It’s Time for a Comeuppance

In 2006 we advocated for community wide WiFi access in multiple states. In 2008 we helped launch 1:1 technology in over 22 countries. In 2010 we helped teachers and leaders on six continents understand that technology in education is not about route learning and skill/drill but about depth and production. Too bad all the good didn’t scale. In 2020 we sadly realized that few were really using technology. In fact we saw that most hadn’t even covered the minimal expectations of accessibility. We found ourselves dumbfounded that the hard work had not been universally tended to. Hard work that truly has one important beneficiary: our kids.

The hard work isn’t about huge, unattainable ideas. Hard work is about looking at the world in which our children live and being good stewards of their growth. Their growth as capable, empathetic humans in a world that can either be torn apart or empowered by the technology that surrounds us. Hard work is about finding the connection between what we know and growing through learning about what we do not.

I’m not sure where the wheels fell of the bus. I don’t know if it was misunderstandings about what technology is really for in education (hint: binge watching Netflix and You Tube is not it). I don’t know if we just became too app happy, grabbing for what is cool instead of what drives deep learning for our kids. I don’t know if we just got so overwhelmed with the politics of education in the United States that we lost our sense of duty. I don’t know if technology became the next hot potato that was all to…