Defining the future

ISTE President Helen Padgett had this to say at this year's NECC conference:

"Schools have made progress" toward meeting 21st-century curriculum goals, she said, but the results from the most recent Speak Up survey reveal how much work still remains: Students in the national survey said they "step back in time" when they go to school.

"We won't be doing our job until students say they're stepping into their future, instead of our past," Padgett warned.

Like everyone and everything, educators are desperately trying to determine what that "future" looks like when it comes to technology. Will technology simply be a wonderful tool that allows us to deliver services more efficiently and to an ever-expanding audience? Or will it transform the foundation of the educational model.

The current educational model is the result of generations upon generations of trial and error and best practices. It is what it is because it works. While there are myriad things that can be improved in education through the use of technology, educators need to be cautious they don't mistakenly throw good after bad simply for the sake of doing something new.

What we do know, and what will not change, is that technology is playing a larger and larger role in people's personal and professional lives every day, and the ability to not only use technology, but the ability to adapt to technologies as they become available will be key to students' success in life.

It is very exciting to be an explorer navigating this frontier, in which, once again, all is possible.

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