Disruptive Technology In Ridgewood Public Schools
Photo by Darlene Alderson from Pexels
Suzanne Zilvetti George Washington Middle School Ridgewood, NJ - June,2021
What IS Educational Technology? Educational technology, sometimes referred to as edtech, combines tried and true educational strategies with digital tools that facilitate learning by leveraging data, automation, and student engagement. Edtech is not only student engagement-focused but empowers teachers with immersive and data-generative tools to meet the needs of the most diverse learners. Educational technology meets students where they are, allowing teachers to more easily offer students choices in their own learning journey according to their interests, learning styles or differences, while still meeting rigorous content standards. It is “disruptive” in that it fundamentally shifts the traditional top-down dynamic of teaching and learning. Provided that most current digital platforms, devices, and technical support are available to all stakeholders, educational technology means powerful learning is accessible, data-driven, personalized, immersive, and automated, freeing up time for teachers to devote precious time and resources to more meaningful learning strategies for their students. (Marr, 2020) This paper looks critically at educational technology in our district, focuses on why we are at a critical crossroads and reflects on the importance of continuing to invest in technology in Ridgewood Public Schools.
The Current State of Edtech in Ridgewood Early on, Ridgewood has been at the forefront of using technology in education. Starting with connecting teachers with personal laptops, moving to student computer labs and carts, high-speed interconnectivity, and more recently, the advent of 1:1 Chromebooks, it is clear that our district is committed to being at the forefront of educational technology in the classroom. Teachers employ multiple strategies and platforms from formative assessment tools that collect data to drive instruction, applications that inspire creativity, to virtual programs that enable students to collaborate, think critically and problem solve. Teachers automate some tasks (for example grading multiple choice quizzes or sending mass communications), creating more time and space for developing relationships with students or developing innovative strategies. Clearly, technology usage in our district is consistent with some of the top trends that disrupt traditional classroom education. (Marr, 2020) It is accessible, data-driven, and automated. It is also often personalized to some extent, however to the degree to which students use technology to be more independent in their choice of learning strategy, instructional pace, and depth of delve, we can and must improve. What's more, Ridgewood students are missing the immersive experience that technology can provide. This aspect is needed to improve the level of engagement, increase attention span, and develop more worldly experiences and understandings that would otherwise be impossible. The focus of Ridgewood’s ever-expanding technological plan must include continued professional development for teachers and administrators, and the integration of immersive technology for all students including Augmented and Virtual Reality programs and devices.
Why should we be investing in technology? We are at the dawn of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The First (mechanized mining, which led to steam power, and thus improvements in factory output and transportation) and the Second (technical advancements in the extraction of oil/gas, and the creation of electric power and steel which led to the internal combustion engine and improved communication in the telephone/telegraph) each occurred over the course of roughly 100 years. The Digital Revolution, building on the electric age, followed by the rise of electronics, telecommunications, and computers, opening the door to new technologies including space exploration, biotechnology, and robotics all in the span of just 50 years. (Schwab, 2016) While the three eras preceding this were triggered by specific technologies that improved efficiencies and thus advanced industry, the Fourth Revolution blurs the outlines of what we consider technology and inspires a new vision of an economy that meets the needs of all people on the planet, requires that we live within our planetary means, and focuses on the goal of maximizing human well-being. (World Economic Forum, 2016) And all of this is charging forth with exponential speed, in this, the dawn of the Third Millennium. For our students to be ready for this monumental shift, we must continue to reimagine how we use technology to make sure our students have the 21st Century Skills needed to be successful contributors to and innovators in our global interconnected future, including critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration, citizenship, and character. (Herr, 2021) Can student readiness happen without improvements to ed-tech? Certainly. But educational technology helps us to raise the bar for all learners, inspiring students to take charge, reflect on their own growth and aspirations, and give teachers the tools to meet these needs.
Furthermore, all of the students that we serve are Generation Z digital natives. Born after 1996, and set to inherit a strong economy before the COVID-19 pandemic, technology has heavily influenced Gen Zs. Born into a world with integrated smartphones and readily accessible internet, according to the Pew Research Center, this generation is poised to be the most educated generation and will access that education in increasingly global and connected ways. (Parker, Igielnik, 2021). One survey found that Gen Z’s are “online almost constantly,” leveraging the technology for everything from news and entertainment to education and social connections. Without adopting the best practices of technology for education, we alienate these avid learners and miss opportunities to prepare them for success. Considering finances, Ridgewood’s current investment in technology is $1.6 million, not including safety/security systems technology included in the 2020-2021 budget. (Ridgewood Public Schools Video, 2021) Possible revenue could come in the form of savings in other content and student service budgets. As we shift to using more integrated, student-centered approaches using assistive, personalized, and integrated technologies, the expenses for some special education services will shrink due to student needs becoming more easily identified and targeted. Universal Design for Learning principles become reality as we increase our capacity for integrated technology in the classroom.
Reflections and Recommendations Continuing to fully fund educational technology improvements in our district benefits both students and teachers. Educators, with continuous professional development and collaboration with colleagues, improve their craft and develop new strategies to inspire students to develop 21st Century skills. Students benefit from enriched, authentic experiences, engagement with peers, and more personalized learning
systems that help them make meaningful decisions and reflections about their own growth. It is a win-win in the truest sense, but we must be devoted to continuing to reach higher and push harder, and not be complacent in our quest to improve the delivery of precise, individualized learning experiences and assessments for those in our care. The future of EdTech is powerful and moving at lightning speed. Contributing authors to a recent Nasdaq article entitled “World Reimagined: The Future of Education and Ed Tech'' cited that Ed Tech and Smart Classroom market size is expected to reach $251.78 billion by 2027 - a 16.6% increase in just 8 years. (Versace, Hawkins, Abssy, 2021) Clearly, the recent pandemic exposed the limits of traditional education, and the need to make learning more flexible, connected, immersive, and integrated. And savvy companies are leveraging that to their advantage… and ours. The future of education technology means easily accessible tools that inspire high levels of student engagement and meaningful content, in addition to developing more learner independence, personalization, and authentic connection to the larger world. At the turn of the last century, Rainer Rilke, a German philosopher, and poet responded to a friend's uncertainty by saying “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” (Barrows, Macy 2021) Certainly, we have done exactly this in the last year and a half, living the questions about the role of technology in education. We have lived into some answers - but not all. We must continue to live in these questions, to see where they take us, and to be open to the future that continues to prod us to question the role of educational technology in our schools and our world.
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Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows - 'What a world you've got inside you.'. (2021). The On Being Project. https://onbeing.org/programs/joanna-macy-and-anita-barrows-what-a-world-youve-got-inside-yo u/. Marr, B. (2020, January 20). The Top 5 Tech Trends That Will Disrupt Education In 2020 - The EdTech Innovations Everyone Should Watch. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2020/01/20/the-top-5-tech-trends-that-will-disrupt-edu cation-in-2020the-edtech-innovations-everyone-should-watch/?sh=7101b0532c5b. Parker, K., & Igielnik, R. (2021, May 31). What We Know About Gen Z So Far. Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends Project. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/05/14/on-the-cusp-of-adulthood-and-facing-an-u ncertain-future-what-we-know-about-gen-z-so-far-2/. Ridgewood Public Schools Video. (2021). 2021-2022 School Budget Presentation. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3-g6oLaxpo. Schwab, K. (2016, January 14). The Fourth Industrial Revolution: what it means and how to respond. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-what-it-means-and-howto-respond/. Versace, C., Hawkins, L. E., & Abssy, M. (2021, February 4). World Reimagined: The Future of Education and EdTech. Nasdaq. https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/world-reimagined%3A-the-future-of-education-and-edtech-2021-0 2-04. World Economic Forum. (2016). The Fourth Industrial Revolution | Full Version (Subtitled). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khjY5LWF3tg&t=681s. Images: All images were open-sourced, free of copyright and accessed using Google Search engine within the Google Doc’s program and were otherwise unidentifiable, unless noted specifically under the image.
