From the Editor
Award Program Lessons
Anne Wujcik — Friday, December 02, 2011
I've been inundated with news about companies who have been recognized in any one of several industry award programs. I don't pick up those various announcements for inclusion in the News Alert; there are just too many. I do recommend that you check out the award sites of the various organizations. The EdTech Digest awards, District Administration's Readers' Choice Top 100 Products and Tech & Learning magazine's Award of Excellence provide a quick look at which products educators find useful in their classrooms and districts. The Readers' Choice Top 100 Products winners were selected by the editors of District Administration from hundreds of nominations submitted by readers, including school superintendents and district-level directors in districts across the United States. T&L uses a panel of more than 30 educators who test all of the award program entries in several rounds of judging and select the winners.
The list of nominations for the various awards include a broad range of products and services, ranging from old favorites like Adobe's Acrobat, Discovery Education's streaming Plus, and Texas Instruments' TI-Nspire Navigator System to brand new products like netTrekker's igotta, School Improvement Network's Observation 360 and Sokikom's multiplayer math games.
I often get asked about the apparent disconnect between research that reports that increasingly more teachers are turning to a variety of digital resources and what sales people report encountering when they visit schools to promote their products. Part of the problem is that research often focuses on the more cutting-edge product categories, asking teachers about their attitudes about things like games and simulations or advanced media products, like streaming video or 3-D technology.
Teachers may indicate that they find these ideas appealing, but when faced with purchasing a product for classroom use still select more traditional products, like a skills-based product that students can use to practice and reinforce skills or even a traditional print-based test prep program. Teachers may like the more forward-looking idea, but feel unprepared to use it effectively with students, not have access to the necessary technology or simply be concerned about being sure students are prepared to deal with items they are likely to encounter on the upcoming state accountability test.
It's also true that administrators, both curriculum and technology leaders, are a few steps ahead of teachers in terms of the types of technology they value and the types of usage they expect to see in place over the next several years. So their responses on surveys tend to be more cutting-edge oriented. Time To Know just reported results from a survey of 300 district superintendents, assistant superintendents and school principals. These school leaders believe the classroom of the future will included computers for each student with teachers taking on the role of learning coach. By a large margin, they prefer a digital approach, using a comprehensive curriculum program with 1:1 computer access, an interactive whiteboard and supplemented by some student materials available in print.
Teacher practice stretches along a continuum. It's now very clear that educators are shifting their focus to resources that can help them personalize learning for each student. Instructional resources have to not only engage students, but also support collaboration and problem solving while being flexible enough to allow students to pursue deep dives into learning and follow different paths to specific learning goals. Many of these products will be technology-based or rely on technology systems to manage and fine tune instruction.
The challenge for publishers is to continue to market and support core products that meet the needs of the mainstream teachers who want practical solutions for today's classroom. But they also need to be showcasing their vision for instructional materials of the future so that they capture the attention of decision makers who right now are looking for publishing partners who have the vision that they need to help them move their districts forward. Finding the right balance can be tricky, but it's essential to success.
It was a real treat to see so many people at the various events in New York City earlier this week. I need some time to process everything I learned. Look for a few comments next week.
