The challenges of adopting technology in K-12 education

Reading further in the Horizon Report Preview for K-12 Education I'm on the section about challenges.  Here are the notes I made based on that section.

Creating Authentic Learning Opportunities

• Bringing real life experiences into the classroom via technology to engage students and prepare them for the future in a way that traditional educational practices are often failing to do.

Integrating Personalized Learning

• Personalized learning organized by and for the learner including apps, social media and related software.
• Adaptive learning which is intervention-focused, interpreting data about how a student is learning and responding by changing the learning environment based on these needs.

Complex Thinking and Communication

• It is essential for students to tackle complex problems and tasks, and that they use communication skills to apply their thinking in profound ways.
• Communication skills and social intelligence are essential for effective leadership.

Increased Privacy Concerns

• School leaders want to use data to improve learning outcomes, yet parents voice their apprehension about collecting data from K-12 students.

Competition from New Models of Education

• Competition from alternative schools and online programs.

Keeping Formal Education Relevant

• Schools must rethink the value of education from a student's perspective and consider what they can provide that cannot be replicated by other sources.
• Growing numbers of schools are using online resources to implement the flipped classroom approach so that time spent at school is focused on peer-to-peer and student-teacher interactions for problems solving.
• Schools can provide the environments for students to socialize and participate in extracurricular activities that enrich their minds and bodies.

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