Technology can be Transformative
Over the past at least 15 years and even more so within the past 3 years, educators have heard many statements made about technology and education. In spirit, and most likely intentions, it may be true. However, in application and execution, there remains a chasm because of access, usage, and experiences. Researchers at the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium looked at the use of technology and equitable outcomes, identifying the disparities that extend beyond access to technology and into the actual use of technology. One of my friends, Dr. Beth Holland, who is a researcher at The Learning Accelerator, collaborated on an article in which they looked at the Digital Use Divide and its impact on media literacy, among other things. This is all to say that an ample amount of peer-reviewed articles and research shows that access to technology is only one part of a critical equation when it comes to learning, learning access, and learner empowerment. Enter a term I love to share in many of my talks and workshops: Techquity. I define Techquity as merging the effective use of educational technologies with culturally responsive and relevant learning experiences to support learner development of essential skills and higher-order thinking. The primary focus of this posting is to understand why Techquity is essential in our learning environments and what strategies we can incorporate to both account for and implement across all learning opportunities.
One of the first steps towards achieving Techquity is to look at and definitively address the digital divide. The Harvard Business Review engaged in a research initiative called Imagining a Digital Economy for All (IDEA), in which they break down the digital divide into four distinct areas (Infrastructure, Inclusivity, Institutions, and Digital Proficiency). The digital divide can have adverse and accelerated impacts on students from historically marginalized backgrounds, lower socio-economic status, and impeded academic potential. Further to this point, these implications within an educational context cover everything from device acquisition to the type of devices used to the quality of internet access to pedagogical usage and concluding with the following question I love to pose, “How does the use of technology dismantle barriers to learner agency and learner empowerment?” All of this is to say it's not just what technology you have; it's how you are using it in ways that transform learning environments and learning opportunities.
There are a number of strategic ways in which we can apply a Techquity lens to our work in education. Let’s take a look at the following two distinct areas: Leadership and Learning.
Leadership
From a leadership perspective, we must consider how we are accounting for and allocating resources (human and financial) in meaningful ways to create a sustainable approach to ensuring techquity. This is also very important at this time since all that technology that was acquired between March and September of 2020 is either due for a refresh, or a refresh is fast approaching. That leads to the following questions to consider:
Is the effective use of technology clearly outlined in your mission statement, value statement, and/or strategic plan? This is essential because it demonstrates a clear understanding that technology is not a fancy add-on but a core component of learning environments.
Does your Professional Development plan provide cohesion and coherence with the overall school plan? I am constantly reminded of situations where the professional learning opportunities are not clearly in alignment with the overall mission and vision, or the opportunities are not directly responsive to the needs of the educators and their students.
Have you done or considered an internal digital equity audit? Going back to the four areas of the digital divide, it is not unusual to find that broadband access even within one school building, can be different.
Are you a one-size-fits-all technology school? This means that in the process of going 1:1 with technology, only one device or one type of device is acquired, and very few options exist for teachers to utilize when it comes to platforms or digital-based resources/applications.
How are you accounting for and embracing emerging technologies? Yes, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here and is here to stay. In fact, the current version is the absolute worst version we will see. Not considering, incorporating, and supporting the use of emerging technologies such as AI will only exacerbate the digital use divide, including in ways outlined in the research article linked above from The Learning Accelerator. Note: bias, race, and social class implications are also here.
Learning
When applying a Techquity lens into our learning environments, we must consider how it supports a culturally relevant and responsive environment in which learners are supported in taking ownership of their learning. As shared in the definition, this includes essential skills and higher-order thinking. The World Economic Forum recently published an article titled, “Here’s why education systems need to start taking a ‘skills-first’ approach.” This article includes a graphic showing an Education 4.0 Taxonomy in which the skills approach is at 3 different levels. Many, if not almost all, of the skills listed, can be developed and/or strengthened using technology. Let’s take one skill as an example: Communication. Think about how we use technology to communicate: synchronously, asynchronously, inter-personal, across digital space, geographical space, etc. How has our approach to literacy evolved to account for this? Referring back to the bullet point above around the use of Artificial Intelligence, I contend that developing a critical digital literacy skill set is essential to working effectively with a Large Language Model (LLM) and one strategy for mitigating the biases that inherently exist in those systems. Additional considerations to examine:
- How is the use of technology empowering learners to use their voices? In a myriad of ways?
- How does technology use accelerated learning in responsive ways to appropriately differentiate instruction?
- If every learner has a voice, how might technology be used to ensure every voice is heard?
- What are the most effective ways in which I can incorporate technology to support a robust Blended Learning environment?
- How does the use of technology support true collaboration in which the classroom becomes the most valuable resource for learning and feedback? Note: collaboration is one of the critical skills in the World Economic Forum graphic
- How might technology be used in practical ways to support higher-order thinking? I designed a graphic here that outlines the critical components of higher-order thinking in a technology-rich learning environment.
All of this is to share that when we consider our acquisition of and usage of technology, it must go beyond the simple how-to. When we effectively incorporate the right strategies, continuously iterate those strategies for changing conditions and emerging technologies, and perform periodic audits, we can ensure our learning environments are both empowering and relevant. When we develop a strategic approach, we are not adding more onto our already full plates, but we are ensuring what we have on the plate is fulfilling and sustaining.