The top five hurdles affecting technology in K-12 learning environments

 

As part of the Driving K-12 Innovation initiative, CoSN (Consortium for School Networking) published a new report that explores the top five hurdles affecting technology in K-12 learning environments. The hurdles, which were identified recently by an international advisory board of 111 education technology experts, are: Sustaining and Scaling Innovation; Digital Equity; the Gap Between Technology and Pedagogy; Ongoing Professional Development; and Technology and the “Future of Work.”

 

Driving K-12 Innovation is the successor to the New Media Consortium’s “Horizon K-12” reports – a decade-long forward-looking series that ended in 2017. CoSN served as the project’s co-founder and lead partner, and “Hurdles: 2019” is the first of three reports focused on hurdles, accelerators and tech enablers in K-12. 

 

 

“Technology is changing at a breakneck speed – and the pace only continues to accelerate,” said Keith Krueger, CEO of CoSN. “Building on the important work of the ‘Horizon Report,’ the Driving K-12 Innovation series will help education leaders keep up with the digital ecosystem so they can improve learning settings and opportunities for all children. This entails tackling the major hurdles that are discouraging innovation.”

 

According to CoSN, hurdles are challenges that make educational participants slow down, evaluate, practice and then make the leap to better support teaching and learning. In addition to providing an overview of the top hurdles, the report examines the following two challenges – featuring real examples of how schools and practitioners are addressing them:

 

• The Gap Between Technology and Pedagogy. This challenge encompasses cultural, leadership, pedagogical, curricular and procedural issues. Continuing advances in technology create disconnects between the needs of students and the skill sets of teachers. Technology can accelerate teaching practices – good or bad –and necessitate instructional shifts to effectively support improved student learning.

 

• Technology and the “Future of Work.” This hurdle pushes educators to start thinking now about what emerging technologies mean for education. Artificial intelligence (AI), “deep learning” and robotics are among the game-changing technologies that are beginning to alter the nature of work and, thus, workforce demands. While schools clearly face many hurdles in preparing students with skills they need to succeed today, emerging technologies could bring even steeper challenges for educators.
   
   

The top five hurdles affecting technology in K-12 learning environment:

1. Many school systems lack the agility, strategies and mindsets to

move innovative technology practices from a few classrooms

to multiple settings across schools and school systems.

Institutionalizing innovation requires a systemic, iterative

approach, including ways to identify effective practices to scale

and sustain.

2. Equitable access to broadband connectivity, digital tools and

content, and innovative instructional strategies is a growing

concern. Socioeconomic status, geography, race, gender or

disability limit access to opportunities to learn in a digital

world. 

3. Rapid advances in technology are putting pressure on

educators to refresh or shift their approaches to teaching

and learning. When digital tools are introduced without

a continual, dialectical relationship between research and

pedagogy, or without timely professional development for

teachers, technology implementations can result in wasted

time, effort and investments—and lost opportunities to learn

for students. 

4. Engaging all teachers in meaningful professional development

on innovative teaching practices is key to successful technology

integration. Top-down, one-size-fits-all, sit-and-get training

shows little to no impact on student achievement. Instead,

personalized, job-embedded professional development can

support teachers in their journeys as lifelong learners and

practitioners who continue developing their professional skills.

5. Artificial intelligence, robotics and “deep learning” are among

the game-changing technologies that are altering how people

think, learn, live and work. Now is the time for educators

to seriously consider how technologies on the horizon will

impact teaching, learning and the world that awaits students

in coming years. Digital fluency is rapidly emerging as critical

for workforce preparedness. Digital citizenship is important

as well, as students must understand how to live ethically and

responsibly in the digital world