What Are the Most Important Barriers That EdTech Needs to Overcome?

Technology has become an important part of the classroom and facilitates student success by enabling learners of today to go where they want to learn, when they want to learn, and how they want to learn. It also encourages employee learning.

As we see schools in Europe, the United States and anywhere, we find that not only do we make the same mistakes in deploying EdTech (education technology) as other countries do, but also educational institutions within the same district are even making the same mistakes!

The recent figures from the United Nations show that there are more than 263 million young people out of full-time education worldwide, equivalent to one out of every five people aged between 5 and 17. There are numerous reasons why, some being clear, such as physically not having an educational facility to attend, while others are less obvious, like a teacher not having the adequate training or resources to deliver effective education.

Educational institutions, districts, and entire countries all appear to “recreate the wheel” implementing mobile deployments that suffer from similar setbacks. More cross-pollination and sharing of best practices are important for school districts to develop a learning initiative that leads to success. This is the reason it is important to know reoccurring barriers to mobile technology adoption and how to overcome these barriers to help students learn in the present digital world.

EMPOWER LEADERSHIP

It is crucial to have a buy-in starting from the top down within your school. The vision should align with the academic or instructional outcomes you wish to see in your students. If the fulfilment of the vision happens to be done with the help of a mobile device so be it!

The other side of this is that school districts are gigantically complex organizations, and you need as much assistance as you can get in the transition to mobile. There are administrators who concentrate on developing other great leaders within the student body and faculty will discover the transition to mobile considerably more successful because they have more boots on the ground. The key is to listen and empower students, teachers and parents who are excited about consistent learning and the opportunities to improve the experience of education.

This upfront collaboration and consistent dialogue are critical to creating an inclusive culture that cultivates EdTech adoption. The thing about culture is that it is a living breathing thing. It is not something you do once, and it is done. You need to keep working at it.

The manner in which you accomplish this is the involvement of your students, teachers, and parents in the initiative. Offer them an opportunity to share their ideas and opinion about how this can improve over time. Take advantage of the fact that the technology initiative is pushing things forward and utilize this momentum to make other upgrades.

INFRASTRUCTURE IS IMPORTANT

Individuals normally think that upgrading the wireless infrastructure is the primary thing they have to do before they can begin thinking about anything else. While this is true, a comprehensive deployment plan will best inform the decisions you have to make about infrastructure upgrades. Plan beyond connectivity and think about what educators and students will require today and tomorrow. Will you use streaming videos for learning in the future? How many mobile devices do your students use presently? How many in the next five years?

To make your vision for technology in the classroom a reality, the actual infrastructure plays a critical role. At the point when you’re making these decisions, it is important to invest in an easily scalable solution that can grow at the same pace as EdTech.

IMAGINE A LEARNING SOLUTION

We have all done it; purchased the latest, shiniest gadget with slick packaging without much thought to why you need it or what function it will play in your life. Presently it is in the junk drawer of your house. This can happen with schools too when concentrated on purchasing the latest and greatest without a fully baked learning solution.

At the point when education leaders articulate their vision for functional integration, overcoming barriers to technology is not just possible; it’s probable. This requires a focus on the pedagogical changes that technology empowers instead of simply using the technology. How will this make guidance different? Are educators going to flip the classroom and utilize the Socratic method more often? Will you utilize teachers to experiment with methods like Suggestopedia for teaching languages? How will you implement the Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition (SAMR), model?

These are the questions that result in real progress that are worth pursuing