Before we sent this issue of the magazine to the printer, I scanned the stories for a quote that really gets at the mission of this publication. The words of Scott McLeod of the Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education captured my attention more than any others. In an article about the technical- knowledge gap among superintendents, he says, “The people who are in charge of facilitating schools’ transition to the digital global economy—superintendents and principals—are typically the least knowledgeable about the digital global economy. It’s scary.”
Indeed it is.
The mission of this magazine is to help fill that knowledge void by producing high-quality stories about educational technology that can be used by chief information officers and other ed. tech. leaders to educate themselves and their superintendents about what works and what doesn’t work.
Digital Directions Executive Editor Kevin Bushweller
—Photo by Sevans/Digital Directions
The cover story for the winter issue, “Finding Your Way in a Data-Driven World,” points out, for instance, that schools now have the tools to analyze data in a more structured, timely, and organized fashion. The unfortunate reality, however, is that many schools are not using those tools effectively. And that is especially the case in districts that are suffering from a lack of ed. tech. knowledge and leadership.
To offer more high-quality resources more regularly, and ultimately fill the knowledge void, we are putting more time and effort into building the Digital Directions Web site. Beginning with this issue, for instance, we’ll be offering a monthly Digital Directions e-newsletter that highlights the latest news, trends, and advice on how technology can be used to improve schools.
Our commitment to better coverage of educational technology is capturing some national attention. We were recently invited by the Web site of The Economist magazine to participate in a discussion about the effectiveness of educational technology.
Digital Directions online is also participating in a project sponsored by New York University in which news organizations as varied as ESPN and The Chronicle of Higher Education will build social networks to help improve coverage of issues. The initial task of our network will be to identify the top 10 problems in educational technology and then determine how they might be solved.
Identifying problems and helping solve them is our mission, both in print and online. So let’s get to work.
