Susan Martin
CEO of the Association for Learning Technology
Professor Keith Smyth
Chair of the Association for Learning Technology
Educational technology (edtech) is now firmly established as a core part of the curricula and curriculum delivery in compulsory schooling through to further and higher education, and increasingly also within work-based and professional learning.
Beyond enhancing teaching and learning by providing additional interactive ways to engage, technology can also make access to education and training more flexible and personalised. Furthermore, the embedding of digital tools and practices in formal and professional education ensures greater opportunities for people to develop digital literacies for life-wide and lifelong purposes, including employment and citizenship.
Professionalisation of edtech as a field
Over the past decade, and accelerated by the pandemic, there’s been a movement towards professionalisation and mainstreaming in the use of edtech and digital education practice, including to meet the changing needs and expectations of learners. Whereas in the not-too-distant past, most practitioners became accidental, or incidental, professionals in digital education, there are now defined career paths dedicated to digital education with multiple routes to enhance professional practice.
The development of digital education knowledge and skills is embedded in teacher and lecturer training, and competence in using edtech is now a key part of professional recognitions and accreditations for educators. Alongside in-house continuing professional development provided by employers, there’s a wide range of academic and professional courses available, including well-established specialist Master‘s-level programmes. Professional associations and bodies with a focus on, or strong commitment to, digitally enabled education offer a range of membership services and networking opportunities.
The development of digital education knowledge and skills is embedded in teacher and lecturer training,
and competence in using edtech is now a key part of professional recognitions and accreditations for educators
Contradiction of edtech as a field
With edtech and digital education practice becoming ever more ‘the norm’, it would be valid to question why it needs to be developed and supported as a specialist area of practice. Part of the answer lies in education as a sector needing to catch up with how technology is being used beyond our schools, colleges and universities. Part of it is in the challenge of how we develop education in meaningful ways post-pandemic and in the age of Generative Artificial Intelligence. Ultimately, it’s about striving for equity in the provision of good, engaging and meaningful digitally-supported learning experiences in a post-digital world.
