The Worst Technology

On Mondays, I share a different ed tech quote on our Thompson Classroom social media pages for our staff to consider.

Last week, while at the Cyber Summit conference, the keynote speaker (Brian Aspinall) made a comment that really resonated with me, “Today’s technology is the worst our students will ever use”. The conference theme, artificial intelligence, is arguably currently seen as the “latest and greatest” innovation; why else would we be gathered together and spending multiple days unpacking every aspect of it? But, this innovation is the worst technology our students will ever use. This perspective was a wild reminder for me.

“Let’s wait and see” can be an easy stance to take when integrating new tools; especially when there is so much on an educator’s plate. I also do not encourage blind adoption without critical analysis and appropriate education. However, with access and functionality of tech tools only improving, holding off on integration would do a disservice to our students. Today is the day to explore, fail, take risks, and expand the opportunities for ourselves and our students.

I am naturally an Innovator or Early Adopter on the Tech Adoption LifeCycle, that’s why I am in the role that I am, but much of our staff fall into the last two categories on the scale. How can we support them in seeing value in these tools?

Personally, I feel that if we provide the opportunity, a lot of our students naturally fall into the first two categories as well. How do we bridge the gap between students and teachers? One resource that I have found helpful in my role is The Complete Ed Tech Coach book.