The annual ISTE conference, the largest ed-tech conference in the U.S., has been forced online (due to the stresses of the Rona) for two consecutive years now. Every year I provide a conference session analysis of this respected conference for our readers to identify trends and forecast what’s bubbling up. The Rona has definitely upended the ed market, as evidenced by the topics that are now top-of-mind for educators world-wide.
In my previous article, I tracked some of the surprising new developments emerging at the annual ISTE ed-tech conference. These included an uptick in vendor involvement, a delightfully fresh and new catchphrase, an ed marketing slogan that is rapidly becoming hackneyed, and the zombie-like reanimation of an older display technology. But today’s conference session insight is different. Most of these items were somewhat predictable, driven into our thinkspace by the sheer force of the pandemic’s emotional and economic tsunami. Surprisingly, some educational technologies are also losing their luster, or at least appear in form of stasis until schools return to normal. Those diminishing returns are interesting stories, as well. And so, we begin:
What’s Bubbling Up in Education?
Online / Hybrid/ Blended/ Distance Learning. Due to the physical closure of schools during the Rona, all things related to click-based learning were the chief topic at ISTE this year. More than ninety-three sessions were in evidence, almost double the forty-eight sessions of the previous year.
Equity. Due to the equity issued unearthed by both the pandemic and recent racial unrest, equity/social justice topics witnessed incredible buoyancy at this year’s ISTE conference. Learning equity topics expanded to forty-six offerings compared with thirty-one the previous year.
Social-emotional learning. Also known as SEL in education circles, this arena involves fostering mental, social, and emotional wellbeing, and includes the teaching of empathy, grit, persistence, resilience, flexibility, and adaptability. SEL sessions at ISTE Live 2021 more than doubled, with more than forty-four sessions provided. SEL has become a favorite for grappling with student mental health, during and post the pandemic.
What’s Sinking Down?
This is a hard one. It’s hard to say that these technologies are actually undergoing diminishing returns in the eyes of educators. It might be due to residual fear and reaction during the ongoing pandemic. It might be a temporary blip. It may be that other priorities have simply stepped to the foreground. But here’s what I have to report about technologies that appeared to be tepidly bubbling up only half way or sinking to the bottom of the boiling pot at ISTE Live 2021 when compared with the last three conference years:
Artificial Intelligence. (±) Sessions focused on AI shrunk from 16 to 6 and then increased to 11 (this year). I don’t see any big news here, at least for the short haul.
Virtual Reality. (±) VR experienced a shift from 66 to 24 to 35 sessions offered during the last three years. The Rona really put the kibosh on individually worn headgear in school settings, so maybe interest is finally start to recover.
Augmented Reality. (±) AR is experiencing stasis having shrunk from 32 offered sessions three years ago to 24 last year to 24 this year. Still, that surprises me. AR was supposed to replace VR, but AR is just not taking hold in schools. I think this is a larger trend, due to lack content and prominent use cases in learning.
Coding / Computational Thinking / Programming. (-) Last year the big winner at ISTE was coding. This year, it’s one of the big losers. Coding sessions fell from 76 to 47 sessions this year. Or maybe the cup is half full…
Google and Free Stuff. (-) Of course, all-things-Google and free stuff usually stand as the predictable winner for absolute world domination at most ed-tech conferences, but this year, such topics were fractional when compared with last year. Eight sessions. That’s a blow out. Most interest in Google shifted to its online learning components. This was a true shock, since educators so adore free stuff. Maybe they’ll see fit to spend some money on quality commercial products instead. –Len Scrogan
