Prompt:Ā Provide a recent example of a trending educational technology solution that explains the benefits, as well as any drawbacks that could occur from implementation in the classroom.
My Response:
As EdTech becomes more and more prevalent, one of the most popular EdTech solutions is Khan Academy. Khan Academy originally started as a free online learning service; providing students with educational videos and lessons. However, in the past few years, Khan Academy has expanded services to provide schools and teachers with tools and resources in order to aid the students.Ā
In California, school districts such as Long Beach Unified and Compton Unified have started usingĀ Khan Academy as a part of their curriculum. To properly use their services, Khan Academy provided training to more than 200 teachers in the Compton school district (Belsha, 2020). The Compton district is paying a yearly sum of $44,000 in order to have access to any sort of tech support as well as a dashboard for teachers and administrators to monitor the progress of their students (Belsha, 2020). The big advantage of having the Khan Academy services in the classroom is that students are able to learn at their own pace which allows for some personalized learning. The dashboard also makes it easier for teachers to assess the studentsā understanding of the topics.
Although Khan Academy can help a lot in the classroom environment, there are a few drawbacks to using the technology. One of them could be access to the internet and/or access to devices available in the school and in the classroom. As a web-based service, Khan Academy requires an internet connection and a computing device. However, if a school that uses Khan Academy as a part of their curriculum in the classroom, do not have the devices for the students that can cause issues. Another issue mentioned by Rich Halverson, a professor of education leadership and policy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, suggests that, if the dashboards donāt provide proper insights for teachers about their studentsā understanding, they are not able to utilize the dashboard as a tool to improve learning (Belsha, 2020).
Overall, using an EdTech solution comes with its own benefits and drawbacks. It is up to us as teachers, to properly utilize the tools in the classroom in order to provide better services to our students.
References
Belsha, K. (2020, January 27). Khan Academy wants to play a more official role in America’s classrooms. Retrieved from https://chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2019/09/13/how-khan-academy-the-popular-free-tool-for-students-wants-to-play-a-more-official-role-in-americas-classrooms/
