The why behind edtech has weighed heavily on my mind the last few days since hearing Dennis Kambeitz, Director of Education for robotics.education explain the incredible impact technology will have on our society in the next 10-15 years, just as our elementary students are entering the world. Though I knew tech would play a major role in society, I didn't realize the vast impact as Dennis explained. Basically, even our "unskilled" job positions will need to be filled by people with some technology literacy. They will need to know how to trouble shoot the ordering kiosk at McDonald's and how to work with the customer service robot at Lowe's. These positions once filled with our unskilled work force will now require some basic tech knowledge and will be filled by people who've had some tech exposure and a basic level of comfort in working with technology.
If we continue to teach as we've always taught, we'll have an ever growing group of people who are not even qualified for the most basic employment needs. Now that is food for thought! Additionally, he mentioned the idea that many of our students would be left unable to attend college and university because those basic jobs we all took to put ourselves through school would require some of those tech literacy skills, thereby further widening the gap between the tech literate and tech illiterate. EVERY industry is impacted by technology and if we aren't sharing that with students, we are holding them from success.
Today, while listening to an interview between Birdville ISD in Texas with Jennifer Bergland, Director of Governmental Relations with TCEA, Ms. Bergland emphasized doing what's best for students, regardless of the struggle and difficulty that may be in the work of doing so. Exposing students to, and supporting them in learning how to appropriately use, manage and create technology is imperative to their future success. Therefore, it is imperative that we use technology with our students to achieve this goal.
I challenge you to reflect upon your current practices and find where you can further your own knowledge so you can thereby teach and influence your students.
Share your PLN (Professional Learning Network) in the comments below to spread the network of who you collaborate with and learn from.
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