OTAN News

Digital Shift in Education is Escalating

Currently, 29 states have defined instructional materials to include digital versions; 30 allow the implementation; and six have required the use of digital curriculum.

The latest update to the State Education Technology Directors Association's  analysis of the digital learning landscape offered these metrics and others to highlight how state policies and guidance are evolving to support the shift to digital instructional materials for learning.

The fact that SETDA has updated its "Navigating the Digital Shift: Broadening Student Learning Opportunities " just a year after the previous edition  was published indicates how quickly this segment of education is evolving. The new report rehashes what it calls the "essential conditions" for successful use of digital resources in the classroom, introduced in an earlier report: state and local leadership, equity of access, accessibility for all students, interoperability and policies that support student data privacy and security. The 2018 version also offers an updated collection of "exemplar" profiles of districts and states to demonstrate how others are tackling their transitions.

Along with the report, SETDA has refreshed its Digital Instructional Materials Acquisition Policies for States (DMAPS) online portal. The portal offers profiles for each state's instructional materials policies and practices along with an interactive map to view national trends. The organization also hosts an online community focused on the top of digital content through edWeb.

"As educational opportunities shift to digital, SETDA encourages educators, policymakers and the private sector to be strategic about supporting purposeful, meaningful transitions," the report concluded.

The latest edition of the report is available on the SETDA website.

Source: THE Journal