Review: Unleashing the Potential of Technology in Education

By Michael Ishimoto
To exploit technology’s potential effectively, this paper from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) argues, schools must integrate it within a “closed-loop” system—one that has a deeply aligned set of educational objectives, standards, curricula, assessments, interventions, and professional development. To prove this point, they highlight some universities and school systems that are incorporating technology into such a closed-loop approach. Victoria, Australia is said to be the best example of this at scale. And Carnegie Mellon’s Open Learning Initiative (OLI), also lauded, embeds frequent assessment and real-time, continuous feedback into its courses. The paper ends with a set of basic (and reasonably vague) recommendations for shifting from our current approach to education to a technology-based closed-loop one, focusing on teacher empowerment, student engagement, and research and infrastructure development. A titillating paper geared to the savvy follower of digital learning, this is not. But it is a helpful resource for those just dipping their feet into the refreshing waters of digital learning.

Allison Bailey, Tyce Henry, Lane McBride, J. Puckett, “Unleashing the Potential of Technology in Education” (Boston, MA: The Boston Consulting Group, Inc., 2011).