As you can see, the cover of the magazine is sporting a new look to better reflect the flexible and fast-evolving nature of educational technology and the vital link between Digital Directions and our flagship publication, Education Week.
The upgraded design showcases our belief that a new decade brings new ideas, fresh perspectives, and more innovative solutions to the technological challenges schools will face in 2010 and beyond. The new year is an opportunity not only to confront those challenges but to predict what is coming around the corner.
To be sure, the road ahead will be a bumpy one as ed-tech leaders work to maintain quality programs and services while also trimming budgets. That is never an easy task, and it is one that is often fraught with frustration and disappointment.
But this decade is already demanding smarter strategies in just about everything, from government to business to education.
Education Week Digital Directions has always sought to be a resource of smarter strategies, connecting ed-tech leaders to new ideas and innovative approaches. This issue of the magazine builds on that commitment in several ways, beginning with a cover package that examines how technological tools can be used to create a kind of individualized education plan for all students. (“The Personal Approach,” this issue.) At first glance, such a vision for changing education might seem wildly idealistic. Yet Digital Directions Senior Editor Kathleen Kennedy Manzo’s cover story shows that it is not as utopian as it seems, and some suggest that this customized approach to learning is our best hope for maximizing the talent and skills of our students and preparing them for the future.
Some schools have embraced the innovative use of technology to improve themselves, but experts worry that too many schools remain stuck in the past.
The road ahead will be a bumpy one for those who choose to innovate. But at least they will be moving forward.
