Normal Was Never Good Enough | Episode 3 | Learning Leads; Technology Serves- Promoting Student Agency, Authority, and Identity

Over the past year and a half districts have made substantial investments in technology infrastructure to respond to schooling during a pandemic.  However, this is not the first time in educational history that schools have invested in technology in an attempt to address an educational dilemma.  Time and time again, school districts have made investments in technological tools in the hopes they will solve a persistent problem of practice and will finally result in equitable teaching and learning for all.  Unfortunately, all too often, conversations about educational technology are driven by the platform or device and promise quick fixes to long standing educational problems.  With the return to in-person teaching, coupled with the improved infrastructure and increased funds available to districts, we need to leverage this time to resist a return to what was in the way we think about educational technology. In our final conversation of our three-part series we will discuss how technology can be used in service of student-centered learning and what schools and districts can do to create a sustainable approach to instructional technology that promotes student agency, interest-driven learning environments, and professional growth in teachers.  Join us as we have a conversation about ways to let learning lead and the technology serve as we reimagine and rebuild a more just and equitable schooling system.

Our guests:

 

Aaron Ragsdale, Makery Lab Manager at the Stanford Graduate School of Education

Dewayne J. McClary, Director, League of Innovative Schools, Digital Promise

Sandra Velásquez, Innovative Learning & Technology Integration Coordinator at the San Mateo County Office of Education