TIES – Hot technologies
Yesterday I attended a session at TIES (the Minnesota state educational technology conference) by Keith Krueger, CEO of CoSN. Keith presented some findings from a report on Hot Technologies innK-12 Education by CoSN’snEmerging Technologies Committee. He noted that the committee focused onntechnologies that have the potential to transform practice and that the emphasisnwas on technologies that are emerging, not those that have emergedn[note: when Keith asked the audience for technologies in theirnorganization that fit this description, responses include electronicnwhiteboards, wireless, projectors, and parent portals]. Here are my notes fromnKeith’s session:
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5 Key Educational Issues
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- galvanize instruction and promote authentic learning
- improve assessment and evaluation
- address diverse learning styles and needs
- build community
- improve administrative efficiency
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To be included in the committee’s report, a technologyntool needed to
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- address one of the major educational issues above,
- possess transformative power, and
- be feasible
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1. Promote authentic learning
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- active highly portable storage devices (e.g., flash keys, portable externalnhard drives, iPods)
- datacasting
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Transformative value
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- incorporate compelling, up-to-date audio, video, data into everydayninstruction
- empowering students to play an active role in their own learning
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2. Improve assessment
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- digital assessments (wired / wireless handheld devices; mClassnDIBELS; student responsensystems)
- intelligent essay graders (e.g., ETS Criterion)
- intelligent pattern analysis (DMAs / IMAs; see also CoSN’s DDDM project web site)
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Transformative value
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- making NCLB-required assessments easier to perform
- managing mountains of data and finding the “gems” that actually assist innmaking decisions
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3. Address diverse learning styles
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- sound-field amplification
- multi-sensory customized learning tools (see CoSN’s accessible technologies projectnweb site)
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Transformative value
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- based on principles of universal design / accessibility, these tools helpnall students, not just those with hearing disabilities
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4. Build community
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- programmable phone systems (can send pre-recorded phone messages in multiplenlanguages)
- student information systems (web-enabled)
- learning management systems (student / parent portals)
- blogs
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Transformative value
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- engaging parents and the larger community
- enabling schools to reach increasingly diverse populations
- substituting electronic communication for printed reports and face-to-facenconferences
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5. Improve administrative efficiency
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- radio frequency identification (RFID)
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Transformative value
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- student safety
- eliminating time-consuming busy work of taking attendance
- tracking inventory
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My reactions
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Keith’s presentation helped me remember that most of these tools are notnpresent in most school districts. As an educational technology person, it’s easynto feel from the practitioner magazines and conferences that this stuff is allnover the place because you read about it and hear about it so often. Fornexample, wireless, electronic whiteboards, and parent portals all have beennaround for a while and have been written about extensively. To hear educatorsnsay that they are “emerging technologies” was a sober reminder that we have anlong way to go in most school districts.
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It is also important to reemphasize that, while schools are finding value innthese tools, they are not all needed in all places. Districts need to continuento give careful thought to technology purchases and not just “jump on thenbandwagon” with the latest, greatest thing. It’s easy to get swept up in thenhype – finding real value from yourntechnology investments is much more difficult.
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Finally, Inhave written about this before, but I continue to be concerned about thenslow pace of change in schools compared to society.
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