Education Technology by Mediaplanet_USA

A Mediaplanet Guide to Tools and Resources Helping Educators Engage Students

Education Technology

Vicki Davis The renowned teacher blogger shares how districts can empower students and teachers with the right tech

Why “Techquity” needs to be a priority in the future of education Learn why connectivity is the first step to accessing essential edtech

DECEMBER 2021 | EDUCATIONANDCAREERNEWS.COM

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How Technology Is Forging Connections Between Families and Schools For parents, administrators, and educators, the digital age offers new opportunities — and challenges. For most school communities, technology has played an important role in family-school communications for many years. But that technology is evolving, and it’s essential to keep up. Now, in addition to emails and phone calls, there are web portals, apps, and texting services that help families stay connected to their child’s education,” said Helen Westmoreland, director of Family Engagement for National PTA. “The challenge facing us is how we make the most of these new technologies and, increasingly, how we decide which ones will work best for each community and family’s unique context.” While there’s no substitute for the personal connection, Westmoreland says technology offers the promise of more efficient and accessible ways for @MEDIAPLANETUSA

parents to be involved in their children’s education. “For many families, taking off work to attend a parent-teacher conference is difficult, but getting a text message that tells them what their child learned that day with an activity idea or question for home is an easy and impactful tool to support their student’s learning,” she said. “Embracing technology can help families and educators work together in support of student success.” Obtaining feedback PTA’s Center for Family Engagement recently spearheaded the research project Essential Tech for Better Family-School Communication. “This involved focus groups with diverse stakeholders (families, teachers, superintendents, and district instructional technology staff), a research review, live demos, and follow-up surveys with over 20 technology providers,” Westmoreland said. “In our focus

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groups with families, one thing that stood out was their frustration with trying to manage multiple technologies to stay connected. They struggle with remembering which platform to go to for what information, with different logins and sometimes different systems for multiple children even in the same school.” Bridging traditional communication gaps The PTA offers a toolkit that includes a collaboration guide explaining its research, a comparison tool that gives a landscape of technologies and features based on the areas of consideration in its codebook, a guide for engaging families and educators in conversations on the topic, and a mapping tool for schools to outline and share how the community can access key information. “The most meaningful improvements we’ve seen have been features that remove barriers to engagement and

increase equity,” Westmoreland said. “One of the most powerful features is the ability for platforms to translate messages into nearly any language in real time. The feature enables families who don’t speak English to have easy access to their child’s teacher without a translator. “In addition, while teachers used to rely on email primarily, more and more educators are turning to texting and other instant messaging features, which are easier for many families to access.” Addressing accessibility Westmorelnd says many families and students lack reliable internet and/ or devices. One of the recommendations from the project is investing in texting services or add-ons to webbased platforms. “If families have to go to a website, remember a login, and navigate a complex menu to find out whether their child missed an assignment, your school is not going to reach all your families,” Westmoreland said. “Second, we need greater research and transparency to make good decisions about how we choose and implement these communication systems. It was challenging for us to find evaluation and impact information, as well as cost information, from many of the technology providers we included in the landscape.” n Cindy Riley

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Why You Should Pursue a Master’s in Education Technology Members of the Educational Technology faculty at Kent State University tell us about the benefits of an advanced degree in education technology.

Why Qualified Early Childhood Educators Are Key to LongTerm Success

How does earning a master’s degree in education technology benefit both educators and students? Our master’s in educational technology is appropriate for anyone who is passionate about best practices for improving learning, teaching, and effective technology integration in educational and training settings. What area of education (e.g., math, science, English) is this kind of degree most applicable to? The field of educational technology is content-independent and therefore applicable to any area of education. Our program focuses on effective technology integration in various contexts, including online and blended education, immersive learning technologies, computer science, public health, nursing education, and workforce training. What other career opportunities does a master’s in education technology open up? Our graduates work in schools, community colleges, universities, the military, private companies, workforce training, and government agencies as teachers, technology coordinators, instructional designers, technology curriculum experts, online and blended specialists, educational technologists, multimedia and game developers, health technology consultants, and training specialists. This article has been paid for by Kent State University.

Is a formal education the most appropriate approach for early childhood learning? Research is trending toward the need for a more unique system. Much has been written about the shifting focus in early childhood education over the past several decades. Historically, the early years were understood as a special period of life for young children. In kinder, gentler days of early schooling, teachers were able to place children squarely at the center of the curriculum, and nurturing total development and learning was the goal. Kindergarten, for example, was dominated by play-based learning experiences. It was a place where children grew in their abilities to self-regulate, to “problem-solve,” and to socialize; a place of joyful learning for children — a good place — where 5-year-olds could easily imagine a happy, successful education future. Early childhood educators, possessing specialized knowledge of child development and learning, were responsible for

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and trusted with curriculum planning and implementation. In the current accountability climate, however, preschool and kindergarten programs alike often maintain a purely academic emphasis; one can even find programs for 3-year-olds that are characterized by formal educational approaches once reserved for older children. A different approach Yet, isn’t an early academic focus advantageous for children? Not so, says Lilian Katz, professor emeritus at the University of Illinois. “While early formal instruction may appear to show good test results at first, in the long term, in follow-up studies, such children have had no advantage,” Katz said. “On the contrary, especially in the case of boys, subjection to early formal instruction increases their tendency to distance themselves from the goals of schools and to drop out of it, either mentally or physically.” Education programs should be responsive to the needs of individual children in order to best support

learning and overall development. Instead, early years programs have become over-standardized and illsuited to young children’s general approaches to learning. Their best outcomes The good news is that high-quality early education positively impacts children’s future academic achievement, as well as a number of other indicators of success in life. According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), high-quality programs are those that provide safe and nurturing environments while promoting the physical, social, emotional, and intellectual development of young children. Such programs also respond to the needs of families, recognizing that children grow and develop in the context of their families. And while many think of the early childhood years as the span from birth to 5, this period actually encompasses the period of life from birth to 8 years of age. In other words, high-quality programs for children, as defined by NAEYC, must be available from birth and should set the standard in the primary grades. The evidence is clear: Optimal outcomes for children result from high-quality experiences in the first eight years of life. Whether in home settings or in classrooms outside the home, our youngest learners will experience the greatest benefit from warm, nurturing interactions with caring adults who are committed to supporting their total development. So, what’s the ideal approach to ensuring young children’s long-term academic success? No doubt, one essential ingredient is a qualified, early childhood educator in every classroom for young children. n Dr. Kelly A. Baker, President, National Association for Early Childhood Teacher Educators

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With the pandemic, many technology tools became available to teachers that they’d never used before. I would put most teachers and schools in one of three categories: 1. The no-gos Those who used technology because they had-to and tried to force fit teaching methods into distance and blended learning without considering the pedagogical shifts to make it successful. Triage teaching got us through but wasn’t necessarily the best way to use tech. In this situation, many of these teachers, schools, and, admittedly, students don’t want to use the technology at all because students felt like they were on their own, teachers felt like they were talking to no one, and administrators knew it wasn’t working. Teachers and schools in this category are often disillusioned with technology and won’t even consider what it can do to help them. They think they have seen what technology can do but have not perhaps seen the best use cases of it. 2. The way-to-gos! Some teachers (and schools) made a massive pedagogical shift and as they are returning to the classroom are keeping what worked best from both distance and face-to-face to blend together successfully. Their schools are supporting them in their efforts and learn-

How Schools Can Get the Most out of Their Tech Investments

when teachers invest their time in creating awesome lessons, and then those apps go away, the teacher loses far more than an app, they lose momentum. Sometimes when the discouragement of starting over with another app or going back to a way that didn’t work before the pandemic, these teachers become like the apps they loved using and leave.

tect their planning time, and provide them with the apps and tools they need. Unfortunately, porting the creations of teachers from one school to another is also a problem. Teachers used to be able to move their PowerPoints with them on a thumb drive, but with today’s complex apps, portability of teacher-created content should be considered. Additionally, while rosters and grade syncing are dramatically improved, one thing is not: the ability to easily move content between apps. This has got to change. Some apps are adding spreadsheet importing, however, it has got to become easier to move content, assessments, and data between apps. I have also noticed some apps that have put politically charged content into their programs. When this happens, I believe districts and schools will move away from those apps and never return. Additionally, teachers need to be able to see the learning path and actual problems where students are having trouble so they can follow up in person. An app should be a partner with teachers in teaching, not an island where the teacher is oblivious to what is going on. As we move toward the metaverse and the next version of the web with AR and VR experiences and opportunities for connection, content connections, trustworthiness, and transparency will become increasingly important. There is so much potential in education technology and many of us teachers see this every day. n

Looking ahead In the upcoming year, I think the best schools will continue to recruit great teachers, pro-

Vicki Davis, Creator, Cool Cat Teacher Blog and 10 Minute Teacher Podcast, Sherwood Christian Academy (Albany, Georgia)

PHOTO: JOEL MCDOWELL

Vicki Davis, a teacher and IT director for Sherwood Christian Academy in Albany, Georgia, and also the creator of Cool Cat Teacher Blog and 10 Minute Teacher Podcast, talks about the need to embrace the right edtech, and shares tips for the best ways to adopt these innovations.

ing has and is improving. This doesn’t mean things aren’t still hard, but it does mean these teachers have a totally new way of teaching and will not go back. These teachers also see that effective technologies forge stronger relationships with their students and can build personal connections over which content can be taught and learned. 3. The where’d-it-gos? Those in this category are some of the most troubling to me. These teachers (and schools)

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were in the second category of the way-to-gos and had great changes. However, when time came for renewal of products and services that made teaching better, schools and districts didn’t renew what the teacher’s loved. These teachers spent time learning new products and services that were free for a time. Their practice improved, but now those apps are gone — or (even more troubling) some teachers are just paying out of pocket to not lose all of the things they created. Software apps aren’t like textbooks;

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tools that work best for them. That’s a prime example of educators seeing the bigger picture, while the system creates very narrow guardrails within which to operate.

Closing the Digital Divide It’s time to start seeing tech access and how it’s used in assignments as central school equity issues. Only then can we go from digital poverty to digital empowerment.

echnology, distributed and used equitably, enables opportunity and voice, dismantles barriers around learner exceptionalities, democratizes access to information, and disrupts racial and economic-privilege hierarchies. “Techquity” means merging the effective use of educational technologies with culturally responsive and culturally relevant learning experiences to support students’ development of essential skills. In the last year, however, I have found myself questioning a lot of prominent voices in education technology, including my own, because they tend to oversimplify a complex situation. Much of the edtech sphere centers around the voices of

white educators, who often focus on minor tweaks of the existing system rather than questioning the system as a whole. This is not to pick on individuals. Rather, it is to say that we should be interrogating why most technology initiatives and discussions work within the existing structures when those structures most often aren’t working for students — especially students of color. As our districts and education organizations look to where we are and where we want to be after more than a year of pandemic-related disruption, one of the most important lessons we can learn is that it is not possible to have a truly equitable learning environment absent of robust technology access. You can’t address other equity factors

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until you ensure access as a foundational baseline. Digital empowerment Even after pandemic-related efforts to close the digital divide, there are gaps between what well-resourced schools and under-resourced schools are able to do. Around 12 million K–12 students still lack access to a device, broadband internet, or both. Both rural and urban schools and c ommunities continue to deal with what I call “digital redlining,” where certain areas do not have broadband access or unreliable cell coverage. Despite districts handing out hotspots, students aren’t always guaranteed a strong signal. Technology access can even vary within a school building. Students are being denied access to what

others have, in some cases by design — or at least by neglect. Individuals do not have control over regional technology infrastructures, yet we still tend to place a significant degree of responsibility on students, educators, and site administrators to fix issues with technology, or to succeed despite not having the proper resources. You can’t blame or punish a school for lack of access when you don’t have the infrastructure in the first place. I know of teachers who want to do right by their students with more differentiated technology assignments that go beyond routine thinking tasks, but this proves difficult when their school mandates the use of Google platforms on iPads, rather than empowering the teacher and students to choose the method and

Beyond access But just having basic access to technology is not a silver bullet. How do we ensure access directly correlates to equitable opportunities and assignments? When I talk to educators who are in one-to-one settings with laptops or tablets, and have a range of apps, I encourage them to think critically about how exactly they’re using those tools, the same way my students encouraged me. How do experiences directly correlate to the desired outcomes students have identified for themselves? For Black and Brown learners especially, digitizing lessons often equates to online worksheets and repetitive tasks rather than rich, meaningful learning. Instead of using technology as an intervention mechanism or simply digitizing one-size-fits-all instruction, we need to ask whether we are meeting learners on a personalized basis. Technology-based learning experiences should align with and encourage higher-order thinking and greater creativity. We cannot simply set students in front of screens. In turn, school leaders should think about what resources, professional development, and support they can provide to educators to ensure technology use aligns to more equitable learning experiences. In a new era, keeping techquity at the center of our classrooms has never been more important. n Ken Shelton, ACSD

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Connecting Educators and Students During COVID-19 For teachers looking for ways to make distance learning more accessible, knowing what technology is available can make a world of difference in reducing the digital divide. According to Torrey Trust, Ph.D., an associate professor of learning technology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, “The point of public education is to try to provide equal footing. It doesn’t have to be perfect in this emergency situation, but I want to see educators be creative in these times. Instead of shutting down, use technology as a resource.” Here are some tips Trust offered for creatively integrating the latest tech in education: Multiple means of representation Instructors can offer students the option of watching videos, listening to audio, or reading text. Students can also engage in virtual tours, augmented reality, and digital 3D. Keeping kids engaged Flexibility is key when dealing with students who require a more hands-on approach or a project-based activity. Developing a HyperDoc or creating digital documents with links to all the resources a student may need can be effective. Allowing students to use parents’ cell phones to take pictures of their surroundings, which can be emailed to the teacher, is another useful activity. Thinking outside the box Teachers should be willing to design openended activities where students get to choose how to demonstrate what they know. They can write, create a podcast or video, or bypass technology altogether. The bottom line is that multiple means of action and expression are encouraged. Staying in touch with other educators The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has created a COVID19 Educator Help Desk to share advice with instructors about online learning and provide answers to pressing questions. Trust says ISTE Commons is an excellent source to discover what fellow educators are doing. Cindy Riley

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Bridging the Learner Variability Gap Through Digital Technologies All individuals are unique in how they learn. Embracing this philosophy is at the core of learner variability. o achieve better student outcomes, it’s essential to recognize the whole child and use the correct tools. “Based on learning sciences research, it’s a recognition that all students differ, and, most critically, it shows how those differences matter for learning to occur,” explained Vic Vuchic, chief innovation officer and executive director of the Learner Variability Project at Digital Promise. “Learner variability is not just a learner’s content knowledge or cognitive abilities, but also student background, such as living in poverty, vision and hearing indicators, and getting the proper amount of sleep.” Seeing the bigger picture Vuchic says an individual’s behavior is the result of an interaction between their traits and the situation at hand, not one or the other. “When you understand learner variability, you see a design challenge, not a student problem,” he said. “For many, it’s a mindset shift to asking the ‘why.’ Why are students not motivated? Or have low-working memory? Once we understand the ‘why,’ it becomes easier to provide the ‘how’ — the specific support a learner needs to meet their goals.”

According to Barbara Pape, director of policy and communications for the Learner Variability Project at Digital Promise, understanding a learner’s uniqueness can help customize the learning experience based on what an educator observes in the classroom. “In a video journal, one teacher described her experience earning a learner variability microcredential in executive function,” Pape said. “She came to realize, ‘I’m not just a math teacher, but a teacher of the whole child.’”

Creating a sense of belonging and student choice can lead to meaningful learning.

Enhanced learning through digital technologies In one recent study, Digital Promise partnered with a major reading product to add learner variability supports to its online reading platform experience. In the study with 1,800 learn-

ers, 92 percent of learners used those features and functions, and tried more difficult reading passages and attempted more assessment questions. Learning sciences research has advanced understanding of learner variability, and the importance of grounding educational practice and policy in the individual. Learner variability can be applied to any curriculum, class, grade level, and even edtech product design. Digital Promise’s Learner Variability Navigator, a free and open-source web app, puts the research at the fingertips of teachers and edtech product developers, presented in a whole-child framework of learning factors and strategies to address these factors. Pape says creating a sense of belonging and student choice can lead to meaningful learning. In addition, elevating student choice and voice helps develop self-awareness, social awareness, and self-management. “It also promotes motivation, a factor of learning that connects to cognitive flexibility and self-regulation in the early grades for critical thinking, mastery of content, and collaboration with peers,” she said. “These skills, along with cognitive and content development, will guide students from the classroom to the world beyond.” n Cindy Riley

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A Guide to Tackling Indoor Air Quality In the United States, an estimated 1 million buildings contain poor indoor air quality (IAQ), with levels of indoor pollutants often four or five times higher than those outside. Additionally, more than one-half of these indoor air problems are the result of inadequate or improperly operated and poorly maintained heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems. Diagnosing building-related illness According to ASHRAE, building-related illness (BRI) can be found in nearly twothirds of workplace buildings, and a building is deemed “sick” when 20 percent of its occupants voluntarily complain of discomfort symptoms for periods exceeding two weeks. Adverse health effects can include headaches, fatigue, and eye, nose, and throat irritation. Common pollutants causing IAQ problems include fungi, dust, and chemicals from new carpeting, paint, and furniture. Poor ventilation in school buildings, such as classrooms, offices, and auditoriums, leads to higher prevalence of illness, directly impacting student and teacher rates of absence, engagement, and performance. Strategies for achieving acceptable IAQ The highest priority in improving IAQ is the reduction of emission substances into the indoor environment. For school administrators and leaders, this means working in the conceptual stages with those involved in design and construction to carefully select the best materials, furnishing, carpets, and paints to help limit emissions. By using low-emitting materials, the need for ventilation may be reduced and air quality may be improved. School administrators and leaders may also find filtration of outdoor air and/ or the use of air cleaning technologies an effective way of improving IAQ. Changing air filters regularly and having annual HVAC audits minimizes indoor air pollutants and maximizes energy efficiency, ensuring safe and healthy learning environments for all students, teachers, and school staff.” Bjarne W. Olesen, Ph.D., Former President, ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and AirConditioning Engineers)

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Clearing the Air As Students Return to School

Jay Stake, president, and Luke von Oldenburg, education chair, of the Indoor Air Quality Association (IAQA) share their top tips for maintaining good indoor air quality (IAQ) in school buildings that have sat dormant for months. What is the biggest challenge you see schools facing today when it comes to indoor air quality? These days, IAQ is being brought to the forefront because of the coronavirus and people spending more time indoors and not commuting to work. This has brought up the importance of IAQ and the awareness of it. There are a lot of variables (e.g., colds, flu, chemical off-gassing, poor air circulation, poor air filtration) that affect the IAQ, which ultimately affects us. The main challenge in obtaining good IAQ is to first diagnose what is causing the poor IAQ, and then to address the problem.

Sometimes the remedy may be as simple as opening a window to allow fresh air into the area, then other problems can be more complex and involved. Is the problem related to a defect in the building? Is there water/moisture intrusion into the building/structure? There might be a need for a process of elimination to accurately diagnose. Is the cause biological, chemical, etc.? Sometimes the poor IAQ is caused by influencers outside of the building (e.g., buses running outside near classrooms, landfills or manufacturing stacks located upwind of the schools). With COVID-19 shutting down in-person learning, schools’ heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in a lot of instances have not operated for long periods of time. This can create poor IAQ and allow moisture to elevate when it would normally be under control. With the moisture increasing, the possibility of mold growth is highly likely.

What are some best practices for developing an effective IAQ program? Have an environmental assessor assist in the development of the IAQ program if needed. Get the input of staff and all involved personnel in the development of the program. Keep it clean and moisture free; cleanliness is a very important aspect of a healthy environment. Develop a daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly routine for staff to follow (e.g., dust on a regular schedule, remove trash daily, remove damp/wet materials immediately). Use only EPA- and school-approved, unscented cleaning products, and follow the directions for proper use. Verify that the HVAC units and filters are being maintained, and that the work is being performed correctly. Develop a form that allows staff to notify maintenance of any existing or potential problem. n

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Why Social-Emotional Learning Is a Critical Subject As educators, we know the brick-and-mortar school is so much more than just sitting in a classroom; it’s where students develop social and emotional skills through positive interactions, connections, and friendships in their school community. When COVID-19 abruptly shut down schools across the country in March 2020, it became clear to the broader community just how import-

ant social-emotional learning is for each and every student. Those simple moments, such as eating lunch with friends and playing at recess, were stripped from our kids. Those are the moments that help build strong social-emotional skills. Better together Our district collects data on the well-being of our students. Test data showed 7 percent of our third through sixth graders were feeling connected to

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adults in spring 2021 when we re-opened our doors to hybrid learning, compared to even just a few months prior when they were still having to learn in a fully remote model. With middle and high school students, the same survey data showed a 13 percent jump in the number of students who felt they had supportive relationships at school this fall, which is when we fully reopened our schools. The data from our students strongly supported what our

teachers, building leaders, and families were telling us: our students were struggling. This information drove us to hire additional social workers and behavioral health specialists to support our students’ social and emotional needs. We had these supports in place when we were able to fully reopen our schools in fall 2021. Students need connection, and we must adapt to what our students are experiencing both inside and outside the classroom to provide the social

and emotional support they need to succeed academically. We will continue to do the work to help each and every student as we deal with, and hopefully work our way out of, this pandemic. It took so much away from our kids, but each day they are learning, and we will continue to support them so they can achieve their own success. n Gustavo Balderas, Superintendent, Edmonds School District, 2020 National Superintendent of the Year

Closing the Digital Homework Gap

Digital tools have become a no-brainer in classrooms, but what happens when students need access to those same digital tools at home? Unfortunately, for nearly 3 million students it means they may not be able to complete their homework assignments simply because they do not have home internet access. According to an Associated Press analysis of census data, these students are more likely to be students of

color and students from low-income families. Recent data from EducationSuperHighway shows that 99 percent of U.S. K–12 school districts now have access to high-speed internet. This means there is enough bandwidth for digital learning in every classroom, every day. DLDay Of course, this was not always the case. When the Alliance for Excellent Education (All4Ed)

started Digital Learning Day (DLDay) in 2012, technology in classrooms was a new, and even controversial, idea. The first DLDay was about creating a safe place for educators to innovate with technology and explore the possibilities of how it could change learning. There is never a shortage of examples of how schools are transforming teaching and learning with digital tools. On DLDay, you’ll see students programming robots,

creating stop-motion animated videos, and printing 3D versions of art projects. However, the best examples come from educators using digital tools to enhance everyday classroom activities to help students build important skills including collaboration, communication, and problem solving. We’ve seen technology enhance peer reviews and feedback, career exploration, student resume building, and project research.

A staple of learning There’s no question that education technology generally has become a staple of 21st-century learning experiences, but it also threatens to widen an existing divide between students who have home internet access and those who don’t. To close this gap, schools and districts have developed creative ways to provide students with internet access beyond school hours. For example, Coachella Valley Unified School District in California added Wi-Fi routers and solar panels to school buses parked in trailer parks and nearby reservations where students live so that students stay connected and complete their homework. Meanwhile, Santa Ana Unified School District in California, worked with city offices to increase open wireless access in public spaces and outfitted the exterior of schools to broadcast filtered wireless access into surrounding homes. An urgent problem While these creative solutions are working, closing the digital gap is an urgent issue of equity. It’s also an economic issue. How can students who can’t complete basic homework assignments be prepared to compete in an increasingly competitive world? Most importantly, though, it’s a moral issue. We have a responsibility to knock down barriers and prepare our kids to succeed in whatever future they choose. Simply stated, we must provide opportunities we want for our own children. n Deb Delisle, President and CEO, Alliance for Excellent Education

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How Educators Can Get the Most out of Their Tech Tools Our panel of experts breaks down the tech that makes effective education possible in a modern classroom, and why it takes more than the right software for students to succeed. What is the biggest challenge you see educators facing today? Vicki Davis: Exhaustion. With the substitute teacher shortage, teachers continue to lose their already too short planning periods to cover for colleagues who have to be out. Teachers, now more than ever, need tools and techniques to help them save time, adapt to the different knowledge levels of students, and engage their classrooms. You have to relate to educate. However, building relationships with students takes time and energy — things most teachers just don’t have right now. Gavin Lee: As districts try to seamlessly support traditional, hybrid, and remote learning instructional models, record numbers of learning devices need to be securely connected, and higher-bandwidth-demanding applications like Zoom and Teams video meetings need to be accommodated. But when connections fail or stutter, digital learning doesn’t go as

Vicki Davis Teacher and IT Director, Sherwood Christian Academy (Albany, Georgia)

Gavin Lee Senior Manager, Business Development, Juniper Networks

planned and learning outcomes suffer. At the same time, district IT departments struggle to keep up with their responsibilities and workloads. There is still major understaffing in areas like instructional technology support around classrooms, remote user support, and in technology planning and integration.

when deciding how they want to learn: live sessions, virtual sessions, or self-paced. Emerging team collaboration technologies (e.g., Microsoft Teams, Cisco WebEx, Zoom, Slack) have fast-tracked edtech. These applications supply collaboration and remote support for students who need added explanation or hands-on aid.

Where have you seen education technology make the biggest impact in helping to overcome these challenges?

VD: The greatest educational tools, in my experience, allow for formative assessment checks while teaching. Formative assessment isn’t for a grade; it checks learning while knowledge is forming and helps me as a teacher to understand where students are at that moment, so I can adapt to their learning levels. For example, when working on test review, my students play a game where I’ve loaded content. When the gameplay is done, I’m able to look at the problems that were missed the most and strategi-

Scott Porter: The biggest impact is the boom of the internet and all the resources available for free or a nominal price. The hurdle is finding added content that can only be learned from within the educational system, and teaching the concepts in such a way that the student can grasp them. Students have multiple options to pick from

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Scott Porter Senior Technical Trainer, CompTIA

cally review where students need it. Face time with students in the classroom is more valuable than ever, and effective formative assessment helps that time be well spent. Which technologies have you seen make the biggest impact in enhancing student engagement within blended and remote learning environments? GL: As many of these programs will require access to district- and online-based resources and programing, successful engagement by individuals requires they have a great and secure user experience. But if individuals trying to access these through the district’s network can’t connect or have slow, stuttered connections, their outcomes are sure to suffer. Similarly, for initiatives that integrate technology-based contact tracing and smart HVAC or building manage-

ment systems on campus, just providing connectivity is not enough. Unlike individuals, if these systems or IoT devices fail to connect, they can’t call the district’s help desk to open a trouble ticket. Therefore, networks that focus solely on providing tools to manage the health of the network are no longer adequate. The satisfaction of the end-user experience or the device’s experience is what we believe is the new measure for network uptime. Where do you see the adaptation of education technology headed in the upcoming school year? SP: Due to the current pandemic and mandates, most of the educational technology has had to transition to a virtual environment. So most educational institutes have already started or completed the transition of going completely virtual. Going to a completely virtual environment requires setting up a robust infrastructure that can accommodate the required bandwidth and connectivity for students to be able to access the materials being taught. With the adaptation to being completely virtual, the educational institute must ensure they are keeping updated materials and content available for its student body. n

Helping Students and Teachers Succeed No Matter Where They Are Melinda Gates Philanthropist, Businesswoman & Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Emily Langfeldt Chief Education Officer, ChanceLight Education

Pat Bhava Founder and CEO, PikMyKid

Matthew Ryan CEO, iFLY Indoor Skydiving

With in-person instruction resuming in an ongoing pandemic environment, our expert panel examines the key ways to utilize edtech to engage students both in the classroom and from afar.

What is the biggest challenge you see educators facing today, especially women educators? Melinda Gates: The worst thing you can do is put a lot of pressure on yourself to fit in. I know, because I’ve been there. What I learned is that I was much happier — and much more effective as a professional — when I found my own leadership style. My advice to anyone in that position today is this: You will succeed because of who you are, not in spite of it. And in the meantime, surround yourself with people who believe in you and will bring out the best in you. Which technologies have you seen make the biggest impact in enhancing student engagement within blended

and remote learning environments? Emily Langfeldt: Technologies that allow for participation and inclusion, and provide students with a sense of ownership over their experience, are typically the most successful. We see our educators utilizing tools that facilitate connection in their virtual and blended classrooms, and they’re continuously using new, creative features to keep students engaged, interested, and showing up for their lessons. Pat Bhava: While the video conferencing apps of the world have provided collaborative environments for students at home, that’s really only half the problem. When we’re talking about hybrid learning, one of the biggest obstacles

is actually communication with the parent when there are last-minute changes to the school day. With that, tools that are perhaps more subtly driving student participation are the ones that create more stable learning environments by keeping parents and schools on the same page. If a student doesn’t have to worry about where they’re learning, they’re more equipped to focus on what they’re learning. Matthew Ryan: I think internet speed and accessibility, cheaper hardware, and video conferencing saved the day when the pandemic hit. Had the pandemic occurred many years earlier, I’m not sure we would have been technologically ready. As much as we hear educators mention students are “Zoomed out,” it did allow school districts to

continue operations during unprecedented times. Where do you see the adoption of education technology headed in the upcoming school year? MG: The best educators understand that many, many girls especially are interested in STEM subjects — and many, many girls are really good at STEM subjects — but they get interested in them at different times and for different reasons. For example, because girls don’t always get the same early exposure to STEM that boys do, their interest tends to develop later. And while boys often get into tech through video games, girls are more likely to develop an interest in the subject when they see it as a way to solve real-world problems. So educators can help

by introducing STEM to girls early, bringing these subjects to life, and by telling the girls in their classes, “Hey, I think you’d be good at this.” What would you recommend for a school or district that wants to invest in edtech but does not know where to start? EL: Do your research and engage adequate partner resources. Very few schools and districts have been able to navigate the pandemic impact alone. There are several organizations out there that can take the guesswork out of the equation for you. They bring in the infrastructure, necessary technology, and trained staff to make your district successful. PB: Start with your pain points. Which problems does your staff deal with on a daily basis that could be solved or improved with technology? Once you’ve identified your problem areas, do your research and prioritize purchasing solutions based on efficacy and impact. Take recommendations from other schools, and ask every vendor you speak with to provide third-party verified whitepapers or impact analysis reports. MR: Classroom technology is scaling rapidly and becoming more affordable for school districts. In some instances, we see edtech outpacing educator usability. It is critical educators receive continuous training, so technology can be employed to increase student accessibility and engagement, rather than heighten isolation and suppress teamwork. n

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How Technology Can Enrich the Learning Experience Matthew Kennard CEO, BetterLesson

Dr. Liz Brooke Chief Learning Officer, Lexia Learning

Monica Burns Founder, ClassTechTips.com

Alex Allred CEO, Positive Action, Inc.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, myriad new technologies emerged that have allowed educators to engage students no matter where they are. Our panel of experts talks about some off the most influential of these technologies, and what can be done to avoid current and potential future educational pitfalls.

What is the biggest challenge you see educators facing today? Matthew Kennard: Education technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace. We’re asking teachers to implement new learning technology, adopt new curricula, and expand their knowledge around critical issues like social-emotional learning, and still empathetically and genuinely meet students where they are. And we’re asking for all of this without making a significant investment in their professional growth as educators. The world of education has changed and we need to support educators with real tools to help them be successful. Liz Brooke: This school year, educators are reconnecting with their students for the first time, in some cases, after more than a year in a remote environment. And with that, one of the biggest challenges is learning

where their students are in terms of their learning, how to meet them where they are, and how to increase their skills so they’re learning as much as possible over the course of the year. Where do you see the adoption of education technology headed in the upcoming school year? Monica Burns: In the upcoming school year, I think more schools will look to tools that help students share their learning in an authentic manner and support the creation of portfolios of students’ work. As educators examine the possibilities for alternative assessments — moving away from traditional testing — I think they will look to education technology tools that provide multiple ways for students to share their learning. What role does social and emotional learning play in balancing technology usage and building community?

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Alex Allred: Social and emotional learning promotes healthy human interactions that help kids participate effectively in school communities. As technology permeates through the learning environment, we run the risk of creating a generation of isolated learners untethered from their peers and the people who guide their academic growth. Social and emotional learning addresses this by providing discrete opportunities for improving student self-knowledge and self-regulation within learning communities that are inclusive and inspiring. Which technologies have you seen make the biggest impact in regards to enhancing student engagement in blended and remote learning environments? MK: Our ability to use video conferencing to make vir-

tual classrooms and student-teacher connections has changed the way we define classrooms. But we have to avoid the temptation to just throw kids on Zoom and really think about what it means to have a well-orchestrated virtual classroom experience. MB: There are a few different edtech tools that have supported student engagement with blended learning and remote learning. This includes apps that support video responses for students, and those that provide a collaborative space for students to post ideas alongside their classmates. What would your recommendation be for a school or district that wants to invest in edtech but does not know where to start? AA: Technology moves fast, and you want to stay agile and keep data portable. The

best approach is to start small, keep contracts short, and iterate. Make modest technology acquisitions and evaluate. Base new adoptions on what has been learned through previous adoptions. Understand which technologies are making a difference in the lives of both children and adults through effective monitoring that allows feedback from all stakeholders. LB: Look for evidence that it works. There are a lot of “solutions” out there that make grand promises, but do they have the backing of rigorous research, in the schools, that support those claims? You can look at the company’s website or use a tool like the Evidence for ESSA site that’s run through Johns Hopkins University. The ESSA site will help show the level of research the programs have, and how big a difference there was between the group using the program and those not using the program. n

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ccording to a recent Consortium for School N e t wo r k i n g (CoSN) survey, 56 percent of school district technology leaders reported an increase in their overall district IT budget for the current school year. By investing in technology that provides meaningful, personalized educational experiences, schools can reverse pandemic learning loss and help students develop the skills needed to achieve their full potential. Even before the pandemic upended learning for 51 million public school students, the nation was nearing an inflection point in K-12 education. The results of the 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress revealed declining reading scores and stagnant math scores for high school seniors. It’s clear the status quo — students learning the same material at the same time in the same way — wasn’t working. In the past decade, education policy experts and teachers concerned with low academic achievement researched and practiced a methodology known as personalized learning. Personalized learning is a student-centered approach where instruction is tailored to each student’s strengths, interests, and needs. In 2020, the National School Boards Association launched Public School Transformation Now! to champion student-centered and personalized learning approaches across the country. Leveraging tech Technology has an important role to play in creating these personalized learning opportunities. In the second volume of its COVID-19 handbook, the

How Technology Enables More Personalized Learning Experiences

After a challenging year-and-a-half of remote learning, schools reopened their doors for the 2021-22 school year. While experts agree most students learn best with in-person instruction, the pandemic encouraged education leaders to reimagine technology’s role within the school building. U.S. Department of Education identifies supporting equitable access and effective use of technology as a major strategy for repairing the pandemic’s effect on academics. The department recommends schools “use technology in ways that support students who are performing at different levels — which may be an even more common occurrence when students return to in-person instruction — in part by leveraging technology to support one-on-one or small group work.”

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One way classrooms can support students who are performing at different levels is by adopting a “flipped classroom” approach; a form of blended learning that combines in-person instruction with technology and high-quality online content. In a flipped classroom, students watch recorded lectures on school-distributed devices at home. Classroom time is used to work through the material, ask questions, receive one-on-one feedback from teachers, collaborate

with others, and assess understanding. Recorded lessons can be accessed at any time, allowing students to rewatch parts or pause the video to suit their needs. Under this model, teachers have more time to support students and provide direct student support. Many flipped classrooms also empower students to help and work with one another. Immersive education In addition to changing how education is delivered, edu-

cation technology offers new ways of learning content through augmented reality and virtual simulations. Imagine exploring historical places in virtual reality or dissecting a virtual frog. Students can also demonstrate mastery of content in new ways. Learning analytics can also benefit teachers by helping them identify patterns and gain real-time insight into how their students are progressing. Notably, the Education Department’s COVID-19 handbook also advises that technology can be used to “support parent-teacher engagement and can be a good way to get information to parents as well as support student learning.” Of course, technology is not a panacea to improving academic performance, nor does its presence in a classroom magically manifest a student-centered learning approach. Teachers need to be trained on how to use education technology, which requires time and financial support. Furthermore, schools must continue to safeguard student privacy when adopting new technologies. Most importantly, parents need to be part of conversations about why technology is being used and what role it serves. Nevertheless, education technology is an important piece in transforming public education. School leaders that strategically implement education technology — working in collaboration with students, teachers, and parents — will discover new opportunities to better prepare learners for the modern, post-pandemic world. n National School Boards Association (NSBA)

3 Keys to Unlocking Exceptional Learning in Modern Education As schools navigate the benefits and challenges created by rapidly changing technology, educators must adapt to make room for innovation. here’s a movement underway in K-12 education, and everyone’s a stakeholder. Children can access the entire world in the palm of their hands, and schools are rising to the challenge of integrating technology. When coupled with progressive curriculum design and delivery, technology can ignite the vital flame of curiosity for students. Over the years, I’ve encountered diverse insights on how K-12 administrators, teach-

ers, and parents can keep up with the latest technological advancements. Today, the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) is empowering a community of school leaders to take an active role in shaping these trends. Identifying trends CoSN’s new Driving K-12 Innovation series is produced by educators, for educators. An international advisory board of more than 100 K-12 experts has identified three trends schools

must navigate in order to spur extraordinary teaching and learning experiences:

Hurdles These are organizationaland human-capacity challenges that force educators to slow down, prepare themselves, and make the leap to innovation. Schools have a responsibility to understand how emerging technology impacts the skills students need to be successful in their continuing education and careers.

Accelerators These are megatrends that drive the needs and skills expected of students and educators. Schools are embracing real-world learning experiences that promote student-generated ideas and solutions.

Tech enablers These supporting tools expand opportunities and solutions. Some examples include augmented and virtual reality technologies, which

enhance the physical world with interactive digital imagery and graphics. Schools cannot afford to address these trends in isolation. Technology is allowing school leaders and educators to form communities of collaboration, and CoSN is committed to providing assistive resources to build a better bridge to the future. n Keith Krueger, CEO, Consortium for School Networking (CoSN)

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