If you research which technologies were just being developed in the first dozen years of the 20th century, Mishra said, you’ll find the crayon among the results. And while crayons certainly have been a useful technology, no one would suggest that the invention of the crayon “was what defined 20th-century education.”
Mishra’s point was that the technologies just now emerging in the first decade and a half of the 21st century are only the tip of the iceberg for what is to come—and educational technology leaders should keep this in mind when developing a 21st-century vision for their schools.
One tool that can help ed-tech leaders anticipate future trends is the K-12 Horizon Report from the New Media Consortium.
Since 2004, NMC has published an annual report that looks at the trends, challenges, and technologies affecting higher education in the next five years; in 2009, the organization began publishing a K-12 version as well. At CoSN’s conference, NMC Senior Director of Communications Samantha Adams Becker previewed the findings of the 2013 report, which will be released later this year.
The top trend affecting schools in 2013 was cited in the 2012 report as well, Becker said: Educational paradigms are shifting to include more online, hybrid, and collaborative models. This presents a key challenge for K-12 leaders—how to address the blending of formal and informal learning opportunities.
The 2013 K-12 Horizon Report also identifies a few new trends this year:
• Openness—of content, data, access, and technologies—is becoming more valued among schools.
• Customized learning increasingly is a goal.
• Social media is changing the way people interact, present information, and communicate.
New challenges for this year include innovating with pedagogy; making ongoing professional development a valued, and integrated, component of the school culture; and keeping education policies and practices from limiting creativity.
For more coverage of this year’s CoSN conference, see:
Seven facts about K-12 ed-tech leaders
Technologies that will become part of mainstream education within two to three years include adaptive learning, personal learning networks, electronic publishing, learning analytics, and open content, the report predicts.
Within four to five years, 3D printing, augmented reality, virtual and remote labs, and wearable technologies will see mainstream adoption, it says.
Six keys to ed-tech success
During the closing session on March 14, Chip Kimball brought his unique point of view to the topic of audacious leadership.
Kimball, superintendent of the Singapore American School, has served as both chief technology officer and superintendent of the Lake Washington School District near Seattle. Having filled both roles, Kimball said he has “the privilege of perspective” in understanding what he called the “CTO-superintendent dance.”
Every school district that is successful with technology has a strong CTO-superintendent partnership, Kimball said, adding: “It is absolutely critical, and if you do not have this, your chance of success diminishes rapidly.”
Because this relationship is critical, Kimball advised school district CTOs to “be deliberate about it; … find ways to make time with your superintendent.” Get inside his or her head, Kimball recommended: What are your superintendent’s biggest challenges? How can you help?
Superintendents want big ideas made simple, Kimball said, and they need to have trust, loyalty, and confidence in their CTO. “Speaking truth to power is difficult,” he said, but necessary—so be honest about things like the cost of technology ownership, “even if it doesn’t serve you well.”
Besides a strong CTO-superintendent relationship, here are five other keys to ed-tech success, according to Kimball:
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