Future Ready Learning

Set a vision for the use of technology to enable learning such that leaders bring all stakeholder
groups to the table, including students, educators, families, technology professionals, community
groups, cultural institutions, and other interested parties.
Although not all parties will be responsible for the execution of a vision for the use of technology
to enable learning, by making certain all involved stakeholder groups are part of the vision-setting
process, leaders will ensure better community support and the establishment of a plan for learning
technology that reflects local needs and goals.
Develop funding models and plans for sustainable technology purchases and leverage openly
licensed content while paying special attention to eliminating those resources and tasks that
can be made obsolete by technology.
Rather than viewing technology as an add-on component to support learning, leaders should take
stock of current systems and processes across learning systems and identify those that can be
augmented or replaced by existing technologies. During the planning process, they also should
identify systems and processes for which no replacement currently exists within the district,
school, or college and set goals for developing more efficient solutions.
Develop clear communities of practice for education leaders at all levels that act as a hub for
setting vision, understanding research, and sharing practices.
Building on the model of the education innovation clusters, state, district, university, and community
organization leaders should establish cohesive communities of practice—in person and
online—to create virtuous cycles for sharing the most recent research and effective practices in the
use of educational technology.
Section 4: Assessment
Revise practices, policies, and regulations to ensure privacy and information protection while
enabling a model of assessment that includes ongoing gathering and sharing of data for continuous
improvement of learning and teaching.
This will require not only greater systems interoperability standards but also increased capacity on
the part of educators and administrators to understand the types of systems they want to establish
within schools and colleges. In addition, they will need to have an understanding of the standards
of interoperability they should demand from vendors. A key component of this increased
capacity should ensure educational leaders have a firm understanding of privacy and security
concerns, how those concerns are addressed within the school or system, and clear communication
of policies and procedures with all stakeholders. Achievement of this recommendation would
benefit from the involvement and guidance of organizations, such as CoSN, ISTE, and the State
Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), that have developed specialized expertise
in these areas.
States, districts, and others should design, develop, and implement learning dashboards,
response systems, and communication pathways that give students, educators, families, and
other stakeholders timely and actionable feedback about student learning to improve achievement
and instructional practices.
The next generation of such tools should integrate across platforms and tools seamlessly, be
designed with a mobile-first mindset, and be guided by UD and UDL principles to ensure accessibility
by all stakeholders. Although current products and dashboards include basic functionality
and features that improve on those of their predecessors, future iterations should be built on a
OFFICE OF Educational Technology
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