Education Technology’s Most Promising Frontier

Contrary to popular belief, the road to education reform is not paved with snazzy apps and flashy technology. This bears saying again. The road to better, more relevant education is not paved with apps. Yet, we are bombarded with articles, workshop headings, blog posts, books, and even job descriptions touting apps as the tools that will change everything.

I’ve been in education technology for almost a decade now. I have been at the center of it long enough to see the changes coming from a great distance, to its eruption in our schools via Google Apps, Chromebooks, iPads, and so on.

Lately I’ve spent a good amount of time reflecting on the last few years in particular, and I see two definite forks in the road. One fork takes us on the road well traveled, where a multi-billion dollar industry has been built around education technology: sharing apps, teaching about them, etc. The other is the road less traveled. This is the road that leads to transformational and lasting change in schools. Many of our existing systems travel on and support the first example. This is the road where we find the majority, and systems are built to serve the majority.

The second road is sparsely populated and traveling on it are the disrupters. We’re out here on the fringes, seeking to offer something different. We’re not part of the mainstream majority…yet.

For us, it’s not about apps. It’s about creating change, continually returning to the big picture, and ultimately, empowering teachers and kids to make it happen on their own. The two forks in the road became really clear to me a few years ago when I started to recognize that there were common patterns in the standard cycle of service. It was very similar to the old education model, which we are desperately attempting to move away from: the teacher is the holder of knowledge and the students are the recipients of that knowledge. The cycle looks like this:

What’s wrong with this picture? It never puts the teacher in a position of leadership and it certainly doesn’t empower anyone. This loop has no exit and the cycle is always the same. This system maintains it’s relevance by keeping the service provider in the loop as a necessary piece of the work.

What does the second fork in the road offer? Something very different from the above picture. We’re here to cause a wonderfully positive ruckus. It’s a completely different approach and message to teachers: we can get you started, and you can take it from there, because you are smart, capable and amazing! Those of us on the fringe, provide services that help schools embrace technology in innovative, meaningful and joyful ways and we do this in a way that buildsinternal capacity.

We work tirelessly to work ourselves out of a job. Crazy, right? Well, if you’re in the business of creating solutions, you’d better be ready to re-create your job at some point, because true solutions in capacity building mean the solutioneer is only a temporary part of the process. That’s where we get to enjoy true and lasting transformation.

I am proud to say that this is my work, and I believe it truly is education’s greatest and most promising frontier.

The system is massive and their are many critical parts. However, the teacher is the fulcrum. Every day in this country, more than 3 million teachers work with over 50 million students in pre k — 12 public schools *. This is where one person can impact the lives and futures of many. Empowering and supporting teachers is the only way to see exponential change happen for our Nation’s children.

Instead of “50 apps that will change the way you teach,” the disruptors offer an entirely different set of tools. It’s more about social engineering than it is about apps. It’s all about people.

I adore the people I work with. I am genuinely happy to see them and because of that, I enjoy taking the journey with them, at a pace they are comfortable with. I enjoy celebrating their successes and supporting them when they are feeling overwhelmed. I have had more teachers than I can count start the year telling me how they just can’t do tech to telling me all about the amazing stuff they’re doing three quarters of the way through the year. With the right coach and a true dedication to supporting teachers, anything can happen.

While some ed tech leaders are focusing on the easy stuff, the snazzy list of apps everyone thinks they’re thirsty for, the disruptors will work with people. It’s people who will create change, and empowering people will cause a spectacular shift and that will be a glorious day in education — for all of us.

This is the road less traveled. Working to empower people to create their own change is not easy. It’s messy work that requires patience, skill, and true leadership. This is the work I love to do, because it lifts people up, and gives them a sense of empowerment that allows them to forge their own path.

This is the only way we will see education truly blossom. Our society needs young people who are capable of doing this very thing, and the only way we will get them there is to give educators the tools they need to model it themselves.

These are some of the secrets to my success. With 3.1 million teachers out there, I’m not worried about the competition, I’m worried about the future.

*Source: National Center for Education Statistics