I’m at the end of my leg here in London, it has been such a blast getting to learn all the different facets of education technology today with my lovely folks at the Knowledge Lab. Completing a full masters thesis is really a lesson in itself and I’m really glad that my supervisor was so supportive throughout the process. I have to say the next few years will be an extremely exciting for my professional career as I’ll be taking on a new role as an Associate Director of a new Edtech department at an international school in Shenzhen! This marks a significant change in my career, which coincides with a growing demand for learning technologists to support the digital transformation at schools. I’m very much looking forward to the future and hoping to engage more minds in the path of learning. But before I move forward, I’d like to briefly recap some lessons that I’ve learnt during my academic term here:
What in the world is edtech suppose to be?
In a large sense this question really boils down to what we see technology as. If you think hardware, then you might see the iPad, VR & AR that schools might adopt. On the software side, you can witness the rise of many learning management systems (LMS), adaptive learning or apps that drive learning & teaching outcomes. However, if you were to look at the evolution of Edtech, you’d realise that many of these technologies are things we fundamentally use in our daily lives that have helped us improve our learning, teaching practices & knowledge construction. These technologies ranges anywhere from the introduction of the whiteboard, the computer to the latest digital books. So don’t get too caught up on the buzzword Edtech as only the latest technologies, there is much existing technologies that are out there changing our educational practices today already.
Edtech is not the silver bullet
After going through a couple of my masters modules on various facets of edtech, I have to say this statement rings particularly true. No one platform will or can dominate the field of education as the issues behind education runs deep behind the people and institutions involved. Just like any system, the stakeholders behind education have already gone through centuries of painstaking reform, that is to say there is change involved even today. Take for instance distance education, it started with simple correspondence letters from university professors to students who are unable to attend school. That being said, consider the conditions of “students” at the time and you’ll realise how complex the situation can be. Women & minorities are not allowed to attend university, working class people don’t have time to attend, etc. etc. The stages of development of tech has fundamentally changed that over the coming decades with the introduction of radio, tv and ultimately MOOCs which has widened the access of technology. However, even then, this does not guarantee the outcomes that this is the solution for all (considering that less than 5% actually finish their modules & if you dig deeper, the comprehension rate of learning is probably even lower).
The design process dictates the learning outcome
Thus, we need to think about how we can better create solutions for learning & teaching that matter. This is where design comes in, and where my masters really shaped my understanding of how to think about design of uses of technologies to better improve the outcomes. One concept I’ve learnt through my design thinking & making module is the double diamond approach which talks about how we should start with a problem definition “diamond” to meet the solutions “diamond” through constant convergence and divergence iterations. This means that throughout the process of integrating Edtech solutions, we as learning technologists have to keep iterating the process of talking to stakeholders and redefining solutions that will ultimately fit their needs.
No perfect one-size fits all solution
Lastly, we need to realise that there is no one size fits all solution when it comes to education technologies, we have to constantly be looking out for the changing nature of teaching & learning, understand the context of the problems or challenges facing the learning process. This will then dictate what solutions follows, which means that the technology we introduce could be solving either a specific problem or it could be integrated as a potential long term tool in a roadmap. The idea of capturing learning through analytic tools is something that I feel could be part of this system and will be definitely trying to establish base in my new work.
To sum it up, the momentum of edtech is growing exponentially as digital literacy across schools around the world. I implore for educators & administrators to start looking at Edtech not as an ends to the means, but the means itself for achieving an ultimate goal of solving educator or student’s problems to create more personalised forms of learning. Let’s make the change together!
Lastly to my crew who really challenged me and made me feel that what I was learning truly mattered. I will remember the thoughtful conversations we had over the year and moments of confusion on how far we could see Edtech going. @UCL @Knowledge Lab 2018-2019
So for those who are interested in pursuing this edtech path, or have new edtech they would like to introduce and expand into schools, please do get in touch with me. I’d love to get to know more about your products & ideas, work with you to evaluate and potentially implement it in my school!