Welcome to 2015 and to the 35th year of Tech&Learning! While the owners, titles, and editors of this chronicle have changed many times over the decades, the mission has not—to share ideas and tools for edtech leaders.
Next month we begin the celebration with a monthly series on the history of education and technology since 1980, written by those who lived it. This month we grapple with more recent events. Journalist, blogger, and self-anointed edtech Cassandr, Audrey Watters, agreed to let us publish portions of her annual magnum opus (Top Edtech Trends), which I believe to be the most provocative, occasionally infuriating, unabashedly opinionated analysis of 2014. Get a taste here, then go to her blog, hackeducation.com, for the full effect. The other major feature, written by educator and entrepreneur Bill Fitzgerald, breaks down one of the most overwrought and misunderstood issues in schools today (What It Means When We Talk About Student Data). Just reading these pieces made me feel smarter. I suspect you will feel the same.
Two more Tech&Learning developments to share: First, our T&L Tech Forums, which must be the longest running face-to-face traveling road show of education technology insight, have been renamed Tech&Learning Live. Don’t worry, you can expect the same great day of learning. What will be different is how we deliver the content outside the physical walls, using a new “social hub” platform that takes Tweeting to a whole new level. Check out our first “go” with it at live.techlearning.com, where we will be covering BETT15 in London, the world’s largest education technology exhibition. Here’s to a great year!
— Kevin Hogan
Content Director
khogan@nbmedia.com
