At the end of 2020, the Harvard Graduate School of Education convened a panel discussion exploring the future of education.
The panel gathered leading education experts to discuss and debate the innovations and challenges that would shape education and learning in the post-pandemic world.
One of the panellists, Associate Professor Karen Brennan, talked about the importance of deploying technology strategically.
“My stance on technology is that it should always be used in the service of our human purpose and interest. Our values, purposes and goals need to lead the way, not the tech,” Brennan said.
Brennan’s statement might be nothing new but the message bears repeating. When embarking upon a conversation about the future of adult learning, it is easy to get swept away by the endless emerging technological solutions: big data, artificial intelligence, immersive learning and countless new platforms for e-learning are just a couple of examples of the education technology buzzwords.