By Chris Piehler
During a week when couples around the country are celebrating their love for each other with fancy dinners, candy, and jewelry, I’d like to ask the entire education technology industry to be my Valentine. I’ve spent most of my career bouncing from one niche to another: tennis, golf, gambling, orthodontics. I’ve met interesting people and visited fun places, but nowhere have I seen the kind of passion that I saw at last week’s TCEA conference.
And if I love one thing more than writing about ed tech, it’s making lists, so here are my top three reasons why I love telling stories about the intersection of education and technology.
- The mission: To my mind, doing everything we can to improve educational opportunities and outcomes for kids is vitally important work. It’s also incredibly challenging. How do we balance the need for equity with the need for individual attention? How do we make sure the technology that kids are using in class is actually helping them learn? These are questions that we all continually strive to answer, and I find that challenge irresistible.
- The technology: As the son of a mechanical engineer, I can’t help but love computers. And software that adapts to the needs of students. And curriculum that transforms textbooks into immersive environments. And apps that give students and teachers more computing power than NASA had a few decades ago.
In my rational brain, I know that technology products are the result of years of hard work, but to the part of me that’s still a kid, the latest hardware and software still have the thrill of magic.
- The people: At TCEA, I was reminded of the most important reason I love telling stories about ed tech: working with positive, creative, driven champions of education. People like Tom Murray, who won PRP’s 2017 Thought Leader of the Year Award. Like many folks I am lucky enough to work with, Tom started his career as a teacher. Now, as director of innovation for Future Ready Schools, he travels 30 weeks a year, spending time away from his wife and kids so he can help schools across the country prepare themselves and their students for the future.
Tom is just one of many thought leaders, vendors, and educators who have truly dedicated their lives to helping the children of our country. And I can’t help but love that.
Thank you for sharing!
