The Promise of Technology in Education

Introduction

In the upcoming days, you can see a guest post I wrote on EdTech Magazine's website. The post focuses on my thoughts around Windows 10 S and what it can provide education. When writing the post, I came up with two factors that I considered to be key: time and opportunity. In this weeks blog, I'd like to expand upon the notions of time and opportunity with the use of technology in education.

Time

As an airman in the Air Force, I recall being a part of a special class that attend airman leadership school and studied Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I remember the instructor bringing a jar onto the table and referencing how we use time. The analogy for the effective use of time was demonstrated by first placing large rocks into a jar before adding pebbles, sand and water. By doing so, everything can fit in the jar; on the other hand, if you start by filling the jar with the small things (pebbles, sand and water), there isn't room for the big rocks. This simple illustration stood in my head for many years as to how to use time wisely by attending first to the most important tasks, and so forth. 

So, if time is so precious and you can't add more, is there a way to do more with the same amount of time?  Think about it.  The Amazon shopping experience is something that’s relatively new, but it has dramatically altered the way that we browse, purchase and receive products.  I have been a member of Amazon Prime for 7 years now.  Gradually, as I have learned "the ropes" of online shopping, I have done more and more of our family's shopping through that route.  The time savings are massive.  This is just one example of how technology adds time. Look at Netflix.  At first, we relied on traditional cable when watching television and used Netflix for the occasional movie.  Over time, we have moved completely off traditional cable and stream our shows via Direct TV Now and Netflix.  The time savings are huge compared to the old days of Blockbuster and Redbox. The conveniences that technology brings are incredible.  The introduction of the smartphone has changed how we interact.  We use our phones to check into flights, wake up in the mornings and take pictures that we store in the cloud without the care of changing out and developing film. 

But Rob, you ask, how does this pertain to education?  Every time I talk to a teacher that is reluctant to embrace technology in the classroom, I ask "What if we could save you 15 minutes out of your day? Would that be enough for you to at least be interested?"  If you asked every teacher in public schools today, “What do you wish you had more of?”, their answer would be: Time.  This can come in the form of self grading quizzes, engaging parents via social media instead of face to face or phone calls and accessing information on any device via the cloud instead of staying late in the classroom. This is just the start.  With blended learning, personalization of content to students can bring differentiation efficiency so that you aren't killing yourself trying to engage every student on an ongoing basis.  Believe me though when I say, technology will never replace a good teacher, it will just increase their capabilities to provide a great learning experience to our students. 

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Opportunity

Opportunity is defined as the set of circumstances that make it possible to do something.  I am starting to read the book "​Learning Transformed: 8 Keys to Designing Tomorrow’s Schools, Today" by Tom Murray and Eric Sheninger.  In the book, one sentence stands out when discussing opportunity: 

• ​"Very rarely do students have the opportunity to follow their passions, explore their interests, and engage in personal and authentic learning opportunities."

​I have three daughters in the education system right now.  They span from high school to college.  One of the things I hope for as a parent is that I instill in them the desire to find out what they love to do and go after it.  They will always be rewarded with purpose if they do.  

So how does technology bring opportunity?  Well, that can be a double edged sword.  Technology can bring exponential opportunity, both good and bad.  The importance of teaching digital citizenship and digital literacy are increasing as each year progresses.  Many times, we focus on the negative: cyber-bullying, sexting, identity theft, etc.  Technology is changing our industries, as you recall above, in the section time.  We Uber now instead of taking taxis, video chat using FaceTime or Skype instead of traditional calling;  the list goes on and on.  As a result, most industries are changing with the introduction of automation.  Many of the jobs we think of today won't exist in the next decade or two.  

We should be increasing opportunity for our students by introducing those skills that make them adaptable to this ever changing environment.  ​Introducing those 4Cs:

• critical thinking
• communication
• collaboration
• creativity

Recently, I read an article that suggested introducing as the fifth C, curiosity.  In the end, we want to give our kids every opportunity to see themselves in the interests they have passion doing.  Succeeding.  Contributing to society.  Being Global Citizens.

The promises of technology are that it can provide teachers and students both time and opportunity.  If you have ever been in a full classroom that is immersed in technology devices, speed is a huge time factor in classroom management.  Opportunity arises when you can both control the apps being installed, and deliver the cloud promise of working across devices seamlessly, without hindering time.  Classroom spaces can be transformed and increased opportunities for those 4Cs to be introduced to students can happen more frequently.  The future looks promising, too.  With the introduction of augmented and virtual reality, we can bring experiences outside of the classroom, in.  Today we get to embark on real time experiences with Skype in the Classroom; tomorrow you will be able to explore incredible content through these high engaging technologies that show content via an inexpensive headset.