Technology and 21st Century Education...

and why DAMsta's should care.

I was in San Francisco last week attending the SIIA Edtech Summit.  I also squeezed in a Giants game and had a chance (by chance) to see the president's motorcade as it crossed Market Street enroute to the Fairmont Hotel.  Not too bad for a quick trip.

So what is the Edtech Summit and why is it relevant to the DAMsta community at large?

The Edtech Summit is a meeting of hardware and software manufacturers, content creators, publishers and service providers, along with technologists, education consultants and education administration professionals involved in all aspects of the technology and industry challenges of implementing technology into all levels of education.  This year the event was themed around mobile learning and the mobile learning experience.  DAMsta's (and my Archivist bretheren as well) should take notice of yet another content lesson (like DOOH mentioned in an earlier post).  These technologies exist to feed content and make content relevant and valuable in the educational space and ultimately offer a new opportunity to monetize content.

I must admit that I was a reluctant drinker of the technology kool-aid that was being served over the course of the two day event.   Hey, I have school-age kids, my wife is a teacher and we live in a well-regarded school district but even they don't have the cash for out-of-normal expenses and they lean toward being technology-challenged as a group so, I can agree with the CONCEPT that educational experience can be enhanced and expanded upon with mobile technology, smart tools and good content but I just didn't see how the math was going to work out.  Where is the funding coming from and is it really worth it?

But then, I had a chance to play with a device during the hands-on session.  It was configured as it is currently being used in a district in a suburb of Houston.  After about 2 minutes it all clicked for me!  It's a brilliant and relatively inexpensive use of the technology to expand and enrich the educational experience without being bound by the traditional process and location for learning.  Kids can tap into their assignments wirelessly with the mobile device (now, no longer a phone but instead a mobile computing tool) to do assigned work within a variety of media including text for reports, crude animation and graphics.  They are also able to collaborate with classmates, learn how to be good researchers and discern and weigh facts gathered from a variety of sources.  MMMMMMmmmmmm...the kool-aid tastes mighty refreshing right about now.

The funding is coming from districts being allowed to re-allocate thier textbook budgets to purchase these tools instead.  The price points in many cases are either a wash or (remarkably) a modest savings.  Besides funding, the other challenges are educating the educators and making sure there is an equitable distribution of resources across a community.

What I took from this conference was that the school publishing market is about to change or may already be in a transformation.  It should look to the commoditization of the photo and music worlds for hints to what might happen.  They need to use their deep assets and knowledge to guide and advise on the shape of these new educational experiences.  The real value lays in the content within the books binders not on the physical page and the number of units they can push per edition.  New platforms will expand opportunities for crowd sourcing, customization and collaboration in ways we probably can't imagine today...and that's OK.  The teacher and student experience will continue to evolve, be redefined and time shift and digital assets will be paramount in enriching the process.

Ask not what technology can do for you...ask what you can do with the technology.

 

 

Comments

[Gail Miller-Wagner]

I Just finished a course, Integrating Technology Across the Curriculum. At first I didn't even want to taste the Kool-aid, and now I am thinking about setting up my own stand! I'm writing lesson plans incorporating technology where ever I can to enhance my art lessons. It's clear to me we must be able to keep up with the students who are already native to this technology.