementary classroom may not be as important as the academic goals in a secondary classroom. In other words, it might be more important to both parents and students to get a great score on a standardized test than to further intangible skills. Thus, it鈥檚 not unthinkable to envision parents and students willing to accept nonhuman teachers if it鈥檚 a surer path to academic 鈥渁chievement.鈥� A scary thought, indeed, but one we have to consider.
Thanks to Jenny, Mark, Sarah, and Tom for their contributions.
Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.
Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at lferlazzo@epe.org. When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it鈥檚 selected or if you鈥檇 prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.
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Education Week has published a collection of posts from this blog, along with new material, in an e-book form. It鈥檚 titled Classroom Management Q&As: Expert Strategies for Teaching.
Just a reminder;you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via or And if you missed any of the highlights from the first seven years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below. The list doesn鈥檛 include ones from this current year, but you can find those by clicking on the 鈥渁nswers鈥� category found in the sidebar.
I am also creating a .
Look for Part Two in a few days.