Participate and share: Interactive session 
The long tail impact of the Covid-19 pandemic continues in K-12 education providing both rich lessons learned from the experience for both educators and parents, as well as continuing to stimulate new energy around how to improve educational experiences for all students. The jumpstart for this newfound interest was certainly the seismic jolt to the traditional school paradigm resulting from the shift to virtual learning in most schools and communities due to the pandemic. The immediate effects of that virtual learning shift have been well-documented. To support continuity of learning when students could not come into physical school buildings, students were provided with personally assigned tablets, laptops, and Chromebooks to use from home to log into virtual classes, to access online learning materials and to facilitate communications with teachers and classmates. This necessity-based innovation has resulted in a significant change in student access to technology in school. Per recent Speak Up® Research findings, 91% of K-12 teachers now report that their students have access to a personally assigned digital learning device to use within the classroom, a three-fold increase since 2014. School districts gained new insights into the home Internet connectivity challenges in their community and double-downed on providing ways for students to gain access to the Internet through mobile hotspots, WiFi in school parking lots, and partnering with local businesses and libraries as access points. As a result of the virtual learning experience, teachers developed new skills using technology, not just to engage students in learning but as a learning platform. Most notably, 50% of classroom teachers now say that they are very comfortable leveraging student devices within their lessons or classroom activities; less than half as many teachers (22%) said the same in 2018. And parents acquired a more in-depth awareness about their child’s education and school-based learning life from that kitchen table view of school. They enjoyed that transparency about their child’s education and the increased communication with teachers and would like those side benefits of virtual learning to continue. Though certainly not new, administrators more fully realized that the role of the community school far extends beyond providing classroom instruction and includes a critical mission of childcare and providing emotional and mental health support for children.
As a result of these seismic changes in K-12 education, the classroom looks very different today. But the work of transforming education is still in its infancy, despite the physical changes to the classroom such as more devices for students to use and a greater emphasis on teacher use of digital content in the classroom. The new challenge today is to move from simply providing increased technology access to improving student learning experiences for all. A key lesson learned from the past few years is that the mere presence of technology does not magically translate into deeper learning experiences. But one of the obstacles to strategically planning for more effective use of greater access to technology has been a nostalgic pull in some communities to revert to the way schools traditionally looked and functioned in February 2020. Given the changes in K-12 education, reverting to school models of the past is neither realistic nor even possible today. Just as banks, grocery stores, and medical providers are leaning into the new behaviors and preferences of their consumers, so must our schools. As we start to put the pandemic in the rear-view window, educators are increasingly coming to that same belief. According to 89% of district administrators on the Speak Up Research surveys, the pandemic and the resulting disruptions to traditional education have significantly and sustainably changed K-12 education. Whether it was the intent or not, the steps undertaken to support continuity of learning have left an indelible mark on the ways teachers teach, parents engage, administrators lead, and students learn. While there is no going back, the path forward to creating new teaching and learning mindsets is still a work in progress. In this session, our primary purpose is to discuss what classroom teachers and school building leaders need to move beyond checking the box on technology access to thinking more deeply about the new purpose of education today and what they need to design and sustain new classroom practices to support more effective learning through the appropriate and meaningful use of technology.
Introductions. Audience polling on what they really know about student aspirations for more effective use of technology within their learning experience. Source: results from the Speak Up Project data. (5 min)
The Student Point of View on School and Learning Today. A review of the latest Speak Up Research about student aspirations for more effective ways to use technology to support learning. Included in this research review will be new findings about how educators are currently evaluating the efficacy of technology use in the classroom and the alignment of those evaluation practices with in-classroom instructional methods. (15 min)
Making Meaning. A whole group brainstorming discussion to the disconnects between how students are viewing technology as a utility for getting a job done while educators continue to view technology as an engagement tool within learning. (10 min)
Solution Development. Working in small groups, attendees will identify 3 tangible things that teachers and building leaders can do to address students’ concerns about classroom learning experiences. The small groups will also identify the real challenges or barriers that could thwart their efforts to bridge these gaps. Each group will share their ideas in the whole group setting. (20 min)
Wrap Up – Next Steps. We will share with the attendees a Project Tomorrow developed tool to help educators understand their students’ aspirations for more effective learning experiences. Attendees will also be provided with a repository of all the big ideas shared in this session on the Project Tomorrow ISTELIVE 2024 website. (10 min)
Evans, J. A. (2023) Beyond the Classroom of Today: From Increasing Technology Access to Improving Student Learning Experiences. Project Tomorrow – Speak Up Research Project.
Evans, J. A. (2023) Beyond the IT Department: The Emergence of the CIO as a Digital Leader in K-12 Districts. Project Tomorrow – Speak Up Research Project.
Evans, J. A. (2022) Beyond the Homework Gap: Leveraging Technology to Support Equity of Learning Experiences in School. Project Tomorrow – Speak Up Research Project.
Evans, J. A. (2022) Free Agent Learning: Leveraging Students’ Self-Directed Learning to Transform K-12 Education. Jossey-Bass.
Evans, J. A. (2021) Empowering and Engaging Student Voice to Create Equity in Education - Five Questions Every K-12 Education Leader Should Ask Today. Project Tomorrow - Speak Up Research Project.
Additional Speak Up Research Project publications: https://tomorrow.org/speakup/speakup_data_findings.html
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