ISTE Attendees Describe Their Hopes, Frustrations With Classroom Technology

The country’s largest education technology conference took place in Denver this past week.

Attendees at the annual conference of the International Society for Technology in Education—or ISTE—were searching for guidance on how technology might meet their classroom needs, and how it may shape their work in the years to come.

While at ISTE, a gathering that draws educators and ed-tech companies from around the world, Education Week‘s Sean Cavanagh asked K-12 officials Benjie Brown, Chad Kafka, and Jamie Chanter, about challenges schools face in adopting educational technology.

Educators often cite a big gap between the lofty ideas put forward by pioneering teachers and vendors at industry events and the throngs of other educators who are still trying to figure out what digital strategies make sense for them.

Cavanagh spoke with teachers, and the administrators who work closely with them, about the biggest hurdles educators face in trying to figure out how best use technology with their students.

For a field still struggling to figure out what to do with a flood of new devices, platforms, software, and apps, the conference is a time for listening, said Jim Flanagan, ISTE’s chief learning-services officer.

Here are some reactions we found from other educators in attendance about their struggles and triumphs:

Do any of these ring true, or contradict your views on the challenges schools face in making technology work for them?

Related:

• A Profile at ISTE of a First-Year Teacher’s Struggles With Technology
• Teachers Still Struggling to Use Tech to Improve Instruction, Study Finds
• 5 Schools of Ed. Making Ed-Tech a Top Priority