Technology in Education

How do you feel about the direction of technology in education?  

I am encouraged by the direction of technology in education today.  I feel ed tech is finally starting to be taken seriously in schools.  Used to be it was one computer in a classroom that was an add-on of “one more thing” to fit into an already packed school day.  Now we have multiple devices and even one-to-one devices in schools, so student can actually use them.

What do you see happening in your own school environment?  

Most of the high schools in the area have one device per student.  The elementary I work in have 6 tablets per classroom, enough to use in groups.

What are some of the technology issues facing your district?  

It is still  not enough in Carthage.  The high school did Bring Your Own Device one-to-one, which disadvantages those who can’t afford a device or internet access at home, the digital divide.  At my school, 6 devices is not enough to replace paper with digital.  Sharing devices means they can’t really be used for daily work.

What is your greatest technology need?

My greatest technology need an action plan for how to incorporate my vision for technology in education into activities and lesson plans aligned to state standards. There are so many great digital resources out there that I need help aligning them to standards that have to be taught.  In addition, the end result of classrooms with technology also has to be higher test scores (grr).  

What do you think technology in schools will look like in the next two years? the next five years?

I think in the next two years we will see education (textbook) companies will become better at bringing content to digital platforms.  One-to-one programs will push farther down in grade levels as districts continue to add more technology.  

In the next 5 years, I think common standards across the country will allow us to work together on finding and aligning higher-level units, projects, activities, and lessons.  I think the increased technology will allow more creativity with the technology as students and teachers get used to using them to learn.  The power of the technology will be 32 times what it is today.  I think we will have 3D goggles that will allow us to create and manipulate a digital world and then print 3D objects from it.