The pandemic has demonstrated the importance of technology in education. As time goes by, more and more technologies are being incorporated into teachers and students.
Melissa Loble, Academic Director at Instructure, discusses The recent report that Instructure published on the use of digital tools in education and the importance of examining the technology we incorporate in our schools to balance the number of educational tools used by teachers and students.
Loble to be a presenter at the upcoming tech & Learning event EdExec Summitthe three-day networking conference dedicated to the business of education taking place September 11-13 at the Chateau Elan Winery & Resort outside Atlanta. She will present “Ensuring Interoperability: Your Key to Business Success” and “Developing Research-Based Efficacy.”
<h2 id="the-upward-trend-of-technology-use”>The upward trend in the use of technology
The use of technology in the classroom is not a new concept. However, as the pandemic kept teachers and students out of the classroom and at home, staying connected through digital means of communication has been very important. With the pandemic came new tools of all kinds, but will the innovation and results of technology continue at the same level or will they ever catch up?
“I think there are two factors that play a role,” says Loble. “There is one that is really interesting and we highlighted it in the report. The number of tools that teachers and students are using continues to increase, which was a bit of a surprise to us. We expected it to increase during COVID-19 because people were transforming their way of teaching to bring it home. But now this increase shows that they are looking for the right technologies even as we all return to classrooms. But we expect this to level off in the next few years.”
What are the reasons why the technological boom will stabilize in the near future?
“People aren’t going to have extra money to spend on experimenting with new technology,” she says, noting that the focus will be on what’s best for teachers and students. “In our report, we talked about how educators use 49 tools on average during the school year. That’s a lot of different technology tools that a teacher needs to know how to use and use well. So I think we’ll see districts in particular have teachers reduce the number of tools they use.”
Using digital tools in the classroom can create a great environment for both teachers and students. Having a set set of tools can create coherence across a curriculum and make things easier for everyone. But how do we introduce new technologies into an established ecosystem? Or should we just stick with what we have?
“There’s a middle ground that can be beneficial if you centralize control[of selecting technology to use in the classroom]a little bit more,” Loble says. “I don’t necessarily mean that the district alone can choose and teachers can’t start trying different tools, but I mean centralizing access to the tools that are available that are safe, reliable and effective. We know that they work in their particular environments. Giving teachers a starting point, a list of where they can start[might help].”
How then can we address the issue of tools that teachers may prefer but are not approved for use? Can teachers have a say in the tools that are approved?
“I would encourage teachers to do two things,” Loble says. “One is to contribute to those tools, contribute to that collection, because a good collection of those (tools) should have a process where a teacher can nominate a tool to be part of that collection and can share why it should be nominated. A teacher should be able to tell the district what tools they like to use (even if they’re not on the set list) to know if they can or should be used. Not every teacher is fully versed in accessibility or privacy.”
<h2 id="is-there-an-ideal-way-to-tackle-ai-in-the-classroom”>Is there an ideal way to approach ai in the classroom?
artificial intelligence is present in classroom technology at all levels, so it is essential to understand the issues and concerns surrounding ai-based tools. For an educator, how should these tools be evaluated for educational purposes?
“I think there’s a core set of values when you’re looking at ai and trying to make sure that tools are safe,” Loble says. “There’s intentional use behind ai. We’re not using ai just for the sake of using it. As long as it’s safe, intentional, and equitable, I think it’s important to develop it in a combination, but it’s also important to experiment with it and see where these tools have the most impact on students. We have to evolve both of those things at the same time, because our current frameworks for evaluating tools don’t incorporate everything we know about ai.”
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