EdTech News – March 2021

Zooms this week have often included the words 'there's light at the end of the tunnel' and it is starting to feel like that with schools re-opening in the UK and more and more people getting the vaccine. I'm also aware that in the rest of Europe it may not feel like that at all yet with cases on the rise and new lockdowns being announced. I really wish I didn't have to write about developments in Education in light of Covid-19, but here we are for another month.

I agree with Peter Hyman, the author of this article that we can't call children at school a 'lost generation'. Rather, we need to reimagine school as otherwise they will be lost. Social-emotional learning and rethinking assessments will be key in this. In a similar vein, The Brookings Institute has written a report on how the educational inequalities due to Covid can be remedied and it calls for a partnership between schools and the local community.

During this period of lockdown and homeschooling, many children will have enjoyed a lot more screen time and some parents will undoubtedly be worried about this. It's a subject I've written about before. At Makematic, some non-producers created a video, which educates parents about (online) games. Have a look below.

Last week was also the first time I 'attended' SxSWEdu. It was cancelled last year the night before my flight to Austin. There were some interesting sessions, but nothing like the actual event of course. One was on esports and its continuous (educational) appeal to tweens and teens particularly. This article explains how esports can help support and structure this age group around online safety, collaboration, communication and positive behaviour.