Digital learning, which uses technology to enhance education, is becoming increasingly important as the world advances more rapidly than improvements in schools. While schools still provide quality education, they are not fully preparing students for success in a global economy that relies heavily on technology. It is vital that schools embrace digital learning and technology to adapt to this changing world in order to remain competitive and to give students opportunities to thrive. Doing so may be disruptive but finding a middle ground that incorporates the best of digital and in-person learning can help schools flourish. It is important to make changes now to utilize data and technology to improve education.

1. IMPACT OF DIGITAL
LEARNING
BY: Marie Warnert

2. What is digital learning?
◦ Digital learning is any instructional practice that effectively uses technology to strengthen a
student's learning experience. ... Additionally, digital learning can be used for
professional learning opportunities for teachers and to provide personalized
learning experiences for students.
◦ Are schools keeping up with technology?

3. Why is it important?
◦ While our schools continue to provide a quality education to our students, the world in which
students will live and work is changing and advancing at an even faster rate than improvements
in our schools. In spite of our best efforts, many schools are not preparing students for success
in the world they will inhabit after graduation
◦ We need to prepare students to be successful in the rapidly evolving global economy. To
achieve this vision, we must find a way to create an academically rigorous and relevant
educational experience for all of our K–12 students.
(International center for leadership in education, 2019)
◦ We must use technology. It is part of our lives. It is important to utilize the technology and
prepare students for the world.

4. Using the technology -
◦ There are leaders who are dealing with today’s challenging issues
within the context of potentially disruptive, emerging trends. In the
process, they have avoided making short- term decisions that will hurt
hem in the near future as the disruptive, emerging trends change our
schools.
◦ Today’s learners are digital natives- yet most schools still have a “no
cell phone” policy.
◦ As educators we NEED to embrace the power of technology.
◦ Using technology thoughtfully for instructional purposes will allow us
to stretch learners’ thinking in ways that will lead to success in today’s
increasingly global economy and rapidly evolving digital environment.
(Clayton Christensen Institute, 2019)
◦ If we do not adapt to the uprise of technology, we will fall behind the
rest of the world.

5. The data
◦ With an increase in kids going mobile, social media provides the context for of digital learners to
connect, collaborate and create content in ways that are especially meaningful for them. They are
increasingly using a wide range of social media tools to do just that including:
◦ » Texting: 71% of high school students and 63%
of middle school students communicate with others via text messages, an increase of 44% since 2008.
◦ » Twitter: 3 out of 10 students in grades 6-12 are using Twitter to follow others or to share 140
characters about their daily life on a regular basis.
◦ » Videos: Since 2007 the number of middle school students creating videos and posting them online
has doubled from 15% to 30% today.
◦ » Games: Showing a generational shift, nearly twice as many students in grades 6-8 participate in
massively multiplayer online games.
(International center for leadership in education, 2019)

6. Combining the two
◦ The principles used to engage users with games are making their way into schools.
◦ Digital badging – credentials earned by meeting certain performance. (used widely in online gaming)
◦ The Horizon Report suggested that augmented reality and game-based learning would gain
widespread use, while advocates of game-based learning in higher education cite the ability of digital
games to teach and reinforce professional skills such as collaboration, problem-solving, and
communication
◦ As the principles of gaming and badging are driven into the online delivery programs, students will
increasingly move toward them. They will be more engaging and less expensive than our traditional
system.

7. The problem with this …
◦ Some leaders/educators believe that these partnerships will be too disruptive to our traditional
education system.
◦ Personal contact will decrease. Many students need the student-teacher relationship in order to
successfully learn.
◦ Students may have a harder time in social situations/ making non-digital friends.
◦ Brain development will change over time. – do we know how it affects our brain, eyes, posture,
etc.?

8. Finding a Middle Ground
◦ Advances in technology will continue to impact the
workplace, home, and society. Imagine what not-yet-
conceived technologies will exist by the time today’s
elementary students graduate from high school
◦ The schools that will flourish in this new environment
are those that embrace digital learning and are willing
to disrupt their traditional delivery systems by creating
a new hybrid. They will embrace the best of both
systems.
◦ We can find a middle ground – learning the new
technologies and incorporating them into our school
day, while still having one-on-one contact and face
time with students in a school setting.

9. Reasons we need to adapt -
◦ Many former developing countries, such as Vietnam, Argentina, Brazil,
Indonesia, and even Panama, are emerging as major players in the
global economy. They arealso adapting quickly to new technologies.
◦ Out of 56 nations, the U.S. ranked:
◦ » 30th in mathematics
◦ » 23rd in science
◦ » 20th in reading
◦ Among the nations that outperformed the U.S. in math, science, and
reading were Australia, Canada, China, Estonia, Finland, Germany,
Ireland, Japan, Lichtenstein, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, South
Korea, Singapore, and Switzerland.
◦ Failure to improve how we teach and use technology will leave the U.S
falling further behind.
◦ successful school improvement leaders choose their battles. They
recognize that if they wait until everyone is ready to accept badly
needed improvements, things will never change.
◦ We need to start making the changes NOW.

10. Use data to make decisions
◦ effective schools use data holistically,
looking at student growth over time and
analyzing this data in relation to
instructional initiatives and systemic
innovations
◦ We need to continue to use the data
showing us that technology is rapidly
entering our schools.
◦ We have to keep up and accept the
change. This is our world today!

11. Questions
◦ What impact will technology have on our social lives/society?
◦ What impact will this have on us as educators?
◦ Will our jobs eventually be at stake?
◦ Can technology harm us in ways we haven’t studied yet? (brain development)
◦ Will the cost of technology decrease as it becomes more prevelant?
◦ What do you think about digital learning? Do you accept it with open arms or are you abrasive
towards it?

12. References
◦ (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.growingwireless.com/get-the-facts/quick-facts#children
◦ ICLE: Homepage. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://leadered.com/
◦ Information Technology Services. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://its.uiowa.edu/support/article/100560
◦ Is K–12 blended learning disruptive?An introduction to the theory of hybrids. (n.d.). Retrieved
from http://www.christenseninstitute.org/publications/hybrids