Are We In the 5th EdTech Revolution? Yep!

My good friend and CIO of Wichita Public Schools, Robert Dickson, recently wrote an article, "The Next Era - We Shape AI, AI Shapes Us". 

In his article, he correctly declares that we are at the cusp of a new era where AI will permeate every aspect of our lives. 

However, this may be difficult for some folks to understand or believe. 

The road to previous EdTech Revolutions has been paved with hype, false promises, and startling under-delivery. 

And this is not the first time that we have believed that technology was “going to change everything" with those promises falling flat and billions of dollars being spent. 

The History of EdTech

During the 1600s and 1800s, educational technology looked a bit different than it does today. Slates, hornbooks, blackboards, and books were cutting-edge innovations that allowed for the educational process to be more streamlined and for learning to be conducted in mass. 

1920’s

Then, in the 1920s, the 1st EdTech Revolution began. Film, Radio, and Testing Machines began to permeate classrooms, and a new idea of robots teaching students and teachers, shifting from content experts to facilitators, was introduced to the American educational system and throughout other parts of the world. 

Promises of preparing 20th-century learners were introduced, and EdTech was seen as a gleaming beacon of the modern world. 

However, by the end of the decade, the Great Depression slashed the budgets of schools, and the promises of EdTech moved from essential to “nice to have.” In essence, the 1st EdTech Revolution was lost. 

1950s -1960s: The 2nd EdTech Revolution

EdTech was largely a memory throughout the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. With the exception of overhead projectors and typewriters, not much was introduced to classrooms. 

Then in 1957, Sputnik was launched, and the U.S. ramped into high gear with the passing of the National Defense Education Act of 1958. The NDEA introduced the concept of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). 

Over $2 Billion was invested in STEM and EdTech, and Film, Radio, and Teaching Machines were reintroduced to classrooms.

The 1960s saw the introduction of televisions and educational programming to classrooms. 

Auto-instructional Media was introduced, flexible furniture was put into many classrooms, and the ideas of Individualized Learning, Facilitated Teaching/Learning Model, and Technology can teach our students were brought back, although many thought of these ideas as new and cutting edge. 

Put simply, great new promises were made. 

However, by the 1970s, movements sprung up across the U.S. with the viewpoint that promises had been broken, there was a substantial loss of public support and funding in EdTech, and there was a strong push to go “back to the basics.” 

Classrooms went back to straight rows, and reading, writing, science, and math took center stage. 

1980s - 1990s: The 3rd EdTech Revolution 

Microprocessors led to a new EdTech Revolution; the personal computer became possible in scale in homes, businesses, and schools. 

For the first time, data processing was at our fingertips, and software presented grand new promises of preparing our students for jobs that did not yet exist. 

Schools began buying in bulk, computer software for classroom applications took off for social studies, spelling, vocabulary, typing, geography, science, and math (Oregon Trail), and non-classroom applications were introduced, such as digital grade books, digital college admission test prep, desktop publishing software, digital spreadsheets.

However, once again, studies showed that EdTech integration was not effective. EdTech was shown to increase test scores slightly, but promises of computer-led facilitated individualized learning did not emerge in large numbers. 

And the EdTech did not lead to the development of higher-order skills.  By the mid-1990s, computers all over the U.S. sat unused in the backs of classrooms. 

Although the promises in EdTech were broken, changes in society as a whole stuck, and technology became part of the fabric of the U.S.; employers began demanding that students be prepared to utilize technology in the workplace. 

This demand led us to the 4th EdTech Revolution. 

2000s-2020: The 4th EdTech Revolution

In the early 2000s through 2020, attempts to return to leverage technology in the K-12 classroom reemerged. 

The “new” idea of a facilitated teaching model and individualized learning returned. 1:1 Programs, BYOD, Flipped Classrooms, and Classroom Carts began to take hold. Many of these programs became successful. 

Why? Because the world has changed, the ability to learn From, About, and With computers has become an essential skill. 

For the first time, when done correctly. The promises of EdTech seemed to be fulfilled. 

Schools and districts with effective EdTech programs began to see gains across the board, and the problems of practice began to shift to “What is the best technology?”, “Do we let students keep their devices over the summer?” and “How do we deal with damaged devices?”. 

2020: The Start of the 5th EdTech Revolution

We all know the impact that COVID-19 had on the K-12 industry. 

However, the most substantial shift was not just in the use of technology for teaching and learning, but it was in the steamrolling of technology anxiety and technology hesitancy. 

Late and non-adopters were given little to no choice in the adoption of EdTech, and although many stayed at the “S” of the SAMR model, a beachhead had been achieved in many schools and districts. 

Unfortunately, the EdTech market also became overly saturated with MVPs and solutions to problems that did not actually exist. 

Money flowed, and while, in many cases, promises of some EdTech solutions have been broken, many have also been kept. 

Now, right as districts have begun the work to sift through the thousands of EdTech solutions to maximize ROI and minimize spending, breakthroughs in AI have hit the scene. 

These breakthroughs, combined with the steamrolling of technology anxiety and technology hesitancy, have brought us into the 5th EdTech Revolution before we even exited the 4th EdTech Revolution. 

As schools and districts learn that an estimated 73 million jobs will be taken over by AI, but that AI is also estimated to create a new 95 million jobs, tough decisions will have to be made. 

Will schools and districts keep educating students to go into these 73 million obsolete jobs? 

Or will they shift to preparing students for the 95 million new jobs? 

Will they embrace the AI, VR/AR, and new teaching/learning models? 

We shall see.