# data[].attributes.body
There's more to digital equity than devices and bandwidth

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
There's more to digital equity than devices and bandwidth | ISTE

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The past decade has seen a narrowing of the digital divide when it comes to two things: the number of devices in classrooms and the Wi-Fi that transforms these devices into powerful learning tools. But it's premature to say the digital playing field has been leveled.

# data[].attributes.body
Office of education Technology- Equity

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Future Ready: Device Deployment from a Position of Equity

# data[].attributes.body
How do teachers working in under-resourced schools do innovative things with technology

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Michael Bonner, a teacher, author and speaker, has attracted much attention for his innovative teaching methods at an elementary school in North Carolina where the vast majority of students come from low-income homes. The school went through 14 administrator changes over the course of six years. So, the school's 1:1 iPad initiative foundered as the lack of administrative continuity resulted in an absence of leadership for technology use and training for teachers. Bonner talks about how in that vacuum, he and his colleagues banded together to help one another learn to use technology effectively. They also found help in online communities where they connected with other educators who were happy to share how they were successfully using technology for learning. Bonner's advice for teachers in such situations: Don't wait for help to arrive and be fearless about asking for advice both face to face and online. Also, he says, don't fear failure or the occasional chaos that comes with trying something new.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Your Edtech Questions - How do teachers working in under-resourced schools do innovative things with technology?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Michael Bonner, a teacher, author and speaker, has attracted much attention for his innovative teaching methods at an elementary school in North Carolina where the vast majority of students come from low-income homes. The school went through 14 administrator changes over the course of six years.

# data[].attributes.body
Educational Technology Serves Equity when Used with Purpose

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In my time as a classroom teacher, principal and superintendent, I became professionally and emotionally vested in leading and supporting a vision for educational equity, which is shared by many of my colleagues. That vision is to create the best conditions that can lead to equitable learning outcomes and to provide all students with the right resources they need to learn, regardless of race, gender, income and other factors.

I was fortunate to lead teams that shared my passion for achieving educational equity, but I was also humbled by the challenges presented on this path. Advocating for changes that would uproot the foundation of long-standing institutions, policies and practices can quickly begin to feel like an uphill battle, no matter how many educators are working for the cause.

As I ventured into new roles and collaborated with policy makers, edtech developers, teacher trainers and thought leaders, my approach and enthusiasm for this vision expanded. I met new educators, witnessed the progress they were collectively making in areas that improved students' experiences, and the fight that felt so daunting at times began to feel far more achievable from a new vantage point. With ongoing collaboration and learning, I have gained a refreshed understanding of what's needed to achieve our goals, and I remain committed to educational equity.

And while every district faces unique challenges and circumstances when it comes to educational equity, I believe there are some foundational components that can power any district-wide equity initiative forward.

A United Vision

District leaders must start with a united vision for what equity looks like in their communities - one that encompasses a thorough understanding of student needs, collaboration among stakeholders and a deep dive into the current landscape in which students are functioning, including school policies or cultural factors that influence student experiences. District leaders also should have a strong understanding of the largest barriers to student success, the greatest resources or assets available to overcome those barriers and the most effective ways to measure progress.

Access to New Education Technology and Resources

We've seen some incredible progress from districts over the past few years in this area. Schools understand the importance of broadband internet and are exploring ways to ensure that the new digital programs that are introduced into their schools function in a secure and seamless fashion. But despite progress, work remains: according to Future Ready Schools, 21 million U.S. students still lack the broadband capability necessary for digital learning. The students affected by a lack of digital access at school are those who need it the most. In addition, many students impacted by poverty don't have the ability to connect to the internet at home, and therefore have fewer opportunities to use technology for the purpose of learning or to support schoolwork and studying after class.
Want to learn more? Join us at Fusion! Join education and nonprofit leaders from around the country this October 2-4 to discuss how learning sciences, social emotional learning and technology can advance personalized learning in schools and districts. Register for Fusion today
Community Support and Outreach

Along with supporting new blended learning models in the classroom, where students are expected to engage with technology and learning outside of school walls, there are other opportunities. Access, among other factors in equity, can be strengthened through community engagement. Districts can forge partnerships with the businesses, organizations and youth centers that play a major role in student lives and work with them to extend broadband access or provide additional safe spaces for learning. Parental engagement is also central to achieving equity goals: in an era when our classrooms are becoming increasingly diverse and students come from a variety of cultural backgrounds, districts need to work harder than ever to get those parents engaged with their learning community in meaningful ways.

Purposeful Technology in the Hands of Talented Teachers

Perhaps the most promising movement towards educational equity is the introduction of technology into the classroom. Personalization is more scalable than ever, advanced adaptive technologies address student needs in real time, and student data insights provide educators with an in-depth understanding of students' progress. But just as technology presents exciting opportunities, it also carries complications.

We know that technology alone is not enough to combat inequity. The technology we introduce into the classroom can only move the needle on equity when it's used purposefully; in other words, the integration and implementation of technology is just as important as the quality of the technology itself. Researchers are seeing an emerging trend where schools in poverty use technology less effectively than wealthier schools, even when the technology utilized in each school is the same. Educators need the support of their districts, robust and ongoing professional development and a clearly defined vision for personalized learning to leverage technology with the purpose of empowering every student. Frameworks like the SAMR model, or varying understandings of personalized learning can serve as a strong foundation to set educators up for success in a digital space.

To make an impact in any of these areas will require various levels of cross-functional teamwork, creative problem-solving and perseverance that will challenge every one of us. But from all of the educators I have met over the years who have dedicated their lives to educational equity, I know that we're capable of making our vision a reality. We must.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Educational Technology Serves Equity When Used with Purpose - EdSurge News

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In my time as a classroom teacher, principal and superintendent, I became professionally and emotionally vested in leading and supporting a vision for educational equity, which is shared by many of my colleagues.

# data[].attributes.body
Podcast: Susan Patrick on Transforming Education Systems for Equitable High Quality Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
For almost two decades, () has been a leading education advocacy organization. They promote better policies and practices to advance powerful, personalized, learner-centered experiences.

Founded to support online learning teachers and providers, iNACOL added a focus on personalized learning ten years ago. They have also been the leading advocate for competency-based education with great resources on CompetencyWorks.

"iNACOL drives the transformation of education systems and accelerates the advancement of breakthrough policies and practices to ensure high-quality learning for all," said CEO Susan Patrick (@susandpatrick).

Ten years ago, Patrick built a partnership with Andy Calkins to support Next Generation Learning Challenges. The result was more than 150 new and transformed schools across the country.

A 2016 Eisenhower Fellowship provided Patrick the opportunity to study how world-class expectations and balanced policy models in Australia and New Zealand were promoting equitable outcomes. The experience updated her sense of what is possible and provided a global view of trends in learning.

5 Global Trends

In our conversation, Patrick outlined five global trends in learning:

1. Ensuring education systems are fit for purpose. Education systems should be " fit for purpose," preparing youth to contribute to an open, healthy and just society.

Compared to other OECD countries, Patrick sees many states and systems "just tweaking the old system," and "missing the long game."

Community conversations are the first step for a system fit for purpose. Patrick appreciates the hundreds of communities that have updated their graduate profiles and continue to explore what's needed in order to ensure that every student has the necessary models and skills.

As the population becomes more multicultural, Patrick said, "We need to keep asking- how do we design a system fit for the world we live in?"

2. Modernizing educator workforce and professional learning. As school systems around the world develop more learner-centered models, it's critical to build educator capacity. "Everybody learning as they build these new designs," said Patrick.

iNACOL summarized this trend in 2018 report, Moving Toward Mastery, that describes a teaching profession that is equity-oriented, learning-centered and lifelong.

A growing number of districts are using microcredentials to make professional learning more personalized and competency-based. Kettle Moraine, working with Digital Promise, has been a leader in microcredentials.

3. Innovating education for equity, prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion. Equity is the organizational driver and the fundamental moral purpose at iNACOL. Patrick is pleased to see inclusion and equity surfacing as a global priority in schools and in society.

"We have to disrupt the structural inequities we've inherited," said Patrick. "Transformation requires that we ask what practices, structure, and pedagogy support high quality learning for all students."

Environments that have rapidly changed to be more equitable are more focused on the whole child and are building knowledge and skills that are more well rounded. They hold the same high expectations for all students and use more robust evidence-based on student work.

Despite progress on equity, Patrick said in most of our schools the demographics of the teacher workforce still doesn't reflect the diversity of our youth.

4. Aligning pathways from early childhood, K-12, college and workforce. With the goal of "aligned lifelong learning systems," Patrick said coherent pathways for learners start with a profile of a graduate like the ones and South Carolina have created.

Aligned systems are based on quality design principles like those iNACOL published last fall.

Aligned systems offer transferability and reciprocity between systems (as is common across Europe).

5. Redesigning schools based on the learning sciences . In Fit for Purpose, Patrick and colleagues said, "A school redesign informed by learning sciences puts student success at its center. It incorporates youth development theory, culturally responsive teaching, and evidence-based approaches." She added, "We must ensure we are designing for equity using research on how students learn best, youth development theory and evidence-based approaches."

The Best Conference of the Year

The iNACOL Symposium will be held on October 28-31 in Palm Springs, California. The annual convening is the most mission-focused and well-curated convening of the year. It brings together educators, policymakers and researchers interested in transforming education. The sessions are well curated and the keynotes are always inspiring and push leaders and educators to think outside the box.

Big themes for the conference this year include a future focus, whole child personalization, elementary education, and technical to adaptive changes. Our team has our flights booked and bags packed and we can't wait to be in Palm Springs for this year's event. If you haven't already, get registered and plan your trip. You won't want to miss the speakers or sessions and we promise you won't regret it!

Key Takeaways:
[1:10] Susan tells the story of how she got to the office of Ed Tech at the Department of Education.
[2:14] Susan tells the origin story of iNACOL.
[3:17] Susan speaks about the shift of iNACOL's focus to blended and personalized learning.
[6:05] Susan speaks about the partnership between iNACOL and Next Generation Learning Challenges.
[6:52] Susan speaks about the fellowship she did in New Zealand and Australia in 2016 and summarizes what she learned there.
[10:04] Susan summarizes the mission of iNACOL today.
[10:42] Susan and Tom look at some of the top trends that are driving education globally today, starting with the idea of being 'fit for purpose.
[13:00] Is the work of districts reconsidering their graduate profile and updating their learning outcomes encouraging to Susan?
[15:03] Susan highlights some of the trends she sees with regard to modernizing the workforce in educator development and professional learning.
[17:45] Susan gives her thoughts on micro-credentials.
[19:04] Susan speaks about what she's seeing globally in terms of innovating for equity and prioritizing diversity in education.
[23:43] As learning environments are innovating, how does Susan suggest we create aligned pathways from early childhood to college?
[28:03] How Susan sees schools being redesigned based on learning science.
[30:18] Susan highlights some of the key lessons she has learned from the last 5-10 iNACOL Symposiums.
[34:58] What to look forward to at the 2019 iNACOL Symposium!

For more, see:
Stay in-the-know with innovations in learning by signing up for the weekly. This post includes mentions of a Getting Smart partner. For a full list of partners, affiliate organizations and all other disclosures please see our Partner page .

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Podcast: Susan Patrick on Transforming Education Systems for Equitable High-Quality Learning | Getting Smart

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
For almost two decades, () has been a leading education advocacy organization. They promote better policies and practices to advance powerful, personalized, learner-centered experiences. Founded to support online learning teachers and providers, iNACOL added a focus on personalized learning ten years ago. They have also been the leading advocate for competency-based education with great resources on CompetencyWorks.

# data[].attributes.body
Tech and Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
Tweets by techlearning

# data[].attributes.body
Future Ready Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Department of Education: 21st Century Learning

# data[].attributes.body
CoSN- Leading Education Innovation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Something went wrong, but don’t fret — let’s give it another shot.

# data[].attributes.body
Empowering Leader

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
Tweets by EmpoweringLead1

# data[].attributes.body
Go Tech Ed The Podcast

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
GotTechED Podcast ⋅ Blog ⋅ Reviews “Edtech that you hear about today and can implement tomorrow!” FEATURED CONTENT RECENT PODCAST EPISODES RECENT BLOG POSTS MEET THE TEAM GotTechED the Podcast was created in 2018 by Nick Johnson and Eric Guise with one, singular goal: to provide quality, tech-centri…

# data[].attributes.body
Transforming Education with Technology

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
February 2011 | Volume 68 | Number 5
Teaching Screenagers Pages 16-21

A Conversation with Karen Cator

Marge Scherer

A school district that immediately comes to mind is Mooresville Graded School District in Mooresville, North Carolina. It's about 20 miles outside of Charlotte. It has spirited teachers, exemplary leadership, and a commitment to figuring out how to teach each student.

When I visited that school district (see "Focus on Mooresville," p. 19), they invited me to go up and down the hall, and into any classroom. As I did so, I watched for engagement. All the students from 4th grade through high school had their own laptops, and they were using them to do their work. If they were practicing math, they had bookmarked practice sets and tutorials. If they were preparing a report, they were researching and creating the media to accompany the text. It struck me as very straightforward.

In several classrooms, I couldn't tell where the front of the classroom was. On one side of the room was an interactive whiteboard; on another side, a regular whiteboard; and the teacher's desk was on a third side. The whole space was a learning environment, and the technology was just part of the infrastructure.

In a high school class, students had chosen books and were presenting to classmates their digital visual representation of the theme of the book. As they watched one another's presentations, they were entertained, yet the meaning of "theme" was completely clear, and they were being exposed to a variety of literature. Although the subject wasn't related to technology, technology facilitated communication, engagement, interaction, and understanding. And the teacher did not have to know how to create what the students created; she was looking for students' understanding of theme and ability to communicate.
Is engagement in learning the most important characteristic you look for in a technology-rich school, then?
I do like to picture an engagement meter in the classroom. When you look across the room, every person is leaning forward, interacting with the teacher, with other students, or with the content. Engagement isn't a focus on entertainment; it's about brain activity. Is each student's brain fully engaged?

Another thing I look at is the nature of the assignment. Is it compelling, does it have some semblance of relevance, and does it allow for a variety of depths? Does it consider whether answers can be searched, calculated, or copied; and does it ask students to do something with the basic information and calculations?

The third quality is the level of personalization. With technology, it's easier to allow for student choice, for meeting interests, for ensuring that assignments are at an appropriate level, and for allowing prior experience and language to support learning. We talked a lot about personalized learning in the National Education Technology Plan.
Do you think that learning that occurs online is different from learning that happens in traditional classrooms?
I think today it is. In the past, online learning has tended to be isolating and less participatory and has been distinct from using technology in the classroom. But going forward, interactions will be key. Just as people engage in online interactions-around virtual sports teams, cooking, or whatever-students will be able to engage in participatory learning experiences online in and out of the classroom.

Right now classrooms are predominantly print-based environments with textbooks, teachers' guides, assessment materials, and supplemental materials. And today, the available technology is often a shared resource. As we transition to a digital learning environment and each learner has his or her own device, we will be able to facilitate personalization, participation, interaction, and collaboration-with people who might be right there in the classroom or people who might be across the world.

In this digital learning environment, we'll incorporate cognitive tutors and integrate simulations, visualizations of complex math and science concepts, videos, and animated demonstrations. And we need to make sure the environments are fully accessible to all students.
Concerning the question of access, does the Department of Education know how many schools have broadband at this time? Does the technology plan recognize that many schools, especially in rural areas, may not have access?
Access is hugely important, and the chapter on infrastructure in the technology plan as well as the Federal Communication Commission's National Broadband Plan recognizes that. The broadband plan focuses on access but also discusses national purposes of broadband technology, one of which is education.

Access is a basic necessity for learners of all ages, everywhere. We have been working with the Departments of Commerce and Agriculture because they had a significant amount of American Reinvestment and Recovery Act money to aggressively tackle the broadband provisioning across the country. There is another project underway to create a visual map of the country showing broadband access. People will be able to look at where they live and compare what's available in their own neighborhood with what's available in other areas like theirs. They will be able to have higher expectations about what they can ask for, what they can hope for, and what they can replicate.
How can schools address the inequities in terms of student access?
Now is the time to begin to make sure that every student has a digital device 24/7. I say that for three reasons. First, digital and mobile devices are proliferating and are available at lower costs; second, the amount and quality of digital content for learning is exploding; and third, interactive environments online are becoming easier to use and more useful. Students must have a digital device with them in class, just as they have had their binder, their textbook, and their pencil box.

They can use this digital device to maintain their portfolio, access news and information when they need it, get their grades, and manage their learning life. Many schools and districts are now trying to figure out how they can leverage, rather than disallow, student-owned devices. Forsythe County, Georgia, for example, is developing a new policy that allows student-owned devices. This particular strategy does require careful policy development and planning.
That is an interesting concept, but devices are so unequal. A really good iPad and a cell phone, for example, have different capabilities.
Because devices come and go, you can't get too attached to them. We need to talk about the features, what you can accomplish with them. We might say, for example, that all students need a device that will allow them to access the Internet and create documents. And different devices might provide different capabilities. The small mobile device can be used for information access, calculations, and communication. Other devices, maybe shared, will need more processing power so students can create more complex videos or animations.
And would you make it the families' responsibility to furnish the devices?
That totally depends on the community and its culture-the local context. In most places it would have to be a shared responsibility. Obviously, we cannot have policies that exacerbate the digital divide. We want to improve access for all students.

The school will likely continue to purchase devices and have them available for some or all students. Colleges used to have many more computer labs and public access spaces, but those have decreased as students have begun coming to school with their own devices. Some communities have access in centers. Libraries are incredibly important. It is an evolving strategy.
In some classrooms, kids are using online learning to learn higher-order skills, and in others, kids are taught basic skills. How do we address that inequity?
In addition to addressing the digital divide, we need to address the pedagogical divide. We can use technology and the opportunity for learning online to provide more balanced learning opportunities for students. This digital learning environment can augment the capacity of the teacher. And we can improve the opportunity for teachers to learn from one another. In rural and underserved areas, we can provide full courses that would otherwise not be available.
How does the typical veteran teacher become more facile with technology? Are you seeing any good professional development out there?
To improve the abilities of teachers, I would focus first on their personal use. Now, most teachers are quite facile with technology in their personal lives-for shopping, finding old college and high school friends, videoconferencing with children or grandchildren, or playing interactive games online. (A key demographic for these games, like teaching, is actually middle-aged women.)

So I think we need to get beyond calling teachers digital immigrants, as if technology holds a certain code only young people can decipher. We can let that go. Now we can focus on using technology to support learning goals. And the technologies we focus on need to improve teachers' opportunity to be successful. If a product requires a chunk of time for professional development just to know how to use it, then it may not be well-designed.
What kinds of collaborations are needed among classroom teachers, online teachers, and media specialists?
In the technology plan, we talk about the highly connected teacher. Teachers can connect with data, resources, content, and the people who can help with their students' learning-to people providing after-school programs, to students' parents, to content and domain experts.

Getting better at developing meaningful connections is really important. We are working on a new project on the design of online connected communities of practice where people can grapple with a problem together, share what they have learned, develop a solution together, and connect with experts who can provide research, information, and strategies. Communities of practice are not new, and there is evidence that they are incredibly helpful, so we are focusing on the best ways to leverage online environments and technologies to connect professional educators.
Because our theme is called "Teaching Screenagers," I want to talk more about students. When we interviewed some of our college-age interns who worked for us this past summer (see p. 44), they told us that their high schools often had blocked sites, which in a sense blocked their learning. What is your take on that practice?
I certainly understand their frustration. It is really important that we do everything we can to make sure children are safe online. This requires strong policies and rules; better information and education for teachers, leaders, and students; and much improved technologies to sort the appropriate from the inappropriate. Many filtering programs today use what I call brute force. They are not intelligent enough to distinguish one YouTube video from another. We should be able to get our smartest computer scientists to create seriously intelligent filtering systems and search technologies to empower learning, not just blocking.
EL author Mark Bauerlein (p. 28) argues in this issue that technology can affect learning negatively-that it's taking away from students the ability to read deeply. He also says that it encourages kids to respond to complex content before they understand it. Do you see ways schools can counteract that potential downside of technology use?
When you add any new technology- whether it's a printing press, a pencil, or a computer-something is amplified, and something is reduced. Part of being literate in the 21st century (or probably any century) is being able to make careful decisions about technologies and their uses.

Students really need the wisdom of adults, as they always have, to figure out what they need to learn and how they should go about it. The challenge for teachers is to understand the opportunities new technology provides (something that is hard because of rapid changes in what is possible) and then make decisions about how to manage the learning environment. Teachers have a tremendous opportunity to create compelling assignments that require their students to read a lot and to think deeply. If we value the abilities that Mark suggests we are losing, then we need curriculum to support their development.
How would you define digital literacy for today's students and for 21st century citizens?
We have had a tremendous shift in culture with the rise in mobile devices that provide fast and easy answers to the kinds of questions we have always spent a lot of time teaching and testing. To me, this provides an opportunity to ask new questions of students that will deepen understanding, get them to grapple with complex problems, and publish to a wide audience. But I understand what Mark is talking about and value his perspective.

I think that digital literacy has three parts. The first is the ability to use information well-to find it, consume it, analyze it, and leverage it to solve a problem. The second part of digital literacy is the ability to use media and digital technologies to communicate and collaborate effectively. What are the best practices in publishing online? How do you tell a story or communicate your message using different media? How do you organize and collaborate effectively with your personal network? Third, and arguably the least understood, is the development of digital citizenship. Just as we have always worked with students to play well on the playground, we need to make sure they learn to behave well in an online environment. For example, it's really important that students understand that their voice is amplified and persistent when it's online.
Tell me more about the recommendations of the national technology plan.
The ability of people to live in a globally networked society depends on developing a sense of personal responsibility and applying it online, just like offline.

There are five major chapters to the plan. The learning chapter articulates the opportunity to create much more personalized, engaging, interesting learning environments.

The assessment chapter talks about measuring what matters and using data for continuous improvement across the ecosystem, as well as increasing feedback loops and building better assessments that use the power of technology.

The teaching chapter emphasizes that teachers must be highly connected to be successful.

The infrastructure chapter recommends that broadband be available universally, that all students have electronic devices at school, and that we develop the policies and infrastructure that will support everyone.
What research needs to take place to make this plan a reality?
The productivity chapter discusses cost efficiencies and processes and practices that increase the efficiency of learning. For example, it questions whether we can move from a seat-time-based model to a competency-based model.

A lot. We articulate four grand challenges in the plan, and there is much more that can be done to increase understanding of the learning technologies that are most effective. We are thinking a lot about technology transfer from other sectors, even from the consumer space. Just as advertisers are becoming more targeted with their ads, we can learn from that science and more effectively customize learning. In an online environment, you have so much more data. In education, we haven't even begun to scratch the surface of how to use that to better develop learning tools.
Is the purpose of the national technology plan simply to broadcast the vision for the future of technology in schools, or is funding attached to it? And with technology changing so quickly, is long-range planning really possible?
In addition to technology transfer, we are looking at how to sustain and scale up the most effective technologies. The whole research and development ecosystem needs to evolve in education, and we need to invest in the intensive development of learning technologies.

We were careful to laser-focus on learning, assessment, and teaching so that long-range planning will be both possible and necessary. If we started naming specific products, any plan probably would seem ridiculous even in a couple of years. But this plan presents the long-range vision, the goals, the recommendations, and the next steps. It is a high-level vision, but it is both research-based and practitioner-based. It does not specify one funding source but opens the door to multiple pockets of funding to support the overall opportunity to totally power up learning.

The plan is a call for collaboration. As in the children's story, it's like stone soup. We have a recipe, but everybody needs to add something toward making learning rich and flavorful. Over time, we will make this amazing stone soup.

Use technology to help raise the percentage of young people with two- or four-year college degrees from 39 percent to 60 percent by 2020.

Provide "broadband everywhere" to serve learners inside and outside schools.

Put a computing device in the hands of every student.

Make connectedness the hallmark of effective teaching.

Create an online learning registry of content developed by federal government agencies.

Fund the research and development of open-source educational resources.

Fund research about how online communities of practice can improve teaching and learning.

Create a national initiative that defines productivity in education and establishes metrics for measuring it.

Karen Cator is the director of the Office of Educational Technology, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Ave. SW, Room 7E202, Washington DC 20202; karen.cator@ed.gov. Marge Scherer is the editor in chief of Educational Leadership; mscherer@ascd.org

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
February 2011 | Volume 68 | Number 5 Teaching Screenagers Pages 16-21 A Conversation with Karen Cator Marge Scherer A school district that immediately comes to mind is Mooresville Graded School District in Mooresville, North Carolina. It's about 20 miles outside of Charlotte.

# data[].attributes.body
Empowering Students Through Technology: Moving Beyond Engagement

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This post is also available in:

In addition, we are in the midst of a profound technological revolution. Incredible advances in computing, the growth of artificial intelligence and the emergence of big data are transforming all facets of life and work in leaps and bounds. As a result, the skills that are required to enter the job market are different from and go beyond what is traditionally taught in schools.

What should we do to prepare the coming generations? What skills do people need to develop in order to actively participate in society and compete in the labor market? How should education be transformed, and why is technology-when used correctly-the key to this process?

This blog seeks to answer these questions in a practical way, emphasizing the importance of adopting technology to transform learning. For the purpose of our argument, we use a broad definition of educational technologies, from an e-book or videoconference, to artificial intelligence and virtual reality programs.

The blog begins by defining and describing 21st century skills and captures the major changes that education requires to prepare students. It then cites several examples where technology is playing an important role in improving learning and transforming education programs. The aim is to lend visibility to current programs and trends that are making a noticeable difference compared with traditional practices in order to serve as an inspiration and guidance to teachers, policy makers and anyone else interested in education.

21st century skills

There are several studies and organizations that have begun to examine in detail what the future of work in Latin America will look like as the digital transformation of society progresses and tasks that were previously carried out by people become automated. Organizations such as the Inter-American Development Bank and initiatives such as the Future of Work in the Global South seek to better understand the risks and opportunities that exist in this space and the kind of concrete skills that future workers will need.

1. This skill refers to traditional and important academic content, such as mathematics, reading and science, as well as a better understanding and awareness of global environmental, civic and health issues.Knowledge of 21st century content and themes:

2. Skills necessary to navigate work and life environments that are increasingly complex and changing. These include critical thinking, problem solving, communications, collaboration, creativity and innovation.Learning and innovation skills:

3. digital skills can be divided into three categories: (i) digital citizenship, or the ability to use digital technology and media in a safe, responsible and effective manner; (ii) digital creativity, or the ability to create new content and transform ideas into reality through the use of digital tools; and (iii) digital entrepreneurship, or the ability to use digital technologies to solve global challenges or create new opportunities.Digital skills: The skills required to adapt to new technologies and the abundance of information. According to the DQ Institute,

4. Life and work skills: These skills are important for adapting to an ever-changing, interconnected world with less job stability, and they include flexibility, adaptability, initiative, self-direction, productivity and responsibility.

The need to transform learning and the role of technology

The traditional teaching model of education does not allow learners to develop many 21st century skills. Conceived for another era, it is based largely on memory learning, active instruction by the teacher and passive reception of knowledge from the student. In this model, students are unlikely to develop their own initiative and creativity, or learn to collaborate with others, as just a few examples.

Preparing 21st century citizens requires a paradigm shift that starts with prioritizing the student, allowing them to learn at their own pace, and doing so more actively and according to their context. The table below lists some of the most prominent ideas about the kind of changes proposed to make this transformation possible.
Traditional Education vs Education of the Future
Technology for educational transformation

The use of educational technology is fundamental in this transformation mainly for three reasons. First, because technology is increasingly present in the world, and the jobs of today and the future are ever more tied to and dependent upon these tools. It is only by using technology that people can develop their digital skills. In addition, younger generations are part of the technological revolution, they have grown up with technology, including as a central component in their educational context.

Second, technology democratizes access to content and instruction by breaking down barriers such as teacher shortages, high costs or placement. In other words, it allows learning everywhere and at any time.

And third, when technology is used correctly, it promotes personalized and active educational experiences, which allow for continued learning outside of formal contexts and facilitates the development of new skills attuned to the needs of the world today and in the future.

While there are mixed results regarding technology programs in education, here we provide examples of some that have been successful in terms of scale and results and others that, while lacking rigorous evaluations, we believe exhibit some clear patterns and the potential to adopt technology successfully in programs aimed at transforming learning.

Content democratization and access to cultural heritage

In a similar vein, some countries in the region have been experimenting with having native speakers from English-speaking countries teach languages by videoconference due to the lack of qualified local teachers, such as the Ceibal in English program in Uruguay. The initiative reaches 80,000 children in 4th, 5th and 6th grades of primary school, and more than 17,000 students in the 1st to 6th years of secondary education. To date, the program's have been very positive. In this model, the remote teacher does not replace the classroom teacher, but instead there is a transformation of roles. The local teacher plays an important role beyond managing class behavior, modeling how to learn, and thereby guiding students through the learning process.

Finally, technology allows access to cultural heritage, or those assets and resources that have historical, scientific, symbolic or aesthetic relevance. Globally, an important example is Google Arts and Culture , which allows anyone to access a vast global catalog of arts and culture relevant to society. Seeing some of the photographs of the works selected there, and the level of detail, is probably an experience comparable to the experiential. The Biblioteca País ( Country Library ) in Uruguay allows access to more than 5,000 books of literature for children, young people and adults, among which are many distinguished Latin American authors.

Customization, flexibility and learning outside of formal contexts

Technology, especially artificial intelligence, allows us to identify knowledge gaps and/or misconceptions accurately, adapts to the needs of students and can be used in and out of formal learning contexts. The Adaptive Mathematics Program in Uruguay, known as , is a good example of this potential. The program, whose content is aligned to the national curriculum, offers personalized support according to the skill level of each student. PAM has been implemented since 2013 in public schools, and its use continues to increase. In 2016, half of the students between 3 rd and 6 th grade were using it both inside and outside the classroom. A recent evaluation demonstrated a positive effect of 0.2 standard deviations on math test scores and determined that the impact increases as students' socioeconomic status decreases.

Mindspark in India offers another successful example: it is a learning software that adapts to the individual learning levels of students in language and mathematics. The program is administered outside the traditional school setting in computer labs. Children have 90-minute daily sessions: 45 minutes of individual computer work and 45 minutes in small groups with a tutor who instructs them. Mindspark diagnoses student misconceptions and provides individualized content to help children learn. The program has reached more than 400,000 students of all socioeconomic levels.

An assessment deployed at independent centers in low-income Indian government schools, conducted by J-PAL, found that the program had a significant impact on students at all income levels and provided more than twice as much value-added compared to a control group (+0.37 standard deviation).

Just as Mindspark and PAM help personalize student learning in math and language, technology can be very useful for improving the learning opportunities for people with special . Customized applications, as well as the use of virtual reality (VR), can be beneficial in shaping the learning process of people who, due to different types of disability and disadvantages (negative opinions and stereotypes, lack of physical access to learning spaces, difficulties for teachers to focus on students, etc.), have difficulty developing cognitive, behavioral, communicative and relational skills in their environment. Even where we do not find impact assessments, there are experiments that already have positive results such as Picaa in Spain , an application developed for children with autism, which showed improvement in language, mathematics, autonomy and sociability.

Betting on the benefits of technology in this field, the U.S. Department of Education announced in 2018 an investment of $2.5 million for a new program that will use virtual reality to foster social skills in students with disabilities. This is an extension of a program that since 2011 has been developing technologies for students with special needs on computers and tablets. It should be noted that part of this investment aims to evaluate the programs in order to improve their design and implementation.

100% virtual learning

A very interesting example of how technology allows learning to happen anywhere, but especially outside of traditional contexts like school, is the case of approved and integrated into the public system. While in some cases the learning is hybrid (i.e. the student completes lesson content online, but goes to school to do tests or different projects), in other cases it is 100% virtual. homeschooling in the United States. Today there are nearly two million students, equivalent to about four percent of the student population, who learn at home. In recent years, this population has increased thanks to the opportunities that technology has opened. Twenty-six of the fifty American states now have several models of virtual schools

Social-emotional skills development

Technology also facilitates learner motivation and develops self-esteem and agency through games (gamification) or interactive applications. In Chile, for example, a program called ConectaIdeas, tracks how many exercises students complete on the application and presents different types of individual and group competitions to promote student motivation. The program has been implemented since 2013 and is administered to fourth graders in public school computer labs in.

Foreign language

Increased motivation is not limited interactive math game programs. In foreign languages, for example, Duolingo is an example of an application that increases individual commitment to learning, while at the same time allowing democratized access to content and instruction.

Although there is plenty of information in newspapers about the impact of this application on language learning, academic journals only offer studies with small samples that measure specific impacts. For Duolingo, as well as other online learning platforms (such as Kahoot!), it has been observed that there is little difference in learning between those exposed to platforms and those who are not. However, there is evidence of very positive perceptions regarding the form of online learning, learner enjoyment and level of difficulty. Clearly, more research is needed.

Computational Thinking

There are several technology platforms that promote the development of digital skills. Code.org and Scratch, for example, have seen their user numbers multiply exponentially in the world, including in Latin America, and are used to teach computational thinking, a subject that has been growing in importance around the world.

Transforming Learning

The use of technology facilitates the transformation of learning processes that allow teachers to focus more on each student and support them to develop 21st century skills and abilities.

This is the case, for example, with project-based learning, where students go far beyond knowledge acquisition to developing teamwork, communication skills and initiative, among others.

How do we ensure that technology is effectively incorporated to make this transformation happen?

A simple way to do this is by using the SAMR framework, developed by Ruben R. Puentedura. The framework is a useful tool for evaluating how technology is used and how to take advantage of it in a meaningful way.

SAMR is an acronym that is divided into four levels: substitution, augmentation, modification and redefinition. The first two levels are considered improvement experiences, where technology replaces certain tasks or functions with possible functional improvements. The latter two are seen as transformative, which means that the use of technology allows for the redesign of tasks and functions and the creation of new ones that were not previously possible. It is important to note that the framework applies to the ways in which technologies are used, not to the technologies themselves.
Substitutions and increase: improvements in education
Substitution and augmentation, the first two types of technology use in Puentedura's framework, improve real educational practice. For example, replacing a textbook with an e-Book is a classic example of substitution. If an e-Book can download content from the internet in a way that allows students to choose or supplement their assignments with different materials, there is an improvement. The same is true with teachers using free Khan Academy videos, which can complement lessons in various subjects.

In Latin America, the current use of educational technologies corresponds mainly in the category of improvements, as we saw for example with programs like Ceibal in English and Ensino Presencial in Manaus.
Modification and redefinition: the experience of educational transformation
But what happens when technology is used to transform traditional learning and better prepare children? Can teachers, for example, use technology to redesign traditional tasks and create new ones that were previously not possible or conceivable? In the modification and redefinition categories that Puentedura defines, technology is not used simply to modify or improve an existing task, but as a tool that enables educational transformation.

Continuing with the e-Book example, we might suppose that a school aims to develop 21st century skills related to collaboration, creativity and critical thinking. To do that, they decide to give up a portion of classroom instruction and instead ask the children to prepare lessons outside the classroom using an e-Book, which can also contain adaptive learning programs, and come to class ready to discuss what they have learned and work in groups. This is called an inverted classroom, a form of blended learning. By removing the focus on instruction, the teacher designs classroom experiences that actively engage students at the individual level and in groups. If he or she wanted to go further, the teacher could also design experiences beyond classwork, for example connecting students with others from different schools or countries, to develop projects.

The network of Innova Schools in Peru, one of the most innovative private school networks in the region, has been developing this model since its founding in 2011. With 54 schools serving 43,000 students in Peru, 70% of students' classroom time is for group work, usually project-based, and the remaining 30% is for self-guided learning, delivered through platforms such as Kahn Academy. The role of the teacher in these schools is more that of a facilitator who guides the discussions and activities in the classroom, or a companion who watches over and gives feedback on the learning process of each student.

On the other hand, in 2014 Uruguay joined the Global Learning Network (New Pedagogies for Deep Learning), a global partnership that builds knowledge and practices to develop deep learning and transform education. Through project-based learning, student motivation is expected to increase and academic content knowledge will be tied to real-life experiences. Educational technologies are an intrinsic part of this transformative process as they allow teachers to experience their roles differently, as is the case at Innova Schools.

Conclusions

The technological revolution will continue to rapidly change society and the workforce. In order for people to take advantage of opportunities in this new world, their ability to adapt, their initiative and persistence to acquire skills and knowledge during their lives will be critical.

While the responsibility of education systems is to prepare students for this new reality, there are few examples in Latin America where this is happening. The movement towards a more student-centered, personalized education that allows learners to develop 21st century competencies and skills must become the main objective of all the actors involved, including the state, teachers and the private sector. The use of a wide variety of technologies to facilitate this transformation will be fundamental. They are a critical tool for creating opportunities to democratize access to, customize and transform the teaching and learning processes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Transformation of Learning with the Use of Educational Technology - The Dialogue

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What should we do to prepare the coming generations? What skills do people need to develop in order to actively participate in society and compete in the labor market? How should education be transformed, and why is technology-when used correctly-the key to this process?

# data[].attributes.body
Leadership- Section 3: Creating a Culture and Conditions for Innovation and Change

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Goal: Embed an understanding of technology-enabled education within the roles and responsibilities of education leaders at all levels and set state, regional, and local visions for technology in learning.

Taking full advantage of technology to transform learning requires strong leadership capable of creating a shared vision of which all members of the community feel a part. Leaders who believe they can delegate the articulation of a vision for how technology can support their learning goals to a chief information officer or chief technology officer fundamentally misunderstand how technology can impact learning. Technology alone does not transform learning; rather, technology helps enable transformative learning. The vision begins with a discussion of how and why a community wants to transform learning. Once these goals are clear, technology can be used to open new possibilities for accomplishing the vision that would otherwise be out of reach. Moving to learning enabled by technology can mean a shift in the specific skills and competencies required of leaders. Education leaders need personal experience with learning technologies, an understanding of how to deploy these resources effectively, and a community-wide vision for how technology can improve learning. ¹

Although leadership in technology implementation is needed across all levels of the education system, the need in PK-12 public schools is acute. The 2015 Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) Annual E-rate and Infrastructure Survey found that 55 percent of school systems have not fully met the FCC's short-term goal of 100 megabits per second of Internet bandwidth per 1,000 students. Although we still have progress to make, this is a significant improvement from 19 percent reaching the goal in 2013. ² Recent changes to the federal E-rate program make funding available to increase connectivity to the remaining schools; however, these transitions will not happen without strong leadership at state, district, and school levels.

Setting National Priorities: President Obama's ConnectED Initiative

In June 2013, President Obama announced the ConnectED initiative, designed to enrich K-12 education for every student in America. ConnectED has four goals:

1. Within five years, connect 99 percent of America's students through next-generation broadband and high-speed wireless in their schools and libraries

2. Empower teachers with the best technology and training to help them keep pace with changing technological and professional demands

3. Provide students with feature-rich educational devices that are price competitive with basic textbooks

4. Empower students with digital learning content and experiences aligned with college- and career-ready standards being adopted and implemented by states across America

WhiteHouse.gov has more information on ConnectED. For guidance on how these goals are being operationalized, see the U.S. Department of Education's Future Ready Schools: Building Technology Infrastructure for Learning and the White House's ConnectED resources.

Future Ready Leaders

To help support leaders' move toward creating the technical infrastructure and human capacity necessary to fully implement this vision for transformative learning enabled by technology, the U.S. Department of Education partnered with the Alliance for Excellent Education and more than 40 other partner organizations to launch Future Ready in November 2014. The department also challenged superintendents to indicate their commitment to transform teaching and learning in their districts by signing the Future Ready Pledge. To review the Future Ready Pledge and see which districts have signed, visit ttp://www.futurereadyschools.org/take-the-pledge.

Future Ready Focus Areas

Selected by synthesizing the best available research and practice knowledge, the four focus areas of Future Ready are collaborative leadership, personalized student learning, robust infrastructure, and personalized professional learning. ³

Collaborative Leadership

Education leaders develop a shared vision for how technology can support learning and how to secure appropriate resources to sustain technology initiatives. Leaders seek input from a diverse team of stakeholders to adopt and communicate clear goals for teaching, leading, and learning that are facilitated by technology. They model tolerance for risk and experimentation and create a culture of trust and innovation.

Leaders communicate with all stakeholders by using appropriate media and technology tools and establish effective feedback loops. While implementing the vision through a collaboratively developed strategic plan, leaders use technology as a learning tool for both students and teachers. Leaders are creative and forward- thinking in securing sustainable streams of human and capital resources to support their efforts, including appropriate partnerships both within their institutions and beyond.

Facilitating Open Communication: Chula Vista Elementary School District (CVESD) Develops Mobile App for Communicating With Parents

CVESD recognized that it needed to do better in reaching the families of its approximately 30,000 students across 45 schools, more than 50 percent of whom are enrolled in the free or reduced-price lunch program and 30 percent of whom are English language learners. CVESD's traditional e-mail and newsletter communications were more accessible to their higher income families than to their lower income families, so CVESD reached out to district families to understand how they might be able to communicate more effectively.

Through their conversations, CVESD discovered that 99 percent of families had consistent access to a smartphone and that most used social media often. Working closely with parents, CVESD created a Facebook page, Twitter accounts, and a mobile app. Parent suggestions, such as the ability to check cafeteria account balances so they could track the money they gave their children for lunch and the ability to import school events to personal calendars, were incorporated into the CVESD Mobile App, launched in November 2014. Families have the option of receiving this and other information through the mobile app in Spanish.

Personalized Student Learning

Technology enables personalized pathways for student learning through active and collaborative learning activities. Clearly defined sets of learning outcomes guide instruction. The outcomes, and the aligned curriculum, instruction, and assessment, reflect the multidisciplinary nature of knowledge; prepare students for our participatory culture through attention to digital literacy and citizenship; and attend to general skills and dispositions, such as reflection, critical thinking, persistence, and perseverance.

Leaders ensure that policies and resources equip teachers with the right tools and ongoing support to personalize learning in their classrooms.

Teachers collaborate to make instructional decisions based on a diverse data set, including student and teacher observations and reflections, student work, formative and summative assessment results, and data from analytics embedded within learning activities and software aided by real-time availability of data and visualizations, such as information dashboards. Leadership policy and teacher methods support student voice and choice in the design of learning activities and the means of demonstrating learning. Students frequently complete a series of self-directed, collaborative, multidisciplinary projects and inquiries that are assessed through a profile or portfolio. Technology is integral to most learning designs, used daily within and beyond the classroom for collaboration, inquiry, and composition, as well as for connecting with others around the world. In the classroom, teachers serve as educational designers, coaches, and facilitators, guiding students through their personalized learning experiences.

Robust Infrastructure

A robust technology infrastructure is essential to Future Ready learning environments, and leaders need to take ownership of infrastructure development and maintenance. The 2015 CoSN Annual E-rate and Infrastructure Survey found that affordability remains the primary obstacle for robust connectivity; network speed and capacity pose significant challenges for schools; and, finally, too many school systems report a lack of competition for broadband services in many parts of the United States, particularly in rural areas.⁴ Leaders are responsible for meeting these challenges and ensuring ubiquitous access among administrators, teachers, and students to connectivity and devices and for supporting personnel to ensure equipment is well maintained. Future Ready leaders take direct responsibility to ensure infrastructure remains up-to-date (both in terms of security and relevant software, apps, and tools) and open to appropriate Web content and social media tools to enable collaborative learning. Leaders also recognize the importance of building capacity among those responsible for creating and maintaining the technology infrastructure. Future Ready leaders support all of these efforts through careful planning and financial stewardship focused on long-term sustainability.

Personalized Professional Learning

Leaders ensure the availability of ongoing, job-embedded, and relevant professional learning designed and led by teachers with support from other experts. Leaders develop clear outcomes for professional learning aligned with a vision for student learning.

In Future Ready schools, teachers and leaders engage in collaborative inquiry to build the capacity of both the participating staff and the school as a whole through face-to-face, online, and blended professional learning communities and networks. Leaders ensure that professional learning planning is participatory and ongoing. Leaders learn alongside teachers and staff members, ensuring that professional learning activities are supported by technology resources and tools, time for collaboration, and appropriate incentives.

To support the unique needs of superintendents and district leaders, the U.S. Department of Education identified and then filmed eight Future Ready districts that exemplified these four Future Ready focus areas. The resulting collection of 47 research-based, short videos break down specific actions taken by these district leaders to transform teaching and learning. Superintendents can take a short survey that results in a personalized, on-demand video playlist of Future Ready leadership in action. For more information about the Future Ready Leaders project and access to the survey and videos, visit the U.S. Department of Education Future Ready Leaders website at https://tech.ed.gov/leaders.

Implementation is Key

Although vision is critical to transforming teaching and learning, a strategic implementation plan is key to success. In some states, districts or schools will develop their own technology implementation plans; in others, state education leaders take the lead and districts follow. The Future Ready website includes free online assessment tools to be completed by district teams. The resulting reports are designed to help district teams create a comprehensive implementation plan that accounts for the four Future Ready focus areas and support strategies.

In addition to working with teams within educational organizations to create an implementation plan, leaders also should solicit input and feedback from a broad range of influencers: administrators, teacher-leaders experienced in using technology to support learning, professional organizations, boards of education, knowledgeable members of the community, business leaders, cultural institutions, colleagues in other districts, and parents. ⁵

Leading by Example: Van Henri White, School Board President

Many school board members assume their responsibilities mostly focus on approving budgets and making hiring decisions. Van Henri White, Rochester, New York, School Board President and Council of Urban Boards Education Chair, sees transforming teaching and learning as the responsibility of all educational leaders, including and beyond a district's superintendent. White believes part of leading a board means learning and leveraging the same technology tools he hopes his district's teachers are using to support learning in classrooms. For example, during Rochester's observance of Martin Luther King Day in 2015, White joined Rochester educators, students, and staff as they engaged in a videoconference session with districts across the country, including New York City; Miami-Dade; and Ferguson, Missouri, for a structured conversation about race and civil rights in America.

White also believes in the importance of establishing connectivity beyond a district's facilities. He and other district leaders in Rochester have begun conversations with local city and county leaders to provide wireless Internet access for homes and families throughout the district. He sees such access to technology and connectivity as more than a district tool-as one to be leveraged for family learning as well. White hopes district-wide wireless access will mean parents will be able to help their students by looking up academic content they may not understand and will provide equitable access to district-provided tools such as its online communication portal.

For more information on Future Ready and to access a growing set of curated resources that align to the Future Ready framework from more than 40 partners, such as CoSN's Certified Education Technology Leader certification for school district leaders, visit http://www.futurereadyschools.org/futureready.

Setting an Agenda for Change: Howard-Winneshiek (Howard-Winn) Community School District

John Carver, Superintendent of Howard-Winn Community School District, faced less than optimal conditions when he initiated a digital learning transformation project modeled on Future Ready Schools. The district was experiencing declining enrollment and was failing to meet the standards of No Child Left Behind in reading comprehension, and almost half of the district's students qualified for free or reduced-priced lunch. Many districts face similar challenges; what set Howard-Winn apart was the district's decision to view failure as an opportunity to learn and improve.

Despite a lack of funding and community reluctance to change, Carver successfully gained support by working closely with teachers, the school board, and the district's School Improvement Advisory Committee to set an ambitious goal: By the year 2020, children in Howard-Winn will be the best prepared, most recruited kids on the planet. ⁶

Creating a new brand, 2020 Howard-Winn, helped Carver communicate the district vision of technology embedded in all parts of instruction, social and online systems of support for district professionals, and active community buy-in and participation. Behind these three pillars are leadership attributes essential to change: the courage to identify challenges and create a sense of urgency; openness to invest time, build trust, and cultivate relationships with stakeholders; and constant availability, visibility, and ownership as the drivers and face of change.

Although the implementation is still in its early stages, the district has acquired 1,300 laptops and implemented a 1:1 program. Teachers are challenged to be digital explorers and are asked to seek professional development opportunities proactively by using technology and to teach their students to be good digital citizens.

Since implementing these measures, student attendance at Howard-Winn schools has improved 90 percent, and a tech-enabled partnership with Northeast Iowa Community College has saved students between $9,000 and $10,000 in tuition fees by allowing district students to access college coursework while still in high school. The district also has seen a 17 percent increase in students meeting and exceeding summative assessment benchmarks. With more than $250,000 in support from stakeholders, the district also has been able to implement sustainable and cost-saving measures such as solar-powered Wi-Fi routers and propane-powered buses.

As the district continues to implement its vision of digital learning, Carver says he and other leaders have been driven by the following question: Do we love our kids enough to stop doing the things that do not work anymore?

Providing Statewide Leadership: North Carolina Digital Learning Plan

To accelerate progress toward the goal of providing equitable access to high-quality learning for all K-12 students in the state, North Carolina asked the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina State University to develop the North Carolina Digital Learning Plan. Beginning in June 2014, the Friday Institute engaged in a multi-faceted planning process, building on prior research and work on digital learning initiatives, with schools and districts across North Carolina.

The planning process included site visits to 18 districts and various charter schools and included 164 focus groups and interviews with superintendents, principals, teachers, technology directors, curriculum and instruction directors, chief financial officers, professional development directors, instructional technology facilitators, technicians, parents, and students.

In addition, Friday Institute researchers met with the deans of education of both the University of North Carolina system and independent colleges and universities across North Carolina, local school board members, legislators, business leaders, nonprofit education organizations, and other stakeholders. The researchers gathered data and analyzed the technology infrastructure of all of North Carolina's K-12 public schools, using the information to help prepare the state's E-rate application.

Friday Institute staff also conducted reviews of existing research on digital learning programs and gathered information about initiatives and strategies from other states and large districts. In May 2015, at the request of the North Carolina State Board of Education, all 115 districts and 120 charter schools completed the North Carolina Digital Learning Progress Rubric. The resultant rubric data provide an overview of progress throughout the state in five categories: leadership, professional learning, content and instruction, technology and infrastructure, and data and assessment. The North Carolina Digital Learning Plan can be found here.

Budgeting and Funding for Technology

Districts often are challenged financially when it comes to implementing technology initiatives and programs. Once a vision for the use of technology is in place, district superintendents and school leaders first should examine existing budgets to identify areas in which spending can be reduced or eliminated to pay for learning technologies. They also should consider all possibilities for creative funding of these programs. The following approaches are recommended for consideration as districts review their budgets and funding.

Eliminate or Reduce Existing Costs

As technology enables new learning opportunities and experiences, it also can render existing processes and tools obsolete, freeing up funds to pay for technology. Three obvious examples are copy machines (and related supplies and services contracts), dedicated computer labs, and replacing commercially licensed textbooks with openly licensed educational resources. In September 2015, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan challenged schools to begin this process by replacing just one book as a first step in appreciating the cost savings and developing an understanding of what would be necessary to implement such a change school- or district-wide.

Openly Licensed Educational Resources

Openly licensed educational resources are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under a license that permits their use, modification, and sharing with others. Open resources may be full online courses or digital textbooks or more granular resources such as images, videos, and assessment items.

Turning Toward Open: Illinois School District Embraces Openly Licensed Digital Resources

Many schools are freeing up funds for digital resources by transitioning away from textbooks. The state of Illinois offered Williamsfield Community Unit School District 210 three options when tasked with selecting instructional materials aligned with new mathematics standards: valid and reliable outside sources of material that aligned with standards, a mathematics model scope and sequence developed by the Illinois State Board of Education, or a textbook series.

With a limited budget of $10,000, the district decided to forgo traditional textbook adoption and instead began the process of creating and using openly licensed content. The district relied on a mathematics scope and sequence framework openly provided by the Dana Center and used a variety of open source content through OER Commons. With the money previously allotted for textbooks, the district purchased low-cost, cloud-based laptop computers. In addition, leadership allocated federal Rural Education Achievement Program and Title II funding to procure devices and upgrade connectivity infrastructure.

Recognizing a need to build professional capacity around these new resources, district leadership dedicated professional development time, including pullout days with class coverage, to help teachers better understand how to curate, collaborate, and house digital content. In addition, the teachers are using collaborative cloud-based storage to house their repository of content. The approach has spread beyond mathematics instruction into other subjects as well, setting a tone and track for the district's growing STEM initiative.

The district routinely evaluates the user experience of the openly licensed resources. Follow-up efforts will encourage the district's most innovative teachers to remix or contribute original openly licensed learning resources, leveraging the Illinois Shared Learning Environment OER tool set to do so.

Partner With Other Organizations

Partnership options for securing resources include local businesses and other organizations, alumni, internal and nearby teacher experts to provide professional development, and curriculum development arrangements with other districts. Some school districts have formed partnerships with local and county governments, sharing technology infrastructure and technical staff to keep costs down by jointly funding chief technology officer roles and taking advantage of the economies of scale when building and purchasing broadband access together. These economies of scale also can be realized through consortium purchasing such as the Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative, which represents several districts and higher education institutions at once and helps decide issues of resource allocation.

Make Full Use of Federal Funds

The E-rate program provides substantial price discounts for infrastructure costs for schools and public libraries and is one source of technology funding. In addition, for funding beyond connectivity, a U.S. Department of Education Dear Colleague letter, published in November 2014, provides guidance and examples for leveraging existing federal funds for technology-related expenditures.

Using Federal Funds: U.S. Department of Education Dear Colleague Letter on Acceptable Uses of Federal Funding for Technology

The purpose of the Dear Colleague letter prepared by the U.S. Department of Education in November 2014 was to help state, district, and eligible partnership grantees better understand how they may be able to use their federal grant funds to support innovative technology-based strategies to personalize learning. The letter includes examples of how funds from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (Titles I, II, and III) and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) may support the use of technology to improve instruction and student outcomes. Examples were limited to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and IDEA because of the scale of these programs, but funds from many other formula and competitive grant programs that are administered by the U.S. Department of Education also may be used for this purpose.

The examples do not depart from previous U.S. Department of Education guidance but rather clarify opportunities to use federal grant funds to support digital learning, including improving and personalizing professional learning and other supports for educators, increasing access to high-quality digital content and resources for students, facilitating educator collaboration and communication, and providing devices for students to access digital learning resources. Funding these four areas is important because technology itself is not a panacea.

Creative Funding Solutions: Edgecombe County Public Schools Goes Digital and Combines Funding Sources to Pay for It

Edgecombe County Public Schools in North Carolina has one of the highest dropout rates in the state and three of the lowest performing elementary schools, and during the past few years nearly 700 students (of 6,200 students served) have left the district in favor of other options. To change these staggering statistics, Edgecombe County Public School leaders made a district-wide commitment to an evidence-based global education approach that is supported by technology and funded through an innovative model that combines federal funding with the use of free online educational resources.

The revised district-wide technology plan, which includes statewide access to free digital teaching and learning resources, now also reflects the North Carolina State Board of Education's goal of Future Ready Schools for the 21st century. The plan focuses on four priorities: (1) updating infrastructure; (2) providing universal access for students and staff to devices; (3) online professional development opportunities for all staff; and (4) a shared services model to reduce redundancies and consolidate systems, applications, and infrastructure.

To fund the plan, the district applied for and received E-rate funding and also sought out alternatives to print-based textbook purchases. Not only is this latter decision cost- effective but it provides students and staff with high-quality, up-to-date resources for learning. Instead of print-based textbooks-which quickly go out of date-the district now uses North Carolina's WiseOwl to access free online resources as well as the University of North Carolina's Learn NC repository of learning resources and professional development resources.

Rethink Existing Staff Responsibilities

As part of their technology implementation plans, many districts, schools, and higher education institutions are rethinking the roles and responsibilities of existing staff members to support technology in learning. For example, some are expanding the role of librarians to become evaluators and curators of learning technology resources, an activity that taps into their existing skill sets. Other districts and schools have adopted shared leadership and staffing models, enabling them to expand what they can offer students by sharing expensive resources. Another option for districts and schools is to partner with other organizations to staff specific technology in learning programs. Whatever approach is adopted, organizations are well served to make sure they are fully staffing to meet needs rather than simply adding additional work to existing positions.

Building Nonprofit Partnerships: Code in the Schools Helps Schools Build Computer Science Capacity

To increase capacity, schools can partner with organizations to source instructors and provide professional development to build teacher skills and confidence. Many schools in the greater Baltimore area have partnered with Code in the Schools to provide support for their teachers and librarians who wanted to introduce project-based computer science in the classroom by using low-cost equipment, such as Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and Makey Makey, and learning to use free browser-based resources to start teaching code in the classroom by using Scratch, Code.org, and MIT App Inventor.

Some teachers also worked with Code in the Schools to teach video game and app development in their classrooms. For example, Liberty Elementary School Principal Joseph Manko partnered with Code in the Schools to develop a PK-5 computational skills curriculum, conduct professional development for teachers, and provide direct instruction both during the school day in the library's maker space and in the after-school program.

Ensure Long-Term Sustainability

Technology investments are not onetime expenses. Although onetime grants and other supplemental funding sources can serve as catalysts for establishing technology in learning efforts, they are not sustainable as schools and districts build toward a long-term vision and plan. When devices reach the end of life and infrastructure equipment becomes obsolete, districts and schools should have a reliable means to replace or upgrade them. Leaders should consider technology an ongoing, line-item expense from the very beginning of planning technology implementation.

Recommendations

Establish clear strategic planning connections among all state, district, university, and school levels and how they relate to and are supported by technology to improve learning. Although some of these efforts are supported by summits organized at the federal level by Future Ready Schools, state and local authorities are uniquely suited to understand the needs and resources available within their local education ecosystems. Broad, coordinated strategic planning requires a commitment from all parties involved to collaborate consistently across organizational boundaries. These conversations and connections need proactive champions who will invest in working at this level and who can take advantage of existing state and regional conferences to further this work.

Set a vision for the use of technology to enable learning such that leaders bring all stakeholder groups to the table, including students, educators, families, technology professionals, community groups, cultural institutions, and other interested parties. Although not all parties will be responsible for the execution of a vision for the use of technology to enable learning, by making certain all involved stakeholder groups are part of the vision-setting process, leaders will ensure better community support and the establishment of a plan for learning technology that reflects local needs and goals.

Develop funding models and plans for sustainable technology purchases and leverage openly licensed content while paying special attention to eliminating those resources and tasks that can be made obsolete by technology. Rather than viewing technology as an add-on component to support learning, leaders should take stock of current systems and processes across learning systems and identify those that can be augmented or replaced by existing technologies. During the planning process, they also should identify systems and processes for which no replacement currently exists within the district, school, or college and set goals for developing more efficient solutions.

Develop clear communities of practice for education leaders at all levels that act as a hub for setting vision, understanding research, and sharing practices. Building on the model of the education innovation clusters, state, district, university, and community organization leaders should establish cohesive communities of practice-in person and online-to create virtuous cycles for sharing the most recent research and effective practices in the use of educational technology.
Feedback / Share Your Thoughts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Leadership - Office of Educational Technology

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Taking full advantage of technology to transform learning requires strong leadership capable of creating a shared vision of which all members of the community feel a part. Leaders who believe they can delegate the articulation of a vision for how technology can support their learning goals to a chief information officer or chief technology officer ...

# data[].attributes.body
Pathway to a Successful K-12 Technology Implementation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Home > Technology Implementation in School Systems: Starting with the Why

Often, the reason for taking the digital leap is not a carefully considered one:

Our students are digital natives so we need to engage them with technology

Our board/community/parents want the kids learning with technology

The district next door has the technology and we can't be left behind

We want to increase test scores

A carefully considered "why," provides direction...

District goals are motivated, constrained and focused by the "why"

The "why" informs day-to-day decision making

The "why" focuses the initiative and keeps it on track

Choose a "why" that is driven by teaching and learning, not technology. Include all stakeholders when developing your "why" vision statement. Consider:

What do you want students to know and be able to do when they graduate?

What digital skills and literacies do students need to develop?

How will technology be used to help students acquire this knowledge and skills?

To operationalize the "why," work with stakeholders to select goals and metrics that will lead to the desired outcome:

Consider goals such as academic achievement, workforce skills, and student agency

Identify metrics and success measures that are quantitative or qualitative

Choose technologies that best support the "why" and identified goals

Collect data to measure how the initiative is progressing

Share data and update your school community regularly

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Technology Implementation in School Systems: Starting with the Why

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Home > Technology Implementation in School Systems: Starting with the Why Often, the reason for taking the digital leap is not a carefully considered one: Our students are digital natives so we need to engage them with technology Our board/community/parents want the kids learning with technology The district next door has the technology and we can't be left behind We want to increase test scores A carefully considered "why," provides direction...

# data[].attributes.body
Podcast for Professional Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
There are many challenges currently facing the teaching profession, some specific to the UK others that are global. Problems include funding, recruitment and retention of teachers, workload and well-being plus more. Despite these undeniable issues I also think it is a very exciting time to be a teacher. I suggest this because of professional learning. There are now methods of professional learning and development that did not exist previously. Teachers are embracing professional learning and are able to take ownership of their own development and interests through a variety of strategies.

Teachers are no longer limited to one-off and expensive courses in a hotel offering CPD with questionable impact. Instead, teachers can now access excellent resources and learning materials wherever they are in the world and at any time that suits them. I would argue that some of the best professional learning now available to teachers is free or relatively cheap.

Previously, a professional network would include teachers from within a department or school setting but now, thanks to social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, there is a global staffroom of educators. This wide and diverse professional network is amazing for promoting collaboration, support and ultimately a great way for an educator to share and learn from others. I began teaching in 2010 and whilst there were social media websites I was using, I never thought that it would be Twitter that would transform my practice and teaching career!

Another development in recent years has been the rise in popularity of podcasts. Podcasts are great because they are easy to subscribe and listen to. There's a wide range of podcasts available and they are regularly increasing (both educational and non-educational). Podcasts are flexible in the sense you can listen to them whilst you are driving, exercising or relaxing. Everyone with a smartphone can access a podcast via Apple Podcasts, Anchor, SoundCloud and many more podcast platforms. They are also FREE to subscribe and listen to - brilliant.

I have been listening to educational podcasts for almost two years now but even then I thought I was late to the edu podcast party because I was completely unaware of all the different podcasts that were available for teachers! Since the publication of my book, Love To Teach: Research and Resources for every classroom, I have been invited to speak on various educational podcasts to talk about general teaching and learning. I enjoyed these conversations so much I decided to launch my own podcast last month - you can find, subscribe and listen to my podcast here.

For anyone that is new to listening to podcasts about education or you were unaware of all the great podcasts available for teachers (as I was!) then I have recommended and summarised briefly some of my favourite podcasts below. Please do check them out - there is a podcast for everyone. In no particular order ...

Naylor's Natter

Naylor's Natter in association with TDT is a great podcast hosted by teacher and leader Phil Naylor. This podcast has a catchy theme tune, Naylor is really easy to listen to and very likable with his down to earth and humble approach to learning. As his intro song suggests it's him ... "talking to teachers". Naylor describes his podcast as a "podcast where my guests and I muse over the latest developments in teaching and learning, evidence and research, CPD and leadership. I speak to teachers, leaders and experts in their fields." His guests have included Tom Sherrington, David Weston, Kat Howard and more (I also featured on this podcast in the summer). You can subscribe to Naylor's Natter here.

Cult of Pedagogy

The Cult of Pedagogy podcast is very popular with educators across the US and beyond. This podcast is hosted by Jennifer Gonzalez and she describes her podcast as "pure teacher nerdy goodness right in your ears!". Gonzalez also adds that this podcast covers -

"Teaching strategies, classroom management, education reform, educational technology - if it has something to do with teaching, we're talking about it. On the podcast, I interview educators, students, administrators and parents about the psychological and social dynamics of school, trade secrets, and other juicy things you'll never learn in a textbook. Other episodes feature me on my own, offering advice on ways to make your teaching more effective and more fun."

I particularly enjoyed the episode where Gonzalez interviewed Dr. Pooja Agarwal about retrieval practice in the episode " Retrieval Practice: The Most Powerful Learning Strategy You're Not Using", this was very interesting and informative. You can subscribe and listen to Cult of Pedagogy here.

The Mr. Barton Maths Podcast

Don't be fooled by the title as this podcast isn't just for maths teachers! This podcast has built up a very large following of loyal listeners and it's not surprising why as the host, Craig Barton, is very knowledgeable about educational research and he has also managed to interview a wide range of well-known guests including Dylan Wiliam, Robert and Elizabeth Bjork, Alex Quigley and many, many more. There are some episodes that are specific to the subject of maths so I would highly recommend listening if you are a teacher of maths or share with your maths colleagues. You can find out more, subscribe and listen here.

The Learning Scientists Podcast

If you are keen to find out more about the science of learning then this podcast is for you! Hosted by the wonderful team of Learning Scientists which include Yana Weinstein-Jones, Megan Sumeracki, Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel and Cindy Nebel. This podcast contains interviews and discussions about topics such as implementing effective strategies, memory, dyslexia, dyscalculia and more. You can access and listen to all of their previous podcast episodes here.

Other podcasts that I would highly recommend are The Rebel Education Podcast hosted by my good friend Tom Rogers, DISMISSED another podcast hosted by another good friend and UAE based Principal Jeremy Williams where he interviews expats, educators, and entrepreneurs from across the world. There is also the TES podcast and if you are a teacher of AQA they have launched a podcast series to support teachers which you can find out more about here.

If you are a secondary teacher or middle leader there is likely to be a podcast(s) linked to your subject and possibly the topics you teach. As a history teacher I feel spoilt for choice with the following podcasts: BBC Radio 4 In Our Time podcast, Versus History and History Hit with Dan Snow to name a few.

I hope you have found this post interesting and it has inspired you to listen to a podcast or if you already do listen to educational podcasts then perhaps see what else is available. Podcasts can be very powerful when it comes to professional learning.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
There are many challenges currently facing the teaching profession, some specific to the UK others that are global. Problems include funding, recruitment and retention of teachers, workload and well-being plus more. Despite these undeniable issues I also think it is a very exciting time to be a teacher.

# data[].attributes.body
Technology to Support Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition Get This Book

First released in the Spring of 1999, How People Learn has been expanded to show how the theories and insights from the original book can translate into actions and practice, now making a real connection between classroom activities and learning behavior. This edition includes far-reaching suggestions for research that could increase the impact that classroom teaching has on actual learning.

Like the original edition, this book offers exciting new research about the mind and the brain that provides answers to a number of compelling questions. When do infants begin to learn? How do experts learn and how is this different from non-experts? What can teachers and schools do-with curricula, classroom settings, and teaching methods--to help children learn most effectively? New evidence from many branches of science has significantly added to our understanding of what it means to know, from the neural processes that occur during learning to the influence of culture on what people see and absorb.

How People Learn examines these findings and their implications for what we teach, how we teach it, and how we assess what our children learn. The book uses exemplary teaching to illustrate how approaches based on what we now know result in in-depth learning. This new knowledge calls into question concepts and practices firmly entrenched in our current education system.

Topics include:

How learning actually changes the physical structure of the brain.

How existing knowledge affects what people notice and how they learn.

What the thought processes of experts tell us about how to teach.

The amazing learning potential of infants.

The relationship of classroom learning and everyday settings of community and workplace.

Learning needs and opportunities for teachers.

A realistic look at the role of technology in education.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Read "How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition" at NAP.edu

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition Get This Book First released in the Spring of 1999, How People Learn has been expanded to show how the theories and insights from the original book can translate into actions and practice, now making a real connection between classroom activities and learning behavior.

# data[].attributes.body
Professional Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Educators can create learning communities composed of students; fellow educators in schools, museums, libraries, and after-school programs; experts in various disciplines around the world; members of community organizations; and families. This enhanced collaboration, enabled by technology, offers access to instructional materials as well as the resources and tools to create, manage, and assess their quality and usefulness.

To enact this vision, schools need to support teachers in accessing needed technology and in learning how to use it effectively. Educators need continuous, just-in-time support that includes professional development, mentors, and informal collaborations.

Featured Publications

Reimagining the Role of Technology in Education

The NETP is the flagship educational technology policy document for the United States. The plan articulates a vision of equity, active use, and collaborative leadership to make everywhere, all-the-time learning possible. Educators across the country are reading the NETP with their professional learning networks and discussing how technology can be used to support learning and teaching.

Reimagining Teacher Preparation

This policy brief identifies key challenges and solutions to the effective integration of technology in teacher preparation, provides guiding principles on how to move the field toward effective integration of technology in teacher preparation programs, and identifies areas of opportunity and collaboration for stakeholders across the field.

Personalized Professional Learning

The toolkit provides rubrics, checklists and examples to assist district teams as they develop, refine, and evaluate professional learning plans that align with their capacity, learning goals, and standards of professional learning. In particular, the toolkit focuses on how districts can use technology to connect educators and provide tailored professional learning experiences.

Implementing an Open Approach

Across the country, districts are choosing to #GoOpen and transitioning to the use of openly licensed educational resources to improve student learning in their schools. #GoOpen Districts are forming teams of educators to curate and create openly licensed educational resources. This resource is designed for districts that have decided to implement a systematic approach to incorporating openly licensed educational resources into their curriculum by becoming a #GoOpen District.

Education Leaders

Expanding the Capacity of Education Leaders

Strong leadership is essential to systemic, sustainable change in education. The Future Ready Leaders project provides a systematic review of research and videos highlighting essential policies and practices for successfully leading the transition to digital learning in schools.

Stories from the Field

Find stories of innovation happening in schools across the nation. By amplifying great stories and sharing good practices, we hope to connect districts, schools, and educators so they can learn from each other's experiences.

Archived Content: No longer updated.

From Our Blog

Technology's presence in the American classroom has been increasing for years with the promise to "transform" education. However, the history of educational technology...

Early evidence from across the country suggests the 2016 National Education Technology Plan (NETP16) is supporting states, districts, and schools in taking important,...

If we want our teachers to allow students the opportunity to personalize their learning experiences, then we should afford teachers those same opportunities.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Professional Learning - Office of Educational Technology

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Educators can create learning communities composed of students; fellow educators in schools, museums, libraries, and after-school programs; experts in various disciplines around the world; members of community organizations; and families. This enhanced collaboration, enabled by technology, offers access to instructional materials as well as the resources and tools to create, manage, and assess their quality [...]

# data[].attributes.body
Technology in the Classroom in 2019: 6 Pros and Cons

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Technology in education is the biggest change in teaching we will ever see. For years, policy makers, teachers, parents and students alike have been weighing the potential benefits of technology in education against its risks and consequences.

Prior to March 2020, some would say that technology allowed you to experiment in pedagogy, democratize the classroom and reach Generation Z students. Others may have argued that technology in the classroom could promote cheating. But after 2020, technology in education has become essential-especially as the COVID-19 pandemic forced higher ed and public schools to swap face-to-face instruction for distance learning.

Below, we share 20 best practices for using technology in the classroom-and offer workable solutions that will help you meet the needs of your students. You can also download our free guide, which highlights how five acclaimed educators use technology to help their students excel in any course.

How technology can support learning outcomes for today's students

Students are digital natives. They've grown up with technology; it's woven into their lives. In fact, it's one of the basic 21st-century skills that they'll need in school and the workplace.

Technology integration in the classroom now begins during elementary school and carries through to high school and higher education. But using computer technology in the classroom isn't just about digital devices in class-it relates to anything that facilitates an interaction between teacher and student. Technology in education programs could be seen as a culprit, or it could be harnessed to improve student engagement and effectiveness-and that's what we'll discuss below.

"Digital education is generating new learning opportunities as students engage in online, digital environments and as faculty change educational practices through the use of hybrid courses, personalized instruction, new collaboration models and a wide array of innovative, engaging learning strategies," says David Goodrum, Director of Academic Technology and Information Services at Oregon State University.

"Furthermore, a 21st century view of learner success requires students to not only be thoughtful consumers of digital content, but effective and collaborative creators of digital media, demonstrating competencies and communicating ideas through dynamic storytelling, data visualization and content curation," Goodrum says.

Types of classroom technology

Education technology allows you to engage, interact with, and inspire students in and out of your class. Plus, certain types of technology tools like podcasts or video streaming platforms can help meet the unique learning styles of your cohort. Many of the technologies below are used to operate online education programs-including lectures, labs, group meetings or class tutorials. Plenty of higher education institutions have already integrated some of the following technology tools into their degree programs today.

Learning management systems (LMS) such as Canvas, Moodle and Blackboard allow you to manage courses, assign homework and tests, and track student grades.

Digital courseware such as ebook products by Pearson, McGraw-Hill and Macmillan can be used to create and distribute teaching resources (such as textbooks or question packs) to students as a way to create engaging homework experiences.

Classroom response systems including iClicker and Poll Everywhere help students reflect on their learning via polls or discussions in class.

Virtual classroom tools like Microsoft Teams and Zoom are used to host synchronous online lectures and let participants engage in breakout rooms or 'share their screen' with one another.

Remote proctoring software like Proctorio and Honorlock help maintain academic integrity by monitoring student behavior during tests and flag behavior indicative of cheating.

This article looks at the pros and cons of using technology in the classroom. We'll also share the advantages and disadvantages of technology in the classroom when incorporating new digital teaching and assessment techniques into your lesson plans.

8 pros and cons of using technology for student engagement

The pros:

1. Technology in the classroom helps ensure full participation

Online polling and other digital tools help to engage all students, including shy students who wouldn't normally raise their hands in class. Online engagement systems allow you to regularly check in with students for feedback on course materials and assignments. Student insights can also be used to help spot areas where learners might be struggling.

Student response systems help learners measure their understanding of a topic while professors can see what areas they need to review. For instance, iClicker offers questions that may be multiple choice or true or false. Students are then asked to identify a correct answer to a question in exchange for participation points from a professor. Clickers, virtual classroom software and assessment platforms like Socrative or Kahoot! can make for great engagement tools for educators looking to enhance their lectures. Student response systems help foster digital citizenship in the classroom and give students an opportunity to engage in class and get rewarded for it at the same time.

Another active learning technique that education technology can facilitate is offering students quizzes (not for credit). At the beginning of the class, students can gauge familiarity with a subject by taking a quick, anonymous quiz on the topic you're teaching-and this can also inform and direct what you need to focus on. At the end of the class, facilitating the same quiz again allows all students to gauge what they do and don't understand.

2. Using technology in the classroom allows you to experiment more in pedagogy and get instant feedback

Technology allows for more active learning. You can increase engagement through online polling or asking quiz questions during online lectures, with instantaneous results. If you're using a digital textbook, subject matter is dynamic and timely with embedded links to relevant materials or immersive multimedia.

Whether adding a single tool for a specific project or term, or making a more dramatic change such as a flipped classroom, being well-versed in technology can help build credibility with students and even fellow colleagues. Video conferencing software, live polls and discussion boards are all ways to form feedback loops with your students. An LMS such as Moodle and polling software like Poll Everywhere can also help educators get an instant understanding of student comprehension.

3. There are countless resources for enhancing education and making learning more fun and effective

From apps and e-textbooks to organizational platforms, there's no shortage of tools that can transform the classroom. Some instructors are turning toward classroom 'gamification,' the use of competitive scenarios, and the distribution of points and rewards to make the online classroom more fun and engaging. The key to ensuring these methods are also effective is designing them to support your course learning objectives. Digital storytelling, where students use simulations to immerse themselves in a fictional environment, can make learning more exciting and relatable for students. Gamification also allows for interactive lessons and can reduce passivity in the classroom.

Some gamification activities introduce healthy competition to your class. In role play, for example, students are asked to pose arguments on behalf of historical figures. Technology can greatly aid the implementation of classroom games, while students may be incentivized to complete their assessments. Blended learning can also play an effective role here, whereby student curriculum is partially delivered in person and partially via digital means.

4. Technology makes it simple for students to collaborate and engage in group work outside of class

Gone are the days when one student was tasked with creating a PowerPoint presentation for a group. Through technology, students can start working on a project together in class and seamlessly collaborate, communicate and bounce ideas off one another using social media, interactive whiteboards and more. Physical and social barriers no longer exist, letting students work together from anywhere and at any time. Technology has also enabled students to engage in spontaneous discussions and find instant answers to problems or questions they may have about a topic.

The cons:

5. Technology in the classroom can be a distraction

Tech savvy students may find it hard to concentrate in class when a wide range of digital devices are around them. It can be hard to keep students' attention while lecturing behind a screen, but James Lang, Professor of English and the Director of the D'Amour Center for Teaching Excellence at Assumption College, has a solution. Lang argues that change renews attention-meaning that if students are starting to tune out, it's time to incorporate opportunities for class discussions. Lang calls these moments 'signature attention activities' as they are designed to spark engagement in the midst of a slump.

Matthew Numer, an assistant professor in the School of Health and Human Performance at Dalhousie University, says in an article for The Chronicle of Higher Education that banning laptops is an "insult" to students. "Our students are capable of making their own choices, and if they choose to check Snapchat instead of listening to your lecture, then that's their loss. Besides, it's my responsibility as an educator to ensure that my lecture is compelling. If my students aren't paying attention, if they're distracted, that's on me." To Numer, students glancing at their mobile devices may indicate that a course's curriculum and instruction needs to be revamped.

This makes the notion of creating a structure and culture of respect all the more important from day one. Identify specific projects, opportunities for breaks and your intentions for participation and engagement using technology in the classroom. Creating expectations and guidelines for students-and sticking to them-will be important for them in respecting your boundaries.

6. Technology can disconnect students from social interactions

Many people are skeptical of technology and what it does to students', and everyone else's, ability to verbally communicate.

By creating assignments in class that use both technological tools as well as oral presentations and group collaboration, student learning has the potential to become more dynamic and interactive. Participation can also go beyond verbal communication. Consider how your LMS, discussion board or live chat can be leveraged to increase student engagement.

7. Technology can foster cheating in class and on assignments

Students have always found ways to cheat, but the digital age makes it even easier-from copying-and-pasting someone else's work to hiring an essay-writer from an online essay mill. Here, digital technology could end up hindering students' professional development.

While technology could be seen as yet another avenue for cheating, it's possible to structure assignments and exams in a way that makes cheating difficult. Alternatively, you can make exams open-book and focus on problem-solving and mastery rather than retention. Some classroom software allows you to set questions that are subtly different for every student, making them focus on the technique rather than the answer. Ed tech software such as Turnitin is already well-established in most higher education settings. With COVID-19, some institutions have relied on proctoring software to maintain academic integrity from a distance. These assistive tools can help professors maintain academic integrity.

8. Classroom technology doesn't necessarily make students more accountable

While it can certainly help, technology use in the classroom doesn't always mean students are more likely to stay on top of their deliverables. For example, it can be tricky to know if your students are viewing the full lecture recordings or coming to class having completed their assigned readings. Social media and other ed tech platforms don't necessarily indicate completion. Some LMS providers may show if a student has opened a file, but that only says so much. Whether students have reviewed, absorbed and are able to retain that information is a question that-like traditional learning materials-not all classroom tech can solve.

7 pros and cons of using classroom technology to increase flexibility

The pros:

9. Technology can automate a lot of your tedious tasks

Automation can speed up tedious, time-consuming tasks, such as keeping track of student attendance and performance. Engagement tools can help streamline grading for writing assignments, discussions and participation, as well as answer common student questions, which otherwise could seem daunting due to their objective nature.

The canonical example of this? One professor at Georgia Tech coded an artificially intelligent teaching assistant. ' Jill Watson' was able to answer a selection of student questions and pass any that she couldn't handle to a real person. Integrating technology in the classroom has the potential to reduce the amount of time spent on minor tasks.

10. Technology in college classrooms gives students instant access to fresh information that can supplement their learning experience

There is value in having textbooks and course materials that are always up to date, which can even include additions suggested by students. This also fosters a more collaborative learning environment-students can share information, work together on group projects and interact with their instructor online. Collaboration between professors and their students is put into practice through a learning management system (LMS) such as Moodle or Blackboard, where professors upload new content for students to review online.

Educational technology enables students to engage in an ongoing cycle of learning: before, during and after class. Student response systems such as clickers can also help learners apply their understanding of concepts covered in class and can indicate areas that need to be reviewed. For Generation Z, technology is arguably the best way to meet student needs. Demian Hommel, Senior Instructor of Geography and Environmental Sciences and Marine Resource Management at Oregon State University, uses a classroom response system to poll students every few minutes during lectures. "Using technology to help students understand the trends and patterns that are going to affect them is transformative," he says.

"Using technology to help students understand the trends and patterns that are going to affect them is transformative." -Professor Demian Hommel

11. Students have the choice to learn in real time or at their own pace

Using technology in the classroom has given students more choice in, and control over, their learning experiences. Learning tools have also given professors the flexibility in how to deliver their lectures or labs. For instance, students can tune into live-streamed lectures hosted at a specific time, while others can view lecture recordings on their own if they're unable to attend a live session. Plus, real-time lessons in online learning can help students feel a great sense of belonging and camaraderie that would otherwise be lost.

Asynchronous learning provides a new level of flexibility for both students and educators. For example, instead of waiting for students to show up at your office, host your office hours via Zoom and let your students know that they're free to drop by during a given time frame. Additionally, technology can be used to help students take asynchronous tests. Just make a test available on your LMS for a 48-hour period so that students can take their assessment at a time and place that works for them.

12. Address the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) guidelines with thoughtful technology use

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework for ensuring your course delivery meets the needs of all students. It's the ultimate way to provide flexibility in how, when and where learning takes place. The three tenets of this framework are providing multiple means of engagement, representation and expression.

In order to represent content in a variety of ways, you might consider complementing a textbook reading with a podcast. Alternatively, multiple ways of expressing students' understanding could mean offering students learning opportunities through journal articles or video reflections. Finally, multiple forms of engagement might mean gauging students' interests at the start of the term through icebreakers or a student interest inventory-and then use these insights to tailor your units of study accordingly.

The cons:

13. Lesson planning might become more labor-intensive with technology

The task of adapting technology into your classroom can seem daunting or overwhelming. In many ways though, using technology can become as natural to you as any daily activity.

When you're choosing classroom technology, it's important to engage with the software vendor and make sure you have the appropriate level of support in place. Some questions you should ask include whether they supply training or onboarding, and what their reliability statistics and support functions are. After all, you don't need to be the person all the students come to if the technology goes offline.

The most important factor is to allow yourself time to learn how to use a new ed tech tool and make sure you ask for, and receive, the support that you need.

14. Students don't have equal access to technological resources

An online education should be accessible to students. But some students can't afford iPads or even the textbooks required for class. Others simply do not have reliable Internet access. Point these students in the direction of your institution's library or community resources, or create assignments that allow them to work in groups and share resources. You might also consider using open educational resources (OER), which provide a cost-effective alternative to the traditional college textbook. Don't make technology the focus of your class, and don't make it a barrier. Incorporate it in a holistic and inclusive manner-and ensure you do your part to find equitable learning solutions.

15. Technology in education can create privacy concerns

Video conferencing or web-hosting solutions have brought with them some concerns around data protection. For example, do platforms offer end-to-end encryption in basic plans provided to students? Social media handles set up as part of a tutorial or learning activity can also lead to student information being accessed by a wider audience than intended. What's more, Zoombombing-disruptive intrusions into a video conference call-became a common occurrence during the COVID-19 pandemic.

And though they maintain academic integrity, remote proctoring solutions can make test-takers feel uncomfortable. Students may not want to have their homes shown in front of a proctor and being monitored can increase stress and anxiety.

5 pros and cons of using technology to aid instructional design

The pros:

16. We live in a digital world, and technology is an essential life skill

Being digitally literate is more than obtaining "isolated technological skills," according to the NMC Horizon Report: 2017 Higher Education Edition. Rather, it's about "generating a deeper understanding of the digital environment, enabling intuitive adaptation to new contexts and [the] co-creation of content with others." Here, the traditional whiteboard is almost extinct, while technology has never been more essential in the virtual classroom. Creating presentations, learning to differentiate reliable from unreliable sources on the Internet and maintaining proper online netiquette are all vital skills that students will learn to develop in the classroom.

Technology use can also help universities deliver a better return on the investment students pay for their education-as well as make learning relevant to a primarily Generation Z audience. Mobile technology in classrooms is a must-have if students want to be prepared for almost any career today. Student achievement may be boosted if they have the means to continue working on projects outside of the classroom.

17. Classroom technology is a cost-effective alternative to traditional course materials

Technology can help save students hundreds during a semester. Rather than asking students to buy a copy of five different textbooks, some professors might want to direct students to their institution's library or adopt open source textbooks.

Using technology in the classroom has its benefits for the environment as well. Institutions can reduce the amount they spend on ink and paper by distributing important documents in a centralized digital location. As opposed to asking students to buy a print book from your campus bookstore, authoring your own digital, interactive book can help students save big. Katie Thompson-Laswell, Senior Instructor of Human Development and Family Science at Kansas State University, was able to save her students $70 on course materials in the spring 2019 semester. Two years later, new cohorts of students continue to enjoy a low-cost, interactive homework experience from anywhere.

The cons:

18. The quality of research and sources students find may not be credible

The Internet is a blessing and a curse. Your students may need guidance on identifying legitimate and unreliable sources. Many colleges have writing centers that can help with this. You can also use OER-ranging from lecture notes, examinations, assignments and textbooks-and adapt them to fit the needs of your course and students. How can you tell if content is written by a competent authority? Use these tips to find effective OERs. Top Hat's Catalog-filled with hundreds of low-cost, interactive textbooks-is also a reliable source of OER you can use, regardless of your discipline or teaching modality.

19. Some classroom technologies could eventually replace professors

Classroom technology has helped position educators as a 'guide on the side' versus a 'sage on the stage.' But that shift in the role that professors play has the potential to put them on the sidelines-especially with online learning. Technology has automated many learning processes such as grading. With asynchronous online learning especially, it's possible that students could now have little-to-no interactions with their educators compared to their experiences in the traditional classroom.

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), which prioritize unlimited participation and open access, let students gain an unrestricted learning experience without a professor present. Platforms like Coursera let students watch on-demand video lectures from leading universities and companies for a fraction of the cost of a university degree. These platforms even offer selective degree and certificate programs. Other platforms like LinkedIn Learning prioritize skill-based learning, which allows students to complete courses or learning modules at their own pace-without the guidance of an instructor.

20. Institutions' lack of IT support can make it challenging to evaluate and implement new classroom technologies

Where do you begin if you're new to teaching? Educators may understandably feel overwhelmed when adopting new tools and platforms to meet the needs of their Generation Z students. While colleges may have a site-wide license for a particular LMS, educators are often left to their own resources to decide how to bring their material to life. Depending on the scale and quality of instructional design services offered at their institution, this can be a lengthy and uneasy process.

How classroom technology can help you meet your teaching goals next semester

This past academic year has highlighted the essential role that technology plays in student learning. No matter where you're teaching next semester, the best practices for using classroom technology below can help make your course more engaging, interactive and active. For additional advice, download our free guide on how to effectively use technology in your next face-to-face, hybrid or online classroom.

Eliminate distractions in class

1. Use frequent polls to make sure students pay attention-and to hold them accountable
2. Begin lessons with a game or icebreaker to encourage focus and collaboration from the start of class

Allow students to learn at their own pace

1. Adopt a flipped classroom model where students can view lecture modules and complete quizzes in advance of live lectures
2. Complement live activities with self-paced exercises such as blog posts or video journal responses, which students can share in your LMS

Create a classroom environment where students feel comfortable speaking out

1. Incorporate an anonymous discussion board during in-class polls
2. Ask your teaching assistants to respond to, and acknowledge, students' contributions in and out of class

Help students stay accountable for their learning outside of your classroom

1. Adopt or author your own digital interactive textbook that includes comprehension questions throughout
2. Keep a digital repository of discussion board prompts or quiz questions and re-quiz students on these concepts in future homework assignments to check for subject mastery

Provide instant feedback on student performance

1. Consider employing low-stakes, multiple choice quizzes that can be auto-graded
2. Grade assignments using a built-in rubric in your LMS and provide personalized feedback upon student request

Technology in the classroom: The final verdict

It's clear that the benefits of technology in the classroom outweigh the cons. But the key to technology in the classroom is always going to be the teacher-student relationship, because that's where the education happens. Technology can be a highly effective tool, but that's all it is-a tool. In today's hyper-connected world, sensible use of technology can enhance education. By using technology as an aid in the classroom, educators can create memorable and impactful learning outcomes for their diverse group of college students. For best practices on how to integrate technology in your classroom next semester, download our free guide packed with tips and tools five professors have used to give their course delivery a boost.

References

1. Kelly, R. (2018, January 11). 7 Ed Tech Trends to Watch in 2018. https://campustechnology.com/Articles/2018/01/11/7-Ed-Tech-Trends-to-Watch-in-2018.aspx?Page=1

2. Dhami, H. (2020, August 13). James Lang's Distracted: Why Students Can't Focus and What You Can Do About It. [Blog post]. https://tophat.com/blog/james-lang-distracted/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Take Advantage of Ed Tech In The Classroom | Top Hat

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Get best practices for enhancing technology in your classroom. Plus, download Top Hat's free guide to make ed tech tools work for your course.

# data[].attributes.body
Modern Professional Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

# data[].attributes.body
Ed Surge

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
Tweets by EdSurge