Editor's Desk

Promises, Promises

1/4/2011 By:

It’s only natural, this time of year, to hear big-picture talk about the state of technology and pedagogy in school. Where have we been? Where are we going? The edtech industry, especially, likes to indulge in the navel gazing. How many decades have we been “reinventing education” now?

Far be it from us not to participate. If you turn to page 29 you’ll read the first installment of our 2011 Top 10 series and what is the inaugural foray into Tech&Learning’s annual list of predictions for the future of edtech.

In it, you’ll find some well-worn exclamations from promises past—“The death of textbooks!” and “The end of testing as we know it!” among them. What makes these prognostications distinct is that each is backed up with real-world scenarios. Bishop Dunne Catholic School in Dallas is 80 percent electronic books right now, according to its tech director, Paul Wood. T&L advisor and principal Chris Lehmann doesn’t test at his Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia so much as judge students on work done.

What the editors are betting on with this list is that these singular examples will shortly become widespread. At the end of 2011, we will revisit each of these projections and break down in what ways we were correct or why we were not. Give us your own prediction or tell us why we’re full of hot air at techlearning.com or on our Facebook page (search for Tech & Learning). Because, while we write about it, you make it happen. Happy New Year!

Kevin Hogan
Editorial Director