Education’s Top Five Technology Priorities and the Challenges Standing in Their Way
According to the latest State of Ed Tech report by the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), cybersecurity emerges as the top priority for leading education technology companies in the United States. CoSN, a professional association for K-12 technology leaders, conducted a survey involving 607 of its members nationwide. The survey aimed to explore how these leaders are navigating the ever-evolving technology landscape, covering aspects like artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, connectivity, staffing, procurement, and device management.
Top Technology Priorities in Education
The survey identified the following top technology priorities for education:
- Cybersecurity
- Privacy and Security
- Generative AI
- Cost-effective/Smart Budgeting
- Network Infrastructure
Cybersecurity has consistently topped the list since 2018. The U.S. Department of Education reports that school districts face an average of five cyber incidents per week. This underscores the necessity of managing cybersecurity risks, especially as educational institutions increasingly depend on technology and internet connectivity for educational service delivery and daily operations. However, 65% of survey respondents pointed to inadequate cybersecurity staffing and lack of a dedicated budget as significant hurdles in addressing cybersecurity issues.
Challenges in Technology-Enabled Learning Environments
Moreover, the survey delved into the primary challenges education technology leaders face in creating and implementing technology-enabled learning environments. The top three challenges identified were:
- Budget constraints and lack of resources
- Presence of silos within districts hindering collaborative technology planning
- Lack of relevant training and professional development opportunities
Educational technology budgets have been particularly affected by the cessation of emergency funding at both federal and state levels, such as the ESSER program. This has jeopardized various educational technology budget categories, including:
- Renewing and modernizing classroom technology, excluding devices (cited by 42% of respondents)
- Devices (39%)
- Cybersecurity (29%)
- Software licenses (26%)
- IT staff (19%)
For 12 of the 13 years that the survey has been conducted, budgets have been a persistent challenge in education. The report highlights, “Properly maintaining a complex and constantly evolving technology ecosystem requires predictable and sustainable funding.”
For further insights and detailed findings, the full report is available on the CoSN website Here.
About the author
Rhea Kelly is Editor-in-Chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].
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