July 13, 2023

After the big edtech conference, more human, more inquisitive—and left with a clearer roadmap toward loftier destinations.

UNPACKING EDTECH | by Mark Gura

*GAEP = Global Assessment of Educational Possibilities

The Exhibit Hall

Here’s a small sampling of what resonated in my quest for resources that cross the boundary between best current instructional practice and future-worthy vehicles to better learning.

In the Footsteps of History, Booth 1466 www.inthefootsteps.org

I find this carefully developed and designed resource truly exciting. Among the library of curriculum resources curated to inform and inspire today’s and tomorrow’s media-jaded kids, this one seems to hit a tone that should captivate and firmly engage many students along the way to deep learning. Complete History/Social Studies units that align with commonly taught and required themes are presented through VR headsets (or without them) through multimedia, video, interactive elements, and collaborative games. These next level learning experiences meaningfully involves teachers, hands on.

Mark Gura is Editor-at-Large for EdTech Digest and author of Creative SEL: Using Hands-On Projects to Boost Social-Emotional Learning and of The Edtech Advocate’s Guide to Leading Change in Schools (ISTE), and co-author of State of EdTech: The Minds Behind What’s Now and What’s Next (EdTech Digest). He also authored Make, Learn Succeed: Building a Culture of Creativity in Your School (ISTE). He taught at New York City public schools in East Harlem for two decades. He spent five years as a curriculum developer for the central office and was eventually tapped to be the New York City Department of Education’s director of the Office of Instructional Technology, assisting over 1,700 schools serving 1.1 million students in America’s largest school system. In addition to his role at EdTech Digest, he is currently a professor at Touro College Graduate School of Technology.