Pedagogue Blog

When thinking about the requirements of a good education, many people focus on standard subjects such as reading and writing, and math. But employers are asking for new hires who are proficient in soft skills. Though there is no widely accepted definition of “soft skills,” the basic concept is easy: soft skills are the non-academic skills that one needs to succeed on the job and in life. Some of the newer educational reform efforts have recognized that skills such as flexibility and productivity need to be explicitly taught in schools for learners to develop the soft skills they will need to succeed in work and in life.

Prudent use of digital tools can help in the effort to teach soft skills. For example, most digital platforms encourage learner collaboration and thus allow learners to practice working together. Learners creating a digital mind map as a learning tool or collaborating to write a case study in a Google doc will have chances to refine their skills at working together. 

Time management is a challenge for most people in the digital age, and it is always the case that there is something on Netflix that is more interesting than the document you are supposed to be reading. It is always just one click away. But the temptations that digital tools make can sometimes be solved by digital tools, and learners can learn to self-regulate through productivity tools that are freely available.

Many educators who have attempted to infuse their instructional activities with education technology have learned the hard way that things do not always go as you planned them. Wise educators will turn this bump in the road into a learning opportunity: the challenges of getting the tech to work properly can become an influential lesson that will help learners develop these soft skills.

Another crucial soft skill is open-mindedness. Education technology tools that encourage learners to think outside of the box can be very helpful in developing this key skill. Most programs and platforms make it easy for classrooms to be linked to other classrooms in other countries for collaborative projects. This is the type of experience that will help learners learn to think more broadly. 

The need for soft skills isn’t going away; these skills will become more important in an increasingly digital workspace.

The percent of learners taking online courses has exploded in recent years, and it shows no signs of abating. This is perhaps no surprise: online courses offer learners a great degree of flexibility. However, the rise of online courses has led to a war between traditional and online instruction in higher education. If you peruse the admissions materials for many online programs, you will notice how careful many are to tell you that their degree will not reveal that it was earned online, as if this were an albatross of shame. But we need to end this war for the benefit of all learners.

The first step in ending the war is improving the quality of online learning. If online courses were regarded as having comparable quality as traditional instruction, there would be no cause for conflict. But the perception that they are different is what underlies almost all of the conflict. Most instructors view online courses as an easier teaching assignment, something not worthy of their best efforts. 

They may post the exact same videoed lectures and reading assignments to their campus’ LMS and believe that they have fulfilled their obligation to their online learners. As long as the classroom experience is better, the war between online and traditional education will persist. So, instructors who make their online courses just as rigorous, engaging, and novel as their traditional classes have an important role to play.

Second, universities need to stop viewing online courses as a cash cow. It is possible to deliver an online class at a lower cost than a traditional class. But as soon as the online learners are positioned as the workhorses of the institution—instead of the institution’s focal point—the stage is set to continue the war. Not only that, but disturbing questions about educational equity can arise from such a practice. 

Schools should ensure that the same resources are devoted to online instruction and traditional classes. This might result in smaller class sizes, improved tech, and improved instructional materials. All of these will make a big difference in the conflict between traditional and online learning.

Universities must be prepared for the education technology of the future. This might involve the type of fundamental rethinking of the structure of a university that has not happened in hundreds of years. But it should result at the end of the war between traditional and online learning—and that will only benefit learners and the wider community.

Personalized learning refers to the practice of teaching to each individual learner. Historically, many educators have had little choice but to teach to the average. Of course, no one learner is average. This means that instruction was often not appropriate for most learners, who struggled as a result. Personalized learning reframes instruction by using the many appropriate tools, approaches, and content for each learner. 

Of course, this is extremely difficult to accomplish without education technology tools. One of the keys to implementing a quality personalized learning strategy is a focus on learning analytics. 

Let’s start off by defining learning analytics. It is the analysis of learner performance to shape future instruction. An educator focused on learning analytics is not content to see that a learner earned a B grade on an exam. Rather, that educator will closely assess what the learner got wrong to ensure that the learner can master that material. An important component of learning analytics is analyzing wrong answers to determine what misconceptions a learner has. 

Although some educators have access to sophisticated systems for learning analytics, not all districts make that available. But educators can use free tools to leverage learning analytics to personalize learning. A learner response system such as Socrative can be used to, for example, assess a learner’s knowledge before a new unit begins with a formative assessment. 

Educators can then make assignments targeted at correcting misconceptions and filling in gaps based on the personalized learning needs of individual learners before continuing with the material. Similarly, a tool as easy as Google Forms can be used to assess student learning; based on their results, learners can be directed to instructional activities that are appropriate for them. 

Increasing digital learning opportunities for all learners is the focus of the future-ready movement. Although the movement itself focuses on the K-12 environment, there is a lot that a university can do to build on its foundation. So what does a future-ready university look like?

First, it has stakeholders who are committed to creating future-ready learners. Tools, such as this interactive planning tool, can help a university become future-ready.

Second, the future-ready university is absolutely committed to digital equity for all of its learners. Although popular perception features college learners as perpetually connected to their devices, the reality is somewhat different, especially when economic factors occur. Recent research has revealed that a large percentage of college learners are food insecure, which suggests that they may be “device insecure.” So a future-ready university is prepared to ensure that all learners have adequate access to digital learning opportunities.

Third, a future-ready university emphasizes important lessons in digital citizenship for its learners. Although a few learners may have completed a rigorous digital citizenship curriculum as a K-12 learner, most will not have. A future-ready university will help learners prepare to legally use digital media. Plus, future-ready learners need to understand how to maintain appropriate relationships online. 

Universities need the resources to coach learners as they respond to cyberbullying and other uncomfortable situations in the digital age. Helping learners to think about their digital footprint and online reputation is also crucial, especially since university learners will be entering the job market within just a few short years. Further, learners will need help in learning how to keep their private data secure. 

Lastly, universities have an enormous responsibility in helping learners learn how to evaluate info that they find online. Recent research shows that many adults do not possess adequate skills to appropriately vet info for bias and relevance. 

These digital citizenship skills are a challenge in an age of reduced resources and tightening budgets. But these attributes are necessary for future-ready universities. Stakeholders can become prepared to leverage these skills by engaging with the future-ready movement, perhaps by following the official future-ready account on Twitter.

Open Educational Resources are educational content that is available online without any copyright restriction. These are influential learning tools for every learner, but perhaps most especially for those learners in cash-strapped school districts. Here’s why:

First, the expense of traditional printed textbooks means that underfunded school districts cannot replace them frequently. It is difficult for educators to teach their learners when the last two or three presidential administrations are not included in the learner’s textbook. The rapid advance of tech makes this problem even worse, and learners have a hard time taking content seriously if it shows people talking on phones with cords or using computers with monitors the size of minifridges. The great benefit of open educational resources is that it makes it possible for content to be updated and for schools to use the updated versions instantly for free.

Second, there is a level of personalization possible with open educational resources that is not imaginable with traditional resources. One of the main purveyors of open educational resources is CK12. Their modular materials make it possible for learners to be given precisely the materials that they need. Educators can select reading materials that cover the same topic at a higher or lower complexity, depending on the learner’s needs. 

They can select reteaching and remediation materials based precisely on the learning deficits of each learner. They can also permit learners to select topics of their choice to study from a wide array of options. And, the variety of materials—from written narratives to videos to interactives to practice questions—ensure that learners can select materials that are the best match for their specific learning needs. This is not possible with a traditional textbook.

Third, open educational resources make it possible for learners to be exposed to a wider variety of viewpoints. A traditional textbook speaks with one authoritative voice. But open educational resources enable educators to, for example, find primary sources who present multiple sides of an issue or controversy and enable learners to analyze and assess these themselves. This type of thinking is important for today’s learners, and open educational resources make it possible. 

Recent research on open educational resources shows evidence of improved learning outcomes: learners have higher retention rates and higher grades when provided with open educational resources materials than learners who did not have access to open educational resources. Open educational resources can supplement, enhance, or even replace traditional instructional materials and benefit learners in various ways.

Educators, understandably, often focus on their learners. And wise educators recognize that their learners will need to be tech-literate to succeed in the coming years. But to truly accomplish this goal, educators might be well advised to start not with the learners but rather with their parents.

First, once you consider summers and holidays, kids will spend more waking hours at home than at school. This means that a tech-literate home environment will benefit learners in ways that a classroom infused with education technology can’t. This makes it essential to help parents become technologically literate and motivated to help their learners navigate the digital world. 

Educators can coach and guide parents to select education technology resources that will increase learner learning during those crucial times outside school, particularly during the summer. Parents are also able to help their learners mesh education technology and tangible-world experiences, such as with app-guided museum tours.

Second, parents are often concerned about the quality of the digital resources that their kids are consuming. An educator needs to explain the merits of any online assignments sent home to address this problem, or they risk that parents will not support their efforts to harness digital learning content.

Third, parents are key role models for their kids. If the parents are not using tech well, it is unlikely that their kids will either. Most adults have trouble distinguishing “fake news” from accurate info, and they are likely to have kids who mirror this situation if there is no intervention. Educators are perhaps uniquely positioned to help parents, kids, and entire families develop the digital literacy skills needed to successfully navigate the contemporary media environment. 

Although understandably, educators would focus their efforts on promoting digital literacy on their learners, there is much to be said for a more nuanced approach that does not leave parents out of the equation. 

The future-ready initiative strives to increase access to digital learning for American learners. Its principles are a great boon for tech coaches, who are already aligned with the mission and approach of future-ready instruction.

In fact, the initiative has a variety of resources specifically designed to help tech coaches improve learning outcomes. One key principle is the concept of personalized learning. Although many tech coaches are very familiar with this concept, there is still room to personalize many instructional materials on school campuses. The tech coach is conceptually positioned to help classroom educators learn about and implement education technology tools that make it feasible for them to meet the learning needs of each learner. 

The wise tech coach can help educators understand that personalization might require some substantive set-up time but will reduce the educator’s workload—not to mention improved student learning. Tech coaches can help educators navigate what can seem like an overwhelming task of providing instruction designed for the unique needs of each learner.

A future-ready tech coach understands the crucial importance of equity, not just in education in general, but also in the adoption of education technology. Tech coaches will want to ensure that educators have access to mobile hot spots to ensure that learners without access to broadband at home can complete assignments. Most learners may be embarrassed to announce their lack of access, so the tech coach will need to work with educators to ensure that every learner’s needs are met.

A future-ready tech coach is also aware of the limits of education technology. The knowledge of the dangers of excess screen time means that tech coaches may sometimes need to coach educators away from education technology, no matter how counterintuitive that seems. But the tech coach is conceptually positioned to know what a learner is experiencing in all of her classes and make suggestions that permit a balanced—instead of overwhelming—use of education technology.

Creating future-ready learners requires not just layering new education technology on top of what a school is already doing but also a fundamental reinvention of instructional practices. The future-ready tech leader can guide educators through this transition and provide the coaching needed to ensure that all learners benefit from education technology tools.

The effort to ensure that learners are “future-ready” has gained momentum in recent years. Stakeholders have identified the importance of digital learning tools to ensure learners’ success. And although the effort has largely focused on elementary and secondary education, that does not mean that college learners are off the hook. Rather, the same principles that benefit younger learners will help college learners make the most of their higher education experience. 

One principle from the future-ready movement that can benefit college learners is the concept of personalized learning. College learners are old enough to take learning into their own hands and ensure that they maximize their opportunities. For example, college learners should take advantage of study sessions. They can also utilize digital tools such as Skype or Google Hangouts to increase their contact with their instructor and other learners. They can also seek out online digital resources that can help them understand course materials. 

Although the best tools will depend on the subject being studied, Google Scholar is an excellent all-purpose source for accessing reliable info. Learners should seek out resources on their campus that can inform them about education technology tools that can maximize their study time.

College learners will also benefit from mastering education technology tools rather than letting the tools master them. Many college learners multitask with tech tools, but they need to understand that research shows that multitasking decreases productivity and learning. In fact, learner performance increases when a learner does not have their phone in the room. Even a phone placed face down on the desk decreases a learner’s cognitive performance. Although it takes a great deal of discipline, learners should learn to separate their study time from their social time to maximize their learning.

Perhaps the most important way college learners can become future-ready is to think deeply and carefully about data and privacy. College learners need to understand the potential ramifications of decisions to “overshare,” especially about socially unacceptable behaviors. These abilities are just as important to the twenty-first century as locking one’s car doors was in the last century.

The “future-ready” movement seeks to increase digital learning tools in schools. Although the focus of the effort is on school leaders, that doesn’t mean that a parent can’t be future-ready. And it is certainly the case that a learner would benefit from having a future-ready parent. So what does a future-ready parent look like? They have four characteristics:

1. They recognize that not all education technology improves learning. A company can make a wide variety of claims, but the evidence may not back up the marketing department’s promises. Most businesses often commission and release their own research touting their success, but this research may not meet the standards for academic research. So, the future-ready parent must carefully assess education technology to ensure that their kids use materials that will benefit them.

2. Wise parents know that although education technology is not the same as playing a video game, there are still concerns about kids having too much screen time. Although the best education technology can help learners develop vital skills, it must also be balanced with developmental experiences in the “real world.” Kids need to learn how to interact with other people and manage their responses to boredom. They need time to imagine and interact. So although future-ready parents understand the advantages of digital tools, they also know when to say “enough.”

3. The future-ready movement focuses on preparing learners for college and career readiness. This means that the future-ready parent has to think about the long-term: What does my kid want to pursue as an adult? 

4. Being future-ready means having an eye toward digital equity. This implies that parents will care not only about the academic success of their own kids but also about the success of kids who are disadvantaged in some way. 

You might be tempted to dismiss the concept of the “future-ready educator” as just the latest bit of jargon or the newest passing fad in education, but before you do, dig a little deeper into the movement. You’ll find a treasure trove of resources designed to help education stakeholders increase the opportunities for digital learning for all learners.

One of the key tenets of the future-ready movement is an emphasis on increased opportunities for blended learning. For the uninitiated, blended learning refers to combining traditional educational approaches with digital tools for instruction. Although one might initially think that an all-high-tech approach would have the most appeal, it is important to know the limits of tech and its benefits. Some research has shown that tech-infused learning does not always deliver on its promise of improving learner outcomes. 

So the wise educator will not just automatically opt for the high-tech solution but will carefully assess instructional methods to select the best ones, whether that be the latest education technology or a good, old-fashioned paper-and-pencil exercise. So, the future-ready educator incorporates education technology only where it has been shown to improve learner learning.

Another key aspect of future-ready teaching is a focus on personalized instruction. One size does not fit all, and teaching to the “average” learner can often mean instruction that meets the needs of no one since no learner is perfectly average. Personalization enables the learner to maximize their use of instructional time. 

Of course, it can be hard to comprehend the amount of work required to personalize learning without ample tech tools; fortunately, today’s eduators can harness a wide variety of educational technology tools to assess, track, and instruct learners. They can perform finely-grained data analysis to target which skills require more practice for each individual learner. And, they can provide that instruction at a one-to-one level where education technology tools are available. 

Tools such as online videos allow learners to pause, review and seek more info from a presentation, things that would be impossible during a live lecture. Instructional videos micro-targeted to develop specific skills are just one of the tools that educators can use to personalize learning. The future-ready educator is an educator who can harness the power of tech to deliver targeted one-on-one instruction to all learners, at precisely the pace at which the learner moves best.

Learning how to use tech well is important in contemporary schools. Educators must figure out how to continuously increase their use and knowledge of tech. Without growth in this area, educators will become ineffective in the classroom setting. However, most educators don’t understand how they are supposed to foster that growth in themselves. 

You can learn how to become a more tech-savvy educator without a lot of effort or fanfare. Here are just a few easy tasks you can try to make you better informed about contemporary tech. 

Find a Community of Tech-Savvy Educators. 

Collaborating with other educators who also have to use tech is a good way to grow. You may have to lead this initiative or find a couple of educators in your department who want to compare concepts. Although it may be difficult, try to carve out a set amount of time for these meetings weekly or monthly. This can improve your own professional development and give you space to reflect on your own practices. 

Sign Up for Professional Development Training. 

Do you feel like you need some professional training in a specific area? A decade ago, you would have had to attend a college course on a campus across town. Now, things are much more convenient with access to on-demand training for college courses, easy webinars, and other online courses that can help answer your questions. 

Research and Experiment with Emerging Learning Tools. 

There is an endless selection of learning tools available at little to no cost. Tech-savvy educators are always researching the programs that are available to them and their learners. One way to always grow as a tech-savvy educator is to regularly experiment and play around with new apps. This is a great way to determine what is available to you and your learners while gaining greater familiarity with operating your device. 

Continuous growth is an important component of being an effective educator, particularly if you are increasing your tech-savvy abilities. This growth doesn’t have to be time-consuming. You can utilize it to improve your daily functioning and enhance your classroom at the same time. Try out a few of these easy ways to boost your professional development today. 

Growth is important to becoming an excellent leader in education. This growth is indispensable in major areas, like tech, especially because the info is always changing. You should be working tirelessly to grow as a tech-savvy administrator for your school. Unfortunately, most people aren’t sure where to start. They end up falling behind because they didn’t concentrate on learning all they could about the edtech in their school. 

Here are a few easy ways that you can continue to grow as a more tech-savvy education administrator: 

Set up a System to Collaborate. 

One of the ways that many leaders continue to grow is through sharing what they learned with others. A communication and collaboration system is an excellent way to give yourself new concepts and insight into how your system could be improved. It is a chance to reflect on your skills and find areas for improvement simultaneously. A tech-savvy education administrator might need to open the door for more discussions on tech among staff members. This could mean a meeting once a month or an online discussion to cover what works well in the classroom. 

Look for Education Opportunities. 

School budgets are small, which means that many schools can’t afford to send leaders to classes. However, constant learning is important to keep up with the ever-changing world of tech. If your school can’t afford to pay for professional development or training, you need to find plenty of free educational resources. Read articles during your planning periods to supplement your current knowledge. 

Stay Up-to-Date on Emerging Tech. 

Because tech is constantly changing, tech-savvy leaders need to stay current on the latest developments. Note what new devices are coming out, the available updates, and even new programs that could benefit classrooms. Research and staying abreast of trends can help you continue growing as an administrator. 

Get Comfortable

As an administrator, you must demonstrate a certain comfort level with your tech use. You shouldn’t have to struggle to perform foundational tasks in front of others. You should be rather fluent in your capacity to manage your own devices and programs. Practice as often as you can to achieve a good comfort level. This can help to push the strategy for the entire school. 

Growth is important for a tech-savvy education administrator who wants to stay ahead of the latest trends. It doesn’t take much to further your growth in the field of tech and its implementation. With a few of these easy tasks, you can continue to lead the people around you toward the future.