Strategic Ed Tech Thinking
This large panel session was based on a question: What would we say in 30 seconds with the new U.S. president?
A: (from ISTE past presidents and business leaders)
- Technology is part of fabric of education and is integrated into all content
- Must redefine federal role in digital equity
- Need a robust, authentic assessment model that measures what we want our students to know and do
- Give the new administration better examples of efficacy, best practices
- Many schools don’t have enough technology to make it work
- Unpack what technology is doing already, success stories
- Technology is the only way to regain U.S. competitiveness
- Systematic implementation of technology is needed
Then questions were fielded from the audience. One was about better teacher preparation for using new technologies. The suggestions resulting from this question included mentor teachers that can model using technology, involving younger teachers and education students in school redesign, and getting teacher ed faculty to use technology. A point was made that many educators are getting the knowledge they need in teacher preparation but then they go to a school with little or no technology resources.
Another question was about new versus old media such as print publications. The panelists indicated that there is a difference between free content and validated content, and if you want both, regulatory structure has to be changed. A separate comment was made earlier that technology in education is overregulated.
It was interesting, but I think the one thing I walked away with is that education technology change really needs to come from the highest levels.
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