In the SETDA Trends Report, Fernandez Reyes & Popoff state, “The rapid expansion of digital tools during and after the pandemic has highlighted both the promise of educational technology and the persistent inequities in access and implementation.” (Fernandez Reyes & Popoff, 2023) The pandemic pushed us to rapidly adapt to an online learning model with tools that were never meant to be used at such a scale. The system had to pivot and adapt to being completely reliant on technology to support all of its children, staff, and schools remotely. The HAVES and the HAVE NOTS were never more apparent than during the pandemic. The inequitable access to technology, family systems adapting to the tech demands of online learning, children who could access learning online vs. massive numbers who could not…it all becomes clear as day. As a special education teacher, I saw just how in accessible the education system is when you remove the building and the people as supports for students on IEP’s. Trying to teach mathematics to a small group in a breakout room on Zoom was impossible. The tech we had then didn’t help; it was clunky, and it often got in the way. Even as it served as our only means of connecting with our students. The human element of connecting and modeling was incredibly difficult. Many of my students just stopped showing up to our daily classes, and some I didn’t see for nearly 6 months until we went back to partially in-person. Students with no gaps suddenly had them, students already on the other side of the insurmountable learning crevasse we’re now facing an even wider gap. 

 

From this chaos was born a massive influx of new educational platforms, presentation tools, curriculums and an almost complete reliance on computer-based learning. None of which is inherently bad; in many ways, it forced public education to catch up to the real world tech-wise. What was missing was the education around how to implement and on-board these tools in a rich and meaningful way. Some of us more tech-savvy folks were able to muddle through and figure this out. Others are still struggling even years later.  

 

As Krueger states, “The conversation around edtech has shifted from whether to use technology to how to use it meaningfully and responsibly.” (Krueger, 2023) We’re working as a system to meaningfully integrate tech; in many ways, we’re already super saturated with companies competing to get their piece of the public ed money pie with the next big thing. Most fall short of expectations, students, teachers, schools implement new tech with good intentions and quickly find out that it doesn’t fill a void, or fix systemic issues, it’s just another tool and presents us with new ways of seeing inequities, new ways of attempting to bridge the gaps, and slapping new paint on the same age old problem of meeting the needs of an endlessly diverse population of children with very narrowly designed tools and ways of assessing successful growth. 

 

Where’s the real future in this cacophony of tech noise? I’m putting all my chips on AI. “Artificial intelligence is poised to reshape how students learn, how teachers plan, and how schools operate.” (Montalvo, 2023) Why? It’s simple, intelligent design requires adaptive intelligence that can keep up with the rate of change and the differentiation quandary we’ve all been trying to solve since the word differentiation first popped up in educational lingo. A human can’t effectively differentiate every lesson, everyday for a classroom of nearly 30 students. It’s not humanly possible, but it’s 100% possible with AI. If we could get our heads out of our assistive technological derrieres and focus on adaptive learning instead of adaptive assessments, we’d likely be seeing the biggest shift in educational access and outcomes since pre-COVID times. As the now gutted Department of Ed stated, “AI can enable new forms of interaction, feedback, and personalization, but it cannot replace the essential role of educators in fostering critical thinking, empathy, and human connection.” (US Department of Education, 2023) So the impetus should no longer be on teachers to be miracle workers; let us let this lovely tech do more of this heavy lifting. 

 

The true miracle of school and teaching has always been the soft skills we have to share with our students. “Educators facilitate learning with technology to support student achievement of the ISTE Standards for Students.” (International Society for Technology in Education [ISTE], 2017) Let’s get to the good stuff by becoming true facilitators instead of pushers and distributors. Let’s focus on how students are accessing instead of creating the what. Let’s focus on the relationship of building, growing, and supporting our students as humans as they navigate their learning in different ways. Let’s actually have time to pull that small group and connect with our most fragile and struggling learners. There’s a beauty here that could shift the arduous nature of our current teaching model and make school fun again. Teachers could shift the focus more to fieldtrips and real-world experiences, building PBLs around learning to create authentic learning experiences with deep critical thinking, asking the big questions about life and societal problems, pushing students’ thinking to find their own solutions. All with the teacher acting not as the speaker and dispenser of knowledge, but rather the life coach, guide, and facilitator of humanity and culture. 

We all got into this because there was a calling, of sorts. We all want “What’s best for kids”, even though none of us fully agree or know what that is. We think we do, but we don’t. We’re all trying to follow the ever-growing rules, boundaries, guide rails, standards, and make it all as “rigorous” and “research based,” all while maintaining a “growth mindset” and having “high standards” for all learners. These are all great catch phrases, and at the end of the day, they mean absolutely nothing if all of us are too tired, stressed out, infighting and pushed past our capacity to do any of it with “fidelity”. 

Collective efficacy doesn’t come from always winning; it comes from the trust and belief in yourself, and the trust and belief that the person next to you is doing the best they can to reach the same goals. If your goal is perfection, you’re in the wrong business. If you’re pushing perfection on the people working for/with you, you’re in the wrong business. This perfection mindset bleeds down the rabbit hole and directly impacts the students we work with.  

Children aren’t factory parts on an assembly line. That’s an inhumane way to treat any person. Our inherent beauty is in our imperfections, our differences, and the many unique ways each of us can contribute to the whole. When all the pieces are lit up together, it’s a beautiful sight. But recognizing what we all have to offer and giving us an opportunity to shine in our own way, from the youngest of us to the oldest, that’s the tricky part. Leadership isn’t controlling the light switch or simply replacing a flickering bulb; it’s facilitating the conditions, the right environmental factors, for all the lights to shine in our classrooms, in our schools, and in our communities. 

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References

Fernandez Reyes, E., & Popoff, E. (2023). 2023 state edtech trends report. State Educational Technology Directors Association. https://www.setda.org

International Society for Technology in Education. (2017). ISTE educator standards. https://www.iste.org/standards/for-educators

Krueger, N. (2023, March 16). Edtech’s hottest topics for 2023. ISTE. https://www.iste.org

Montalvo, E. (2023, December 12). 7 artificial intelligence trends that could reshape education in 2024. The74. https://www.the74million.org

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology. (2023, May). Artificial intelligence and the future of teaching and learning: Insights and recommendations. https://tech.ed.gov/files/2023/05/ai-future-of-teaching-and-learning-report.pdf