Culminating the inaugural Driving K-12 Innovation series, CoSN today issued 2019 Tech Enablers — a new report that identifies the top five technology developments to enhance teaching and learning. Selected by an international advisory board of more than 100 distinguished edtech experts, the top enablers are: Mobile Devices; Blended Learning; Cloud Infrastructure; Extended Reality; and Analytics and Adaptive Technologies.
 
The report is the final of three publications underscoring emerging education technology hurdles, accelerators and enablers. The Driving K-12 Innovation series will also include a forthcoming member-only toolkit to help technology leaders navigate the technological ecosystem and apply the lessons learned.
 
 
“As innovation races ahead, tech enablers help school technology leaders make a smooth transition to modern, personalized learning environments,” said Keith Krueger, CEO of CoSN. “Taken together, CoSN’s complete series gives educators forward-thinking insights to make the most of their own district’s opportunities.”
 
The advisory board evaluated 27 tech enablers based on their ability to surmount educational hurdles and embrace societal accelerators, as well as their school system adoption rate. The Tech Enablers report takes a deep dive into two of the top five enablers with real-world examples of their impact:
 
  • Blended Learning — This tech enabler gets to the heart of K-12 innovation by allowing teachers to effectively “blend” digital technologies into student instruction. While formal blended learning exists in a variety of models, it must encompass three distinct parts: online learning at a student’s own pace; classic in-school learning; and a connection between the two.
 
  • Analytics and Adaptive Technologies — Typically found behind-the-scenes, this tech enabler allows districts to track student performance data and provide tailored content that reinforces and propels learning.
 
Driving K-12 Innovation is the successor to the K-12 edition of the NMC Horizon Report and Toolkit — a series co-founded and co-led by CoSN that ran from 2007-2017. CoSN released the first report, 2019 Hurdles, in January and the second publication, 2019 Accelerators, in April.
 
ISTE is a dissemination partner of the report, and CoSN will be leading a corresponding forum on the Driving K-12 Innovation Series at ISTE 2019 on Sunday, June 23 in Philadelphia. Learn more here.
 
The Driving K-12 Innovation series is made possible through the support of: ClassLink and Google (Gold sponsors); Amazon Web Services (AWS), Dell Technologies and Kajeet (Silver sponsors); and ENA (Bronze sponsor). Read the report and explore the series at: cosn.org/k12innovation.
 
 
CONTACT
For CoSN: Michael Kaplun, The Fratelli Group, 202-822-9491, mkaplun@fratelli.com
 
 
         
QUOTES FROM OUR SPONSORS
 
Berj Akian, CEO, ClassLink: “Congratulations to the many members of the COSN community who helped create this outstanding report series. It’s no small task to take the noisy world of tech and distill it down to 5 Hurdles, 5 Accelerators and 5 Enablers. These three reports will help not only our edtech leaders … but also education decision-makers at every level as they craft a vision for designing education beyond 2020. Well done team!”
 
Adam Garry, Director of Education Strategy, Dell Technologies: “We are encouraged to see that the focus of the Tech Enablers supports the education community moving towards a more learner centered model.”
 
Michael Flood, Vice President of Strategy, Kajeet: “At Kajeet, we are focused on helping schools achieve equity for all students as EdTech evolves. The global panel of experts CoSN assembled for the Driving K-12 Innovation series help provide collective insight to EdTech’s future path. Kajeet has been proud to support this effort in its inaugural year and we are well informed by its predictions.”
 
Lillian Kellogg, Senior Vice President – Client Services, ENA: “Once again, CoSN and the greater CoSN community have demonstrated a keen understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced by today’s K-12 schools. Each of the five enablers represents a forward-looking approach and alignment with the issues most critical to school districts. Cloud infrastructure and analytics are the latest technologies that school districts are evaluating and adopting, and CoSN’s valuable report helps them employ these new technologies in an intelligent way.”
 
About CoSN 
CoSN (the Consortium for School Networking) is the premier professional association for school system technology leaders. CoSN provides thought leadership resources, community best practices and advocacy tools to help leaders succeed in the digital transformation. CoSN represents over 13 million students in school districts nationwide and continues to grow as a powerful and influential voice in K-12 education. cosn.org