Finding Opportunity in a Crisis: Generating and Sustaining Will for Educational Technology During Remote Learning

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: Situating the COVID Educational Response Across Contexts and Stakeholders

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted education in unprecedented ways. Despite the challenges associated with school closures and the shift to remote learning, teachers persisted and adapted to a completely new model of technology-enabled instruction. While it may have contributed to their stress, teachers’ increased use of education technology may also have generated long-lasting interest in technology integration. This paper examines these processes within a technology-focused instructional reform effort that began prior to the pandemic in a large urban school district and continued throughout the period of school closures. We describe how the forced adoptions may have increased both teacher will and capacity related to educational technology with deep implications for policy and practice as schools return to in-person instruction.

Authors

• Shani Shalev Bretas, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Isabel Linacre, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Douglas Ready, Teachers College, Columbia University