Digital Learning Day, with Dr. Adam Phyall

In this episode, Dr. Adam Phyall joins us to highlight Digital Learning Day. He is the Director of Professional Learning and Leadership at All4Ed, the parent organization sponsoring Digital Learning Day. Dr. Phyall says, “Digital Learning Day is really focusing in on how teachers [and] how schools are leveraging and using technology to not only connect students to each other but to connect them to their future opportunities.”

Together, we explore more about what Digital Learning Day is, how teachers can learn even more about it, and some practical ways that educators can celebrate the event. It’s an opportunity to highlight the great work being done in classrooms and schools. Visit AVID Open Access to learn more.

Transcript

#262 — Digital Learning Day, with Dr. Adam Phyall

34 min
AVID Open Access

Keywords

technology, students, digital, lifeline, learning, teachers, education, classroom, celebrate, ensuring, talking, future, resources, ready, showcase, district, people, phone, organization, tech

Speakers

Dr. Adam Phyall (52%), Paul (15%), Winston (14%), Rena (13%), Speaker 1 (4%), Speaker 2 (1%), Student (1%)

Dr. Adam Phyall  0:00  

This is the 13th year for Digital Learning Day. There was a time where digital technology was kind of foreign or taboo in classrooms. It's not really just about the technology, it's about showing how it has the power to build those connections with each other and to their future, that we're trying each day to prepare our students to be ready to obtain.

Winston Benjamin  0:23  

The topic for today's podcast is Digital Learning Day, with Dr. Adam Phyall. Unpacking Education is brought to you by avid.org. AVID believes in seeing the potential of every student. To learn more about AVID, visit their website at avid.org.

Rena Clark  0:44  

Welcome to Unpacking Education, the podcast where we explore current issues and best practices in education. I'm Rena Clark.

Paul Beckermann  0:56  

I'm Paul Beckermann.

Winston Benjamin  0:57  

And I'm Winston Benjamin. We are educators.

Paul Beckermann  1:01  

And we're here to share insights and actionable strategies.

Student  1:05  

Education is our passport to the future.

Winston Benjamin  1:10  

Our quote for today is from All4Ed website. In their overview of Digital Learning Day 2024, they write, "With technology now at our fingertips, personalized digital learning isn't just a tool, it's a lifeline." What are y'all thinking about that, Paul? Rena?

Paul Beckermann  1:33  

There's a lot of bits of that, I think, that that we could probably touch on. I mean, everything from accessibility to career opportunities, tech has become a lifeline in a lot of those areas. And it made me think of the Bloom's 2 sigma problem, which I was not familiar with until about a year ago when Sal Khan started talking about it. And it really is the research that shows the average student tutored in a one-to-one mastery learning environment performs two standard deviations better than a student in a regular classroom. It's like, that's crazy! I mean, that's such a significant increase. And I honestly believe that now technology is starting to give us some of the means to get to that, especially with AI and some of those things, we might actually be getting closer to the 2 sigma solution instead of the 2 sigma problem. And that's a lifeline.

Rena Clark  2:31  

Yes, and I, I think the flexibility that the technology is able to provide is really crucial. So as you kind of referred to all students can learn at their own pace, revisit concepts when needed for them, maybe explore additional topics that are related to something based on their interest and go deeper and further. I think it can be really powerful. I also think because there's always that worry that it's going to replace teachers, I don't think it's ever going to replace that essential role of the teacher. The guidance, and especially as we talked about often on here, that connection and relationship piece is irreplaceable. But if I have a good relationship and I understand then I can help you through digital tools, digital learning, to then help you amplify what you're doing in that more personal way as you're talking about.

Winston Benjamin  3:28  

I totally appreciate both of you bringing that point but also think about lifeline for who? Is it the lifeline for the student only, or is a lifeline for the teacher to help alleviate some of the things that they need to do so that allows for that engagement with students? So we'd like to as a team to welcome Dr. Adam Phyall again to our podcast. Adam, could you take a minute introduce yourself and if you want to respond to the to quote, just respond if you will? Tell us about yourself.

Dr. Adam Phyall  3:58  

Oh, well you know what, thanks for having me here. Looking at the list of guests that you've had on the podcast already thus far, you know I would be in my feelings for not being on here sooner, but I'm not but I'm not.

Speaker 1  4:15  

You kind of got to build up, you got to build up and keep getting better and better, right?

Dr. Adam Phyall  4:19  

But as we were joking earlier, I did beat my partner in rhyme, as I call them, Cara Hooker on your podcast. So that's one of that I have on Cara moving forwards on the scoreboard that I keep. But I am Adam Phyall. I am currently the director of Professional Learning and Leadership at All4Ed. I'm a recovering Technology Director and Director of Media Services for the Newton County School District in Covington, Georgia, also known as the Hollywood of the South. It is a real thing, look it up. They trademarked it on shirts, I've seen it on a billboard, so it must be true, it must be true. The topic that you brought up, the questionnaire, is one of those things I'm actually going to take it literal with the whole lifeline piece. Because right now, actually with the power of my cell phone, that's how I saw my doctor most recently. It literally technology is tied to how we seek medical care now. And I'm from a generation, I'm 44 years old, so I've seen the analog world and I'm in the digital world, and now in this AI space that we live in, but it's one of those interesting facts when you think about. We live in a time and place where we did things before technology, but now I can't even remember doing it before technology. Simple things like getting an airline ticket. It was a big deal to get an airline ticket, it would come like in a FedEx package, you'd have to have a travel agent and all this stuff, you know, I don't even know, now I can hop open an Apple iPhone and be able to get my airline ticket and process it, my boarding pass, everything I need is there. So when you are talking about that connectivity, that lifeline for our students and parents to be able to take that technology to and use it to live their daily lives. That's where I think that the money really matters right there. Because then they have the resources, they can connect, they can do what they need to do, whether it's their doctor's appointment, make their plane tickets, whatever. But how are we teaching them to maximize the use of that technology that's in their hands is where we have to be right now.

Winston Benjamin  6:30  

I appreciate that real deep connection to actual literal lifeline? I didn't really think about that, so that's awesome. So in order to continue our conversation about this digital space that we're really moving into as a society and a population. What is Digital Learning Day? And what should our listeners know about it in order to figure out, "Oh, that's a thing I didn't know." So, what should they know?

Dr. Adam Phyall  6:54  

Yeah. Well, the really cool thing about Digital Learning Day, this is the 13th year for Digital Learning Day. And really, when you think back when it initially started, it was about having a day for digital learning, just kind of celebrate that because 13 years ago technology wasn't in every student's hand. We didn't have high speed internet connections across the country. We didn't have 5G networks where people could do whatever they needed to do wherever they are on technology. So really, when Digital Learning Day started, it was about amplifying the voices and the use of technology in the classroom. I know, it's hard to remember, but going back to that whole analog digital AI space that we're in now, there was a time where technology, digital technology was kind of foreign or taboo in classroom. The most we were doing was somebody making a PowerPoint slide. You know, as I've talked with somebody, PowerPoint is the GOAT of classroom technologies. Because every teacher has made a PowerPoint, you know, with an overhead projector to the PowerPoint. But you know, that was initially where it kind of started, kind of highlighting and celebrating that but then really moving forward to talking about the digital divide. And we focus in on that with Digital Learning Day, really talking about how teachers are utilizing this technology in their classroom. You know, there's different aspects of the divide. The last one is the use device so Digital Learning Day is really focusing in on how teachers, how schools across the country are leveraging and utilizing technology to not only connect students to each other, but to connect them to their future opportunities. And really just showing how powerful of a tool that is and highlighting those people that are doing the right work for boys and girls across the country and really across the world. That's really what Digital Learning Day is about. It's not really just about the technology, it's about showing how it has the power to build those connections with each other and to their future that we're trying each day to prepare our students to be ready to obtain.

Rena Clark  8:54  

Yeah, I'm also a child of the '80s, so similar. So I've been through, going from analog to digital and we're a unique generation, I think, in that way, and I can't remember how my parents got plane tickets, no idea. Like how did they do that?

Dr. Adam Phyall  9:18  

Even finding out what type of movie starts. It's like, yeah, they call like a movie phone and wait.

Rena Clark  9:23  

I mean, I used to have to get the newspaper out to look up movie times and circle, or call and wait forever for it to go through the whole thing. And then if your parents took you there are no cell phones. You had to arrange a time and a place to meet, they just left you and you got to figure it out.

Dr. Adam Phyall  9:44  

What a great generation we are.

Rena Clark  9:47  

 Beepers! There you go. That was a whole 'nother thing.

Speaker 1  9:50  

I remember, this is a birthmark, but I remember dropping my daughter off at a place and she said, "I would have called you, but I didn't know how to use the phone. It was a rotary phone, no idea."

Winston Benjamin  10:08  

Different generational technology, no again, shifts, kids don't know how to use our phone, "Dial tone, what is a dial tone?", right language that we don't use.

Rena Clark  10:17  

What's a tape?

Winston Benjamin  10:19  

Right?

Dr. Adam Phyall  10:20  

Even the whole concept of hanging up is something that kids don't know because you physically had to take the phone and put it on the receiver and put it on something to hang up. Kids have never hung up the phone. They end call. It's so weird. And even now my daughter, she will rather do a FaceTime and not even pay attention to what's on the screen. They do video calls, our friends are doing video calls versus actually calling each other on the phone. And she's 12. So, you know, I don't know. I'm feeling old now.

Rena Clark  10:54  

Well, I saw a dance and they had to make a hand motion with the phone. And it was just a flat hand.

Winston Benjamin  11:01  

Not the two fingers.

Rena Clark  11:03  

Not the thumb and pinky because that's was the old phone, but it's just the flat hand.

Speaker 1  11:09  

Well, even terminology, if you think about it, people still say rewind. We don't rewind anything anymore. I mean, that's analog tape, right?

Dr. Adam Phyall  11:17  

You really want to blow a kid's mind? Tell them about having to wait to see the next episode. My kids didn't understand like waiting for the next week to see a two-part episode. Or if you miss it, not knowing when it was going to come on again. You had to get a TV guide or an actual piece of paper to find out when that episode would play again. So you could watch.

Rena Clark  11:41  

Or you just missed it. I was like, I used to get real mad at my brother. So you can get mad, but you can just pull it right back up.

Dr. Adam Phyall  11:50  

Okay, I'm sorry, squirrel!

Rena Clark  11:52  

Okay. We'll talk some more about it, about-

Paul Beckermann  11:54  

A very interesting squirrel.

Rena Clark  11:56  

Digital Learning Day. But you talked a lot about digital learning and how its evolved, how schools are leveraging it, but why is it so important that we continue to celebrate and promote digital learning even right now?

Dr. Adam Phyall  12:10  

You know, one of the things I find really, really important about celebrating digital learning is really tying to what we've kind of transformed, what transpired through 2020 with the pandemic, when you had so many people really seeing the impact of technology, when we weren't able to have that human interaction, but we relied on technology. And then with that, you've had a school districts that have spent millions of dollars on technology from different funding sources that they got during the pandemic. And so, really, Digital Learning Day is the time to really celebrate those successes, and to celebrate and to showcase all the amazing things that our students are doing with technology. Because, of course, there are people who are a little disconnected from education, and they want to know, "Hey, what's the return on investment? What are you doing?", because let's be honest, technology should not be tied to test scores, you know, you shouldn't say, "Oh, we got all our kids, one-to-one, you know, fill in the blank device. Now our score should shoot out the roof." That's not necessarily the case, but it's really that holistic approach we talk about with education, the connections that students are making, the activities that they're able to participate in, creating experiences that they normally won't have in their in their spaces. Those are those things that we really want to celebrate with Digital Learning Day and showcase what teachers are doing is really that victory lap to say, "Hey, we're doing some amazing things from the East Coast, West Coast, north south." No matter where they are, we want to really, really be able to showcase so people can see this is money well spent and money we need to continue to spend in education to really amplify our student voices moving forward.

Paul Beckermann  13:48  

So the next logical question, and this this episode is actually airing the day before Digital Learning Day. So if teachers are listening to this, what can or should they do to celebrate it?

Dr. Adam Phyall  14:03  

Well, really, we want them to celebrate by doing some of the things they're doing right now. So it's nothing special. It's if you've ever been an administrator where you wanlked in the classroom and teachers are like, "Oh, my God, I should have been here five minutes ago and doing something really cool with technology!" We're not asking for that. We just want teachers to really do some of the things that are doing right now in class, highlighting and showcasing those You can go to dlday.org, dlday.org, and we're asking teachers, "Hey, if you want to go in there and just click the link, add your event, say 'Hey, today, we're going to be doing some great things with Kahoot. Hey, we're doing a lesson that we pulled off of the AVID website. We found some really amazing things that we want to showcase with our students doing using Flip. We're doing some really cool things with AI.'" Whatever those things are, we just want them to share those, and they can do it using social media hashtag dlday, hashtag dlday, hashta future ready. And also, here's something we want our some of our district leaders to do, is to showcase and highlight your your staff, those people who are behind the scenes that people don't talk about until the network's not working. You know, because no one ever comes up to you, a technology director or a network engineer and say, "Hey, thank you for those gigs today. It was awesome." They don't they don't get any of that. They don't get any love until it goes down. And everybody's like, "Hey, I can't get to my email, I can't get my phone's not working." You know, those are the things that people get when technology stops working. So we really want people to highlight and showcase the amazing staff that they have as well on that day.

Paul Beckermann  15:44  

Love it, shout it out.

Rena Clark  15:45  

Right. All right, Winston, I have ideas if we gotta go celebrate our tech department.

Winston Benjamin  15:50  

Absolutely right, Bob is the man. So you speak of celebrating those who are in the background? And one of the things that we all know is you're talking about the Digital Learning Day. But we all know it's a sponsored by All4Ed, right that All4Ed. Can you just tell us a little bit about the organization, like just just a bit, to help our listeners get a full context of...

Dr. Adam Phyall  16:18  

Yeah, no problem. And the really cool thing if I can take y'all on a little journey with All4Ed. So I became aware of the organizations All4Ed and Futuren Ready during my time when I was a Instructional Technology Director out in Kansas City, Missouri. It was in 2013, 14, 15 window there, and this was during the time where the country made a push at the White House for to get students connected, they had the whole Connect Ed initiative where they were providing resources and a lot of companies got on board to really push technology forward. The district that I worked in was a high-poverty minority-majority district. And it was a district that had been downtrodden. I mean, it was booming at one point. The shopping mall shut down, there was a lot of things going on in the community that weren't good, but we were going in there to really make a change and a difference. We received one of those Connect Ed grants, and we got one-to-one iPads for one on one of our schools. And I wanted to be able to leverage that and get more technology in my other buildings. And I knew it was the right thing to do., but I didn't have all the research, the data, the framework, the structures to kind of follow with that. So when I started looking at ran across Future Ready Schools, and then in turn All4Ed, which is the parent organization, and I saw that the work that they were doing was focused on ensuring opportunities for all students. And it's one of those things where it spoke to me because that's where I'd worked my entire career in Title One districts, minority districts where oftentimes those students did not see the best outcomes for themselves. So education was going to be that opportunity for them to change their lives. And when I saw All4Ed, their mission and vision, this kind of really spoke to me when I was looking at, they were talking about supporting students from the classroom to Congress, ensuring that the teachers have the right resources and ensuring that there's the right policies in placeso students can gain access. And so when I see All4Ed, it's really this nonprofit that works with all sides of the political spectru, you know, and they want to ensure that the right policies are in place, but also ensure that the practices match what the policy should be for teachers in the classroom.

Rena Clark  18:40  

So I love that you saw that it sounds like some of your core values in this organization and connected with them. And so I'm curious, what prompted All4Ed then to begin sponsoring this Digital Learning Day?

Speaker 2  18:58  

Well, it's really about with All4Ed that they really want it to show the amazing work of our educators, the amazing work of our students, and to really celebrate the work at the federal level that's also happening with the connectivity. A lot of people may not be aware of, I'm sure most of your listeners are, E-rate. But you know, E-rate is that funding, is that people ask me what E-rate is. If you ever look at your cell phone bill, it's those other fees that you get charged on your cell phone bill that telecom communications that roll to the customer that they roll back and give to you. But ultimately, it provides additional funding for schools that could not necessarily afford to have the connectivity in their building, high-speed internet access. And so one thing with Digital Learning Day with All4Ed it was highlighting that works of the FCC and Department of Education and organizations that have done that work to get our students connected. One thing that with All4Ed is we normally have someone representing the federal government. We have Democrats, Republicans, Independents all taking part of celebrating the work around technology, connectivity, and closing that digital divide that we know that's still out there. That's really why All4Ed wanted to sponsor something like this, because it falls in line with that mission and vision, ensuring that all students have that equitable access and policies and practices are in place to ensure that they can be the best version of themselves.

Paul Beckermann  19:08  

Yeah, and part of that being the best version of yourself is your future. And you've mentioned Future Ready, a couple times. You want to talk about the Future Ready piece. What is that?

Dr. Adam Phyall  20:40  

Yeah, when I was talking about, like, with All4Ed I mentioned that they did the whole classroom to Congress. And so really, when you think about with All4Ed they have our organization has policy experts that work with different state and national and federal organizations around crafting policy. But then what happens after those policies are in place? Well, that's, that's when Future Ready steps in, we really focus around ensuring that students and teachers know the right practices around utilizing technology. So we do that around our Future Ready framework. And it has various gears around it. And each one of those gears kind of highlights a role or process that school districts should focus in on as they are developing their future-ready plan. So what does it mean to be future-ready? It's having the right practices, ensuring sustainability, and anything that you're implementing. But, all in all, it's encompassing around inclusive leadership and culture, but then also being student and learner focused. So it's all these things is kind of coming together to ensure that what's happening in the classroom is really going to be the best actions for those students that we have the privilege to serve.

Winston Benjamin  21:57  

And I know that there's a Future Ready School Framework. Where can people access that, and how can people start utilizing that in their work, if you will, because, you know, you gave the overview. So where could they access the information?

Dr. Adam Phyall  22:12  

Go there, just go on to the futureready.org website, futureready.org/framework, and you can follow that there. And, here's the awesome thing with Future Ready, I tell people, like 98% of the stuff that we do is free.99 That's right, free.99. It's because we really want people to be doing what matters in the classroom, and with the Future ready Framework is, actually we have an assessment that districts can take, and this is what actually drew me to it as a former technology director, when I when I saw their dashboard tool, because you go through and you take this assessment, and it basically lets you know where your areas of opportunity are in your district. So once you go through it, you take your readiness, and it's like, "Okay, well, oh, we need to strengthen our personalized professional learning" or "we need to focus on our budget and resources." So out of those eight gears, you get various scores based on your assessment. So we always tell people, when you take the assessment, you got to be honest, you know, that kind of garbage in garbage out is like that. That's the time to tell the truth. You know, when you're taking this assessment, because it's your data, we don't see the data is your personal school's data. So you see the data, you can determine, "Hey, based on the score, this is where we need to move forward and have those opportunities," and then we give a deep dive in deep dive into each gear. So you figure out that robust infrastructure is that area of opportunity, we have resources around there, and we that will focus in on getting better at that space.

Rena Clark  23:46  

All right. Well, I know that I'm excited to learn more about Digital Learning Day and go to the website. Can you remind us again what that website is?

Dr. Adam Phyall  23:56  

Yes, you could find out everything you need to know about Digital Learning Day. And like I said, it's gonna be amazing. We're gonna do a live event. We're going to be out in Seattle actually for a conference. [exclamations from Rena and Paul] Okay, so we got to have you come by and get you on the live broadcast for Digital Learning Day. We're gonna be doing that there. But yeah, dlday.org, dlday.org. You can find out so much information about it there. We actually have a map, if you remember like with Code.org or something, where you could put a map and have your advantage. Give a shout out to your school. We want teachers, administrators, whoever, library folks, get on there, put yourself on the map. We want to celebrate you that's really what it's all about, Digital Learning Day, is celebrating the work that you're doing out there in the schools, boots on the ground in the classrooms, technology directors, library media specialists, superintendents, everybody. Dlday.org.

Rena Clark  25:01  

All right. Well, I think we're ready to get into our toolkit, y'all. So we've been talking a lot about, we've used the word digital learning a lot. So let's think about what's in our toolkit.

Student  25:14  

Check it out, check it out, check it out. What's in the toolkit? What- what is in the toolkit? Check it out.

Winston Benjamin  25:25  

So I'm going to start and just jump in and say, check out the Future Ready Framework. I know a lot of times people say they want to jump into the future. But like, are you ready? What do you need to do? What do you need to set up? What are the things and systems that you need to have in place? So, yeah, check out futureready.com to be able to figure out, where are you in that future process?

Dr. Adam Phyall  25:46  

I liked that, I like that tool. I like that.

Rena Clark  25:50  

All right, Paul.

Paul Beckermann  25:51  

I'm going to put my Digital lLarning Specialist hat back on. And my wife and I were just having a conversation, a staff member was talking to students having a conversation about how they were using tech. And they were, without exception, the students said when they use tech, they were using it in isolation. It's like they were all by themselves. And my wife and I are huge believers, that no, you should be collaborating with technology. And my favorite recipe for tech integration is: Have students create something with another student. If you're collaboratively creating using technology, you are doing all the four Cs, right? You're communicating, you're collaborating, you're using critical thinking, you're being creative. Let kids engage in an authentic way together around technology. It should not be an isolating event.

Rena Clark  26:47  

I think that's so true. And I actually am going to direct y'all to go to avidopenaccess.org. We have tons of different articles, resources that you can grab. And then if you listen to our Tech Talk for Teachers podcast component of Unpacking Education, there are lots of little tidbits in there that are really helpful, and they're really short. So you can listen in your car, or the chair, or the treadmill. I mean, it's not usually my preferred thing to listen to while running, but, hey, to each their own.

Paul Beckermann  27:25  

But you haven't listened to this episode on your treadmill!

Dr. Adam Phyall  27:29  

Exactly. It'll keep you going, keep you going. You know what? I actually like a tech tool, and I'm always careful with tools because sometimes people just get a bunch of tools and they have no idea when and how to use them. So with that being said, you know, love tools, but also keep in mind, if you don't know why, don't buy because you end up with a whole lot of tools and not that much implementation of it. But one resource that I really love is The Achievery. This is one of those that is from, I think it's ATT, they did a little partnership deal. But it's theachievery.com, and they have little videos and cartoon clips and lessons to go along with it. So it's like the things from scratch or now something from I think it's a video that I use, like from Wonder Woman, the movie Wonder Woman, but then it has like a little activity around SEL and those components there. So going back to what you were saying earlier, finding something that's really relevant to the students, but then also making it simple and easy for teachers who may struggle with technology and implementation. That's what it's all about. I mean, even with the AVID open resources there. I love how those resources are there, and it makes it very simple for a teacher who's trying to implement technology. It's like, "Hey, take this. Go, go, go." I was doing an adjunct class this summer, and in my course I pointed my students to those resources. And they were like, "Oh my gosh! I didn't notice stuff was there!" I'm like, "Yes, there's really great stuff that is free.99 that you can get out there and you could use in your classroom tomorrow with your students."

Winston Benjamin  29:11  

See, sometimes people forget, like, free.99 is the greatest price. Yo, free.99 is the greatest price. It's the greatest price because everybody knows that Costco deal. So one of the things that we like to do is thinking about, like, what's next? What's one thing that's still kind of in your mind that you're, like, let me walk away so that I'm always still working, before vacation, not during vacation. But what's on your mind, what's still going through your head as you ponder this episode? How can you could be supportive of digital learning? What's in your head?

Rena Clark  29:44  

It's time for that one thing.

Winston Benjamin  29:57  

Reena? Paul?

Rena Clark  29:58  

So I loved one thing you said. And it was in jest, I think, you said, Garbage in, garbage out." But I think it's so applicable to everything. As you said, you need to know your why there needs to be a purpose before using these tools. So if you're just using it to use it, well, that's garbage, and you're gonna get garbage and you're gonna, if you already have negative bad things happening, you're just going to amplify it and make it worse. So it's like, "What are you doing well, and what is your purpose?" and then using tech to really amplify that and then you're gonna have something much better than garbage.

Paul Beckermann  29:58  

Yeah, I think Adams is a master of the T-shirt moment, because that was one of them, for sure, and there are two other ones that I caught. One was related to yours, Rena, "If you don't know why don't buy." Kind of slipped it in there in passing, but that's like a T-shirt. That's a great slogan to kind of keep it in perspective. And the other one was, "We want to celebrate you," which is perfectly tied into this Digital Learning Day concept. Celebrate the great things that are happening, I guarantee you, great things are happening in every school out there. Everybody who's listening knows something great that's happening. Share it, amplify it, spread it out.

Winston Benjamin  31:12  

Adam, I'm gonna throw it to you, what's something that you're still thinking about?

Dr. Adam Phyall  31:17  

Well, I'm just gonna kind of piggyback on what you just said there. You know, when I think about celebration, it's really about telling our stories before somebody else does. I think in public education we do sometimes a poor job of telling that story, and it only takes one, one kid to go to a website, they shouldn't go to or to download something, and then that becomes the story that everybody's talking about. So tying in with Digital Learning Day, this is that time to really tell that story, to let folks know, all the amazing things that are happening in education, not only in your district, in education period. And giving those students a time to shine is really about shining that light on the students and the amazing things that they can create with technology. So I'm just thinking about that. Just even eternally thinking about things that I can do to help my personal kids, leverage technology better to really shine and show what makes them amazing. Because that is what they are. This is this digital age. We joked about it earlier, different types of generations, they're connected. So, how can we continue to have students tell their stories with technology?

Winston Benjamin  32:24  

I appreciate you connecting all of this back to what matters, which is our student's, right? So my one thing is, "Yo teachers, remember you're already doing this, you are already working with your kids trying to engage with technology." The goal of this day is to celebrate, and remember to throw the lifeline every now and then. So as we close out, I just want to think past, back on my life when my parents did not have access to technology or the internet. They were not typing. Using a typewriter, that's all they did. We did not have a computer in my home. I was behind when I got to college. Thinking about how do we provide students the opportunity so that when they do get access to those playgrounds where they are showing their skills, that they know how to use the technology to be able to fully engage so that they're not spending their brainpower trying to figure out what's going on, they're spending their brainpower engaging with the problem. So as you're working and as you're engaging, thank you for taking the time to celebrate digital learning and engage your students with the technology and the future because they need the lifeline. Thank you, have a good night.

Rena Clark  33:40  

Thanks for listening to Unpacking Education.

Winston Benjamin  33:43  

We invite you to visit us at avidopenaccess.org where you can discover resources to support student agency, equity, and academic tenacity to create a classroom for future-ready learners.

Paul Beckermann  33:57  

We'll be back here next Wednesday for a fresh episode of Unpacking Education.

Rena Clark  34:02  

And remember, go forth and be awesome.

Winston Benjamin  34:05  

Thank you for all you do.

Paul Beckermann  34:07  

You make a difference.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai