Executive Summary:
Hot Technologies for K-12 Schools

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Hot Technologies for K-12 Schools is the third report by CoSN's Emerging Technologies Committee. Based upon extensive research and interviews with educators, administrators, and industry experts, the 28-page report evaluates the most promising technologies in store for schools addressing 5 key educational issues. The report can be purchased through CoSN's online Catalog.

As technology companies introduce innovative products and services for the education market, school districts have the opportunity to invest in technologies designed to improve instruction and operations-from teaching, learning and assessments to organizational efficiency.

Perhaps the greatest promise of anticipated technologies is their potential to transform schools through innovation. Without innovation, schools risk stagnating in an increasingly sophisticated world. Lack of public support and funding in this country could jeopardize innovation, which would be a profound setback to American schooling and competitiveness.

In this guide, the Emerging Technologies Committee (ETC) of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) will look at the most promising technologies in store for schools. The committee comprises volunteers from school districts, companies, not-for-profit organizations and institutions of higher education, so we bring the perspectives of both education and industry to our focus on the coming attractions in educational technology.

Chief technology officers and other technology decision makers in schools will find this guide especially useful for sorting through possibilities for their schools. Policy makers and business leaders who provide technology to the education market should find it informative as well.

What's Next? Technologies for Five Key Educational Issues

To determine the hot prospects for educational technology, the ETC first identified five key educational issues that matter in schools today. We divided the committee into five research teams to examine new technologies that address these five issues:

1. Technologies that galvanize the instructional process and promote authentic learning activities: active highly portable large storage devices and datacasting.
   
   
2. Technologies that improve assessment and evaluation at all levels of the organization: electronic response systems, intelligent essay graders, intelligent pattern analysis and performance projections, and data warehouses.
   
   
3. Technologies that address diverse learning styles and student needs. This section includes a review of the principles of Universal Design as well as sound-field amplification, and multisensory, customized learning tools.
   
   
4. Technologies that build community in the school environment: programmable phone systems, student information systems, learning management systems, and blogs.
   
   
5. Technologies that improve the efficiency of school administration: Radio Frequency Identification Data (RFID).
   
   

To narrow the possibilities for inclusion in this guide, the ETC imposed three criteria for selection. Every technology must have the potential to:

• Address major challenges for one of the five key educational issues.
  
  
• Transform or fundamentally change schools, rather than make small or incremental improvements.
  
  
• Meet feasibility requirements, including cost effectiveness and school readiness in terms of technology infrastructures and professional capacity.
  
  

We also considered whether a technology is "emerging" or "emerged." Our answer: A technology is still emerging if it is not yet a "must-have." For example, a few years ago e-mail was an optional technology. In fact, it was limited in its effectiveness as a communication tool when only some people in an organization had regular access to it. Today, it is a must-have, must-use technology for most people in most organizations.

This guide covers some of the technologies that are likely to be tomorrow's "must-have" tools - in the context of the unique opportunities, challenges and constraints of schools.

Purchase This and Other Reports from the Series

Hot Technologies for K-12 Schools is the third report of CoSN's Emerging Technologies Committee. The first two, A Guide to Wireless LANs in K-12 Schools and A Guide to Handheld Computing in K-12 Schools, focused on particular technologies and how they are being used in schools. All three reports are available for purchase from the CoSN Catalog.

See also:

• Slides from a T+L² presentation on Hot Technologies for K-12 Schools (PDF)

This Report is Brought to You By:

Hot Technologies for K-12 Schools was written by CoSN's Emerging Technologies Committee under the direction of Steve Rappaport and Karen Greenwood Henke. It was edited by Martha Vockley with art direction by Northstar Creative.