Educational technology in schools is sometimes described as a wicked problem — a term coined by a design and planning professor, Horst Rittel, in the 1960s, meaning a problem for which even defining the scope of the dilemma is a struggle, because it has so many interconnected parts that never stop moving.
When you have a wicked problem, solutions have to be holistic, flexible and developmentally appropriate.
Which is to say that appropriate tech use for elementary schoolers in rural Oklahoma isn’t going to be the same as appropriate tech use in a Chicago high school.
I spent the past few weeks speaking with parents, teachers, public school administrators and academics who study educational technology.
We need a complete rethink of the ways that we’re evaluating and using tech in classrooms; the overall change that I want to see is that tech use in schools — devices and apps — should be driven by educators, not tech companies.
Persons:
Horst Rittel, Julia Freeland Fisher, Jonathan Haidt, ”, Fisher
Organizations:
Christensen Institute
Locations:
Oklahoma, Chicago