The digital revolution is approaching an end, but most schools aren’t ready to say goodbye. They’re exploring the possibilities of digitally transforming instruction with tech. In the interim, researchers are already working on switching bytes for atoms. Digital tech will be a relic from the past, much like the computer keypunch terminals from the 1960s.

As digital tech fades from contemporary use, will the dreams of transforming schools disappear with it?

The digital tech used in education technology solutions today has become the Pied Piper of education. He plays a haunting tune to lure educators and administrators into rethinking school instructional design. Every academic year, educators gather to identify transformational tactics that will change instruction for the better.

Some schools have moved forward as a result of this planning. They’ve executed flexible scheduling, flipped classrooms, and made informal seating areas for students. Other schools remain mired in their old ways. Classes still start and end at the same time. The educator delivers all of the instruction to learners seated in rows of desks. Little has changed.

How can we expect a transformation if our schools still look the same?

What’s preventing schools from total tech transformation

Tech has had a tremendous impact on education. We see better info sharing, more individualized instruction, and jobs in the education sector to meet the needs of learners.

Our learners are benefiting from digital tech in most different ways. They have easier access to more resources than ever before. They participate in hands-on learning and simulation activities that once were not possible. The learners of the 21st century have never known a time without digital tech.

Many learners have experienced an industrial-age school organization and management. They sit in neat rows and follow a strict schedule and follow arcane rules. Educators agree that the factory model of organizing schools and instructing learners is as ineffective as outdated.

Tech was supposed to fix that. What’s holding us back from managing to organize our schools in a way that responds to the needs of learners?

The Journey Matters

Most people focus on a single objective. They look straight ahead, never veering from their goal. They miss the lesson that is being taught. It’s the journey that matters, not the destination.

Transformation only happens when an ecosystem develops in support of an invention. The invention never builds the ecosystem. We haven’t observed an organizational change in education because we expected tech to transform education independently. The truth is that we will never transform schools until we build an environment that supports the tech we use.

Our capacity to make engaging learning environments already exist. To truly transform tech before the end of the digital age, we must stop practicing outdated customs that don’t support learners in using tech.

As tech transforms, we too must change with it.