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While these emerging technologies may offer many benefits for students and professors, institutions will need to address ethical and safety concerns.

Josh Davis spent 14 years teaching high school special education and middle school history, so he’s well aware of a few classroom constants. He understands how students with learning difficulties can feel separated from the rest of their classmates, how issues at home sometimes manifest as classroom misbehavior, and that being singled out—for both positive and negative reasons—is panic-inducing for just about all students.

However, Davis discovered new constants when he moved out of the classroom and into his current role as instructional technology coach at Downey Unified School District in California. Over and over, he saw teachers resisting technology adoption because they didn’t want to look foolish trying something new in front of students.

"The pandemic has taken a toll on all our institutions, and schools aren’t exempt. School leaders know that schools are closed, but teaching must go on, and; learning must go on. Schools have moved to online learning. Educators are working from home, delivering classes to learners over the video, preparing lesson plans, collaborating with other educators, amongst many other tasks. Educators are working harder and longer, and many are exploring the edtech at their disposal. It is a big change that requires school leaders to manage their educators’ motivation to prevent loss in productivity and burn-out."

We all know that education is changing at a rapid pace. The combination of Covid-19 forcing our hand and the advances of EdTech has really made the difference. We, however, must be sure that we don’t forget about pedagogy when chasing technology!

While it is perfectly normal to be inspired by the newest, most exciting learning technologies, district and school leaders must remember that educational technologies’ successful implementations require careful thought and planning. There are countless stories of failed ed-tech implementations because of a lack of planning.