Over the next few weeks, Education Dive will be profiling individuals that have been selected for the Education Dive A-List. The A-List is a set of distinctive voices on Twitter who are helping to push the industry forward, and have been chosen show up in Education Dive's "Trending" section.
A-List Member: Vicki Davis
Twitter Handle: @coolcatteacher
What is your day job?
I am just finishing my tenth year of teaching computer science, technology and business courses to middle and high school students and serve as IT director at the rural private school where I teach. It is a busy job and I have a lot of responsibilities but it lets me learn a bit about many things.
How did you get your start in education?
I started teaching adults and teachers how to use technology in the '90s and then was hired to teach after becoming known for helping adults how to use technology.
What do you think will be the biggest trends in education over the next year or two?
In the 2000s we saw a complete upheaval of the music industry due to electronic publishing of music. This same trend is hitting education as e-publishing is taking off with the affordability of devices and the ease of printing to e-paper. I believe that education as a whole will be experimenting with what works best on e-paper and what should remain on paper.
I also believe that adaptive learning and better learning analytics will cause the learning process to evolve and that testing will eventually evolve to be more adaptive and useful in the process. Tight budgets will make schools willing to innovate and slash traditional line items in ways that we can't even predict yet. I also think that professional development will evolve as learning flips for educators.
Finally, we will begin to see blending of online and offline learning and true collaboration and co-creation happen as it will become easier to link our classrooms together in safe spaces. We have a lot of change ahead of us, but the importance of having meaningful learning relationships will remain whether a teacher is there or distant.
What is the one Twitter account that you would recommend that education professionals follow and why?
There are quite a few - I can't pick just one. In fact, I recommend that every teacher follow at least 50 people before passing judgment on Twitter and to find at least 3-4 hashtags to follow. #edchat #mlearning and #flatclass are my three favorite hashtags, and some great, useful Tweeters include @angelamaiers, @langwitches, @web20classroom, @larryferlazzo, @cybraryman1 and @rmbyrne, but there are so many more!