Teaching, Learning, and Classroom Technology

[Dr. Justin Reich]: So the sort of paradox of the pandemic is that we certainly see much more technology adoption, but it’s not technology adoption which is transforming the experience of schooling for young people. It’s technology adoption which reinforces the kinds of teaching and learning patterns that we already have in schools. For folks who are really hoping to transform schools through technology, this is certainly kind of a disappointment. But as someone who’s just trying to figure out like what’s going on in schools and what can we do to help them next, you know, the first thing to recognize is that most technology adoptions in schools are pretty conservative. They help schools do the same kinds of teaching and learning thing that they were doing before, maybe at a distance, maybe with a little bit more efficiency, those kinds of things. Ultimately, the most important questions about education technology are not, “What are the new tools that we’re going to build?” “What’s the new tech that we’re going to have?” “What’s the capacity?” The most important questions we’re going to ask are, “To what extent can we build capacity for educators to be able to use the tools we have for better teaching and learning?” Our technology is only as powerful as the communities that guide their use. That will be the sort of determining feature in the years ahead about whether or not all the new exposure that teachers and students have to education technology actually ends up leading to measurable gains in the future.