EdTech out of the cave and into the light.

"A need or problem encourages creative efforts to meet the need or solve the problem". This saying appears in the dialogue Republic, by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. Simply put, necessity is the mother of all invention. This is certainly the case with EdTech, an industry that has been in existence in one guise or another for decades. Admittedly, if you think of technology in schools you would likely think of the "taken for granted" folks in a darkened room, who reset passwords for students, or run HDMI cables to teachers who are trying to start a lesson and cannot connect their laptop to the projector. We all know that they ensure the computer suites work, and replace peripherals when students misuse the technology. Maybe the more enlightened will realise that they work on network security, maintain database connectivity to integral systems and more recently are involved in GDPR changes to keep data private. But still this is only scratching the surface of the potential and underlying hopes and dreams of anyone interested in technology and the world of education.

Lets now see how the 'brave new world' of teaching and learning has changed since the 18th of March 2020. In the space of 2 weeks suddenly the importance of an integrated well thought through technology strategy which addresses inclusiveness, differentiation, scaffolding, stretch and challenge, and assessments (of and for) learning is high on the agenda. Something my fellow technologists thought would never come, but as we all know, necessity really is the mother of all invention. It feels like we are emerging from the cave (pictured above) depicted by Plato and now are experiencing the bright light of technology and its potential in education.

However when all this upheaval of lock-downs and distance learning passes let us hope that we remember that teaching and learning can take place effectively through technology either in the classroom or beyond maybe in an open air academy.

Stay tuned, for the next article on what are the attributes of a successful Education Technologist leader?

Cynthia Nolan