EdTech challenges: Keep going or turn back

Keeping up with EdTech innovations has been an ongoing challenge for US schools for a good 40 years or so, especially perhaps US Public Schools.

Often EdTech like desktop computers would be intended for a “computer lab” but get little use because no position was funded to maintain the technology, or even set it up optimally. The same pattern continued through the advances in specifically-focused mobile computers such as Chrome books that challenged school administrators and teachers to figure out how to fit those into the established classroom protocols.

Then mobile smart phones became ubiquitous, every kid has one, or access to one, and making that reality of instant access to the web and all it’s plusses and minuses work in the established classroom protocols became even more challenging.

What to do?

Change the established protocols appropriately, and use the advanced connection device/ powerful computer in kid’s pockets to realize potential advances in learning?

Or ban them from in school use to preserve the established classroom as we know it ?  What’s easiest for school admin and classroom teachers for whom big changes in MO are very hard to accomplish, and which reshuffle positions and threaten job security?

What’s Next?

Now there’s the seemingly even bigger EdTech change in the advent of powerful just in time and just for you AI Tutoring.

There are real possibilities that for some schools preserving the status quo will override possible learning innovations and powerful resources delivered by AI.

For others, there will be experiments to find out how useful the new AI tutoring tech can be. There was some talk in the recently passed Big Bill that authorized Federal support for school vouchers about using AI in schools. But it will be a challenge for a much smaller US Department of Education to figure out how to accomplish that.

We don’t know as yet many of the answers, but there are certainly going to be different “schools of thought” about this new technology in a learning context.

~Image by ChatGPT 5