Ep. 242: The Trouble with Shiny Things
EQ: How has the pendulum swung on the implementation and embracement of educational technology and how should schools balance the needs, desires, and values of various stakeholders in the context of modern tech?
Guest: Leisa Grace Wilson, co-founder and Editorial Director of Teach Middle East
In this episode, Annie and Hope sit down with Leisa Grace Wilson the director of Teach Middle East Magazine to talk about education, technology, and the ongoing pendulum swing between embracing ed tech and wondering if maybe we’ve gone a little too far. From favorite everyday tech to the dumbest ed-tech trends that deserve to be binned, we dig into what schools are getting right, what they might be overcomplicating, and which underused innovations deserve more attention (including, perhaps, the humble keyboarding class). We unpack the rise of AI, and the cautionary tales schools should keep in mind while figuring out how to balance the needs, desires, and values of students, teachers, parents, and administrators. And because technology never rolls out in a cultural vacuum, we explore how geography, local values, and regional context shape the ways schools embrace, adapt to, or push back against new technologies. In other words: where exactly should the ed-tech pendulum land, and who gets to decide?
Do Your Fudging Homework:
Hope: If you’re an educator in the Gulf, please subscribe to Teach Middle East–you’ll get a wealth of knowledge, resources, and opportunities for professional learning.
Annie: If you’re not an educator or a student, you may not often consider how ed tech affects you but trends in the field have a far-reaching impact, including into all of our workplaces, especially those cross-generational workforces. Commit to some personal reflection about how you can better understand your coworkers and professional acquaintances in the context of us all having dissimilar educational technology backgrounds. Will you be able to teach your boss how to convert a PDF or your Gen Z coworker how to answer the phone? Maybe not, but do it for the empathy sub-plot and grow as a person.
Leisa: Don’t get your info from only social media—read some journals. Actually read and not just glance over things & write your thoughts.