Learning Through Technology

I had the privilege today, of attending an education conference focusing on technology in education. The refreshing outcomes were the almost united messages from all of the panelists and delegates that pedagogy comes first, technology is only a tool to support this.

As a comparison, there are too many articles on LinedIn that claim to be the next big thing for education – for learners and educators – and will fix, or, at the very least, go far to reducing or removing many of the current system’s failings: a device that will engage learners to write through the use of a fancy device; a system that will improve learning, by itself, with only 10 minutes a day; digital technology that will be able to reach the most remote learners. These articles all claimed this ‘thing’ would be what teachers need; a magic bullet, if you will.

I much preferred today’s discussion from leaders and experienced professionals working in education now, not selling to education. The stress, from the speakers, was that the human element was what is needed to inform learners of their next steps, analyse their current status and diagnose where and why any barriers exist to progression. A tool, or digital device, can inform you that a mistake has been made; if ‘intelligent’ enough, a tool could maybe even tell a teacher what the mistake indicates, but it is the educator’s role to investigate errors, identify the patterns and evaluate how to enable a learner to achieve to their potential: determine the root of the problem and how best to address it.

#ltt18 was a wonderful chance to listen to informed leaders and educators with experience about designing, implementing, changing with / through technology. Not one mentioned relying on it.

What a great day.

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