The impact of technology on learning is "astronomical"
A recent article in the Chicago Tribune attempts to put the impact of technology on learning into perspective, and concludes that the impact is astronomical. An example is given of a college administrator who was asked a question by a student that she was unable to answer, so she put the question out on Twitter, and received answers from experts in the field, from all over the world, within seconds.

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In education alone, K-12 spending on edtech devices and programs has grown from $7.2 billion in 1998 to a projected $21 billion in 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Education. (Chuck Berman, Chicago Tribune/Feb. 4, 2015)

Jeannette Jones, dean of education at Schaumburg-based for-profit American InterContinental University, told of a time she sat in on a middle school class and a student asked the teacher a question.

She said the teacher didn't know the answer — but on the spot posed the question to her Twitter followers. The teacher in seconds received responses from several experts in the field, Jones said.

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That's an example of how technology is changing education forever. Other examples include increased use of iPads and management software in the classroom and programs that include 3D printers and other 3D technology.

The Chicago startup community has responded with education-technology ventures including Youtopia, Infiniteach, Classkick and ThinkCerca. And Chicago's 1871 tech hub last year launched an edtech incubator through a partnership with DeVry Education Group.

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"Technology in the classroom has shifted (education) to the 'sage on the side' approach," Jones told Blue Sky Innovation in an email response to questions. " The reality is that this age of information and information literacy inundates teachers and students with mass amounts of content, but much comes without context."

Technology, she says, makes learning more "robust" and individualized, allows students to embrace creativity and offers new learning strategies.

This is not some Orwellian vision of a future. Human teachers will always be needed to guide the prudent use of technology in the classroom. But it could be a revolution, or an evolution. Either way, it's growing, particularly in grade school.

Agnieszka Pietrzak, a teacher at St. Ferdinand Catholic School in Chicago, recently gave EdSurge, a California-based information-resource company for people involved in education technology, an example of how schools can use technology.

She said she uses Youtopia, which embeds learning into video games. Youtopia aims to promote positive behavior and help students develop social skills. Students who pass the skills course earn a badge.

"It is a powerful tool to take the skills that are intangible and make them tangible," Pietrzak told EdSurge.

A book published in April, "The Game Believes in You: How Digital Play Can Make Our Kids Smarter," serves as a primer for teachers and others interested in tapping the intuitive skills that make kids good digital-game players.

The book's author, Greg Toppo, a former teacher who's now education writer for USA Today, said Stanford math professor Keith Devlin told him that if video games had been around in 350 B.C., Euclid would have made one.

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That's the tip of the edtech iceberg.

"The fastest growing trend that I see right now, both at school and in the home, is the move toward more portable, multiuse digital devices," said Sharman Johnston, director of curriculum and instruction for Texas-based Children's Lighthouse Learning Centers.

"Teachers from pre-K through (high school) name laptops, iPads and electronic readers as the portable technologies with the greatest educational potential," she said. Preschool teachers also favor digital cameras, calling them the "most valuable instructional technology tool."

Johnston is leading the development of a proprietary curriculum known as CARES that among other themes adheres to the fact that technology must be built into a young child's learning experience because technology has become ubiquitous and can enhance children's real-world encounters.

Edtech specialist Holly Clark, a former Chicago Public Schools teacher, gives Illinois high marks for ensuring there is appropriate coaching for teachers new to the idea of Google apps or iPads in the classroom. CPS in mid-August conducted a "GooglePalooza" to help more than 1,000 teachers learn how to use Google Apps for Education, a free platform Clark called the best edtech tool.

Clark travels the world as part of a group of educators called EdTechTeam to help school districts and educators integrate technology into the classroom in a seamless and logical way.

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Among her recent stops was School District 90 in River Forest, where she worked from 2007 to 2009 as technology curriculum specialist. While there, she said, it became clear to her that "making thinking visible," a concept of Harvard University's Project Zero, was going to be technology's legacy in education.

"I began noticing that children learned best by doing, by sharing, by making their thinking visible," she said. "I can't help thinking how I wish I were a student now. I would have flourished in a classroom where I could be creative and my voice could be heard without getting detention."

Richard Asa is a freelance writer.

CORRECTION: This version reflects that the situation that Jeannette Jones of American InterContinental University describes in the first two paragraphs happened at a middle school, not at AIU.



CORRECTION: This version reflects that Holly Clark works for EdTechTeam, not EdTechTeacher.