Ed Tech Wasteland

I’m going to share three experiences with educational technology that have the biggest impact on the thinking and philosophy presented in this book. Each story is from a different perspective; personal, professional, and outsider. Each story has a common theme that reinforced the conclusions presented. It pushed me to develop a Choose Your Own Device (CYOD) 1:1 program and write this book. 

This post is part of an ongoing series of chapters from the book CHOICE. Please view this post for an introduction and table of contents.

This is less of a story and more of an observation after years of working in educational technology. 

Far too much money has been wasted with good intentions by chasing the latest technology. Many well funded 1:1 programs have gone belly up. The worst fate of a 1:1 program is turning the device into just another thing a student carries in their backpack.

School districts are forced into implementing 1:1 programs, only to find four years later the wrong device or wrong platform was chosen. Forcing the district to start over. Wasting years of time, money, and energy investments.

A goal of this book is to avoid many of these mistakes. To build a truly effective and innovative 1:1 program that is built around the students first. Not just chasing the latest technology trend. It will show you how to use sustainable principles to ensure your program doesn't fail after the first year refresh, or bankrupt your technology department and resources. 

Too much good money has gone into bad technology implementations. This book is a guide to fix that.