ANDERSON W. WILLIAMS
  • Work
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Nonprofit
    • Youth & Education Resources
  • Art
    • 2000-2002
    • 2003-2008
    • 2009-2013
    • Echo
    • White
    • OutsideInsideOut
    • Art is...
  • Books
  • Blog
  • About

Is ed tech part of ed reform, or facilitating business as usual?

6/18/2013

0 Comments

 
Over the last few years while I was doing primarily training and consulting, I was often brought in to help schools, local governments, or other institutions who wanted to engage their young people in a better way. They were often frustrated, even desperate. A leader at some level was ready for change.

But, almost inevitably, the “presenting problem,” or the presumed solution I was there to provide, was based on:

  1. How am I going to help fix their youth? (the correct assumption was always that I couldn’t and wouldn’t so I was generally met with understandably severe skepticism), OR
  2. What new “program” would I show them that was better than theirs? (surely I had a curriculum they could just implement), OR
  3. How can I help them prove to their youth that they should be more engaged in what the adults are already offering? (OK, out-of-town-youth-guy, show us your magic!)

In other words, the adults were often looking either to do what they were already doing, perhaps just a little better, or, more cynically, keep doing exactly what they were already doing but have the young people receive it better.

I was interested in neither of these. What I was interested in, and still am, is: what do we really want for our young people? And, who can lead us there? Forget what we know, or think we know, about education, school, leadership, content, teen behavior, community, family, and so forth.

What does success look like for a young person?

If we start with this picture in mind, we all have the opportunity to step back and assess whether the strategies we are employing are going to get us to that vision.

So, now, as I have just begun exploring the landscape of education technology, I am struck by how similar some of the assumptions, questions, and challenges are. Just as any ideas or strategies I could offer as a consultant were only as good as their implementation and ownership by the staff I worked with, so the potential impact of technology is only as good as its implementation and ownership by school staff.

So, when we look at the multitude of education technology success stories circulating in the blogosphere, we need to remember to look not merely at the technology but the leadership that implemented and the conditions that facilitated it.

That being said, the ed tech field still feels largely dominated by technologies that don’t actually require changing conditions or even that much leadership (or at least not transformational leadership). Instead, many are technologies that offer incremental change or, at worst, facilitate business-as-usual.

For example, we are still implementing elaborate tools for content delivery at a time when content can be Googled and the skills of sorting, editing, and making meaning are most critical.

We are building platforms to manage a traditional classroom model that keeps the adult as the sole point person, leader, and expert in the class when students’ lives (and the economy) are increasingly driven by models of open sourcing, crowd sourcing, content creation, online collaboration, individual choice, voice, customization, and so on.

We are investing in large data and indicator systems that increase our ability to talk ABOUT students and identify their problems from a spreadsheet, when talking WITH students, engaging them, and knowing them personally is at more of a premium than ever.

This is not an indictment of these technologies, just an observation given my personal motivation for reform. And, there is clearly much to celebrate in the current trials and future possibilities of education technology.

But, even in the hands of great leadership, a tool designed for the status quo will likely deliver just that.
​
0 Comments

    Categories

    All
    Art
    College Access
    Communication
    Creativity
    Democracy
    Education
    Entrepreneurship
    Family
    General
    Inclusion
    Leadership
    Learning
    Organizational Culture
    School Climate
    Suicide
    Youth Engagement

    Archives

    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    December 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    August 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    December 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    November 2009

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Work
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Nonprofit
    • Youth & Education Resources
  • Art
    • 2000-2002
    • 2003-2008
    • 2009-2013
    • Echo
    • White
    • OutsideInsideOut
    • Art is...
  • Books
  • Blog
  • About