It’s Never Too Late To Boost Your Edtech Skills

Technology has certainly played a huge part in helping education to continue throughout the pandemic so far and teachers have done an amazing job of adapting their teaching practice to better serve students in a totally online learning environment. It has been a huge learning curve for everyone. Teachers who were already using edtech extensively in their classrooms found the transition easier than those who did not – but it’s more important than ever to address any edtech problems teachers may have, as digitally-led learning is set to play an increasing role in education in the future.

There’s a difference between choosing not to use edtech for pedagogical reasons (i.e. if the learning situation is not appropriate for its application) and choosing not to use it due to lack of confidence. Let’s deal with the latter, because not moving forward with technology due to feelings of being overwhelmed or uncertain is absolutely something that can be overcome with the right support from senior leaders and colleagues. I think the majority of schools now realise that not doing so is counterproductive and they will try to assist teachers as much as they can, within the limits of their budgets.

Removing any barriers to more fluent edtech use in the classroom has taken on a new priority for schools now that we have seen just how important it has been over the last year. Indeed, some of the adjustments that have been made out of necessity (e.g. online parents’ evenings, using a variety of tech solutions for communication, apps for audio feedback, the use of video exemplars and so on) have worked so well that many schools are planning to continue them in the future. So, it’s now clear that, in terms of technology use, there is no going back to how it was before and edtech is set to become even more embedded throughout schools across the world.