Edtech may be the buzzword of the moment but it has been around for a very long time. The reason why you seem to hear about it everywhere you go is simply because of the urgency that COVID-19 brought to the industry. Suddenly the issue of access to edtech has been bumped up on the priority list of every education department globally. While this may seem exciting on the surface, there are quite a few barriers to entry for a lot of schools especially in developing countries. These include but are not limited to, connectivity issues, access to technology, edtech training for teachers and learners.
As it stands connectivity is the biggest barrier to entry for a lot of schools in the global south. While most may believe that if you simply buy gadgets such as tablets and computers you will solve the access problem, this is simply not true. If learners and teachers cannot get sufficient bandwidth and fast connections that stunts the move towards education technology. Software is a big part of why Edtech is important, for example, learners may have tablets but if they cannot consistently access their online classes due to poor internet connection that may completely disrupt the learning programme. This can be a source of dread for teachers and learners alike because they may feel the old ways of learning are more effective and in a scenario such as this, they wouldn’t be wrong. Thus, governments, both locally and nationally should be prioritising access to good internet connection as a fundamental human right for all.
It is crucial to have a buy-in starting from the top down within your school. The vision should align with the academic or instructional outcomes you wish to see in your students. If the fulfilment of the vision happens to be done with the help of a mobile device so be it!
On the other hand, a top down approach to educating teachers about the importance of transitioning to edtech is pivotal. It is important to have the people in charge buying into the idea in order to convince those who will carry it out on a daily basis, that is, the teachers. School districts can be complex organizations, and you need as much assistance as you can get in the transition to technology. There are administrators who concentrate on developing other great leaders within the student body and faculty will discover the transition to education technology is considerably more successful because they have more boots on the ground. It is important to listen and empower students, teachers and parents who are excited about consistent learning and the opportunities to improve the experience of education.
Therefore it is important for all the stakeholders involved to have a strategy that tackles internet connectivity issues, teacher training as well as fair and equitable distribution of technological resources to all schools. It is not enough to tackle one of these barriers to entry while ignoring the others as they are all interconnected. Teachers cannot be enthusiastic about Edtech while they are not educated enough or while students do not have sufficient connectivity to fully take advantage of the technology they have.