Announcing a new education site (and accompanying newsletter): Educating Modern Learners.
In the past few years, we have seen a renewed interest in education technology — among educators, tech entrepreneurs, politicians, parents, and kids alike (and, for better or worse, in the popular media too). And yet far too often, ed-tech is positioned as a tool that will serve to merely enhance pre-existing classroom practices, to make these more efficient. It’s a missed opportunity to rethink how technologies — particularly the World Wide Web — change the way we connect with one another, the way we access and share information, the way we build communities and build knowledge, the way we teach and learn.
As such, I’d argue there’s a huge gap in the popular (media) discussions about ed-tech (and, more broadly, about education as well). We’re still, in many cases, making arguments about why why schools should buy computers (online testing! digital textbooks!), instead of thinking about how technology could be and will be transformative. Decades after the introduction of the personal computer and the Internet, we’re still debating whether ed-tech might be good or bad rather than exploring how our world might now be different because of it and how the future might be even more so.
We desperately need a new narrative about future of teaching and learning. We need that narrative amongst educators and parents and politicians, sure. But we need that narrative articulately loudly and clearly in the media. We need it told and explained convincingly to education leaders.
We need a narrative that isn’t about education reform as privatization. And we need a narrative that doesn’t respond to ed reform pressure by insisting that school as-is is actually “just fine.” We need a narrative that merges progressive education and progressive politics and progressive tech. That’s the niche that Educating Modern Learners will fill.
You can read more about my role in the new site over on my personal blog. Educating Modern Learners' co-founder Will Richardson has also posted an announcement on his blog.
Image credits: Educating Modern Learners and The Noun Project