Leaders arrived to San Bernardino from across Los Angeles for a day of discussion about the technology shift in education. At 8:00 a.m., a packed room at the West End Education Service Center of the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools administrative offices was greeted with a personal welcome and overview from the County’s Superintendent of Schools, Mr. Ted Alejandre.

What the Learning Counsel saw in San Bernardino was executives realizing how much perspective they gained. Executives across the country routinely comment that they don’t hear enough about how others are doing and how they are overcoming barriers in transition.

LeiLani Cauthen, the Learning Counsel CEO delivered to the LA area audience a national level market briefing to bring everyone up to speed. This included details of what’s going on with the overall purchase of digital curriculum, what’s happening with technology purchase and what transformation actually means in the greater context of our economy, of our culture and the politics. In addition, Dr. David Kafitz shared the results of the 2015 Learning Counsel National Survey to bring perspective to what districts around the country are doing and confronting in transitioning to digital curriculum and content.

The day included speakers from the education and vendor community discussing challenges and solutions to the things happening right now in districts and private schools. The day ended with a lively panel discussion about digital curriculum and technology transformation: the effects on IT departments, collaboration between tech and curriculum and the involvement from teachers, parents and students as technology is integrated. The packed room weighed in about how they’ve met challenges in the changing education landscape.

Photo Gallery: San Bernardino Discussion

“A game changer that I’ve seen is the level of collaboration between teachers and administrators,” said Matt Penner, the Tech Director of at Val Verde USD. “There are things we’ve been able to do in the last few years that we’ve never been able to do before. The teachers now want change—they want technology. This is probably following trends outside of education and that’s fine. That’s good for students. My team loves to see that teachers want to act now and learn to use the tools, be involved in professional development and no longer resist change.”

Mike Snellings, the Assistant Superintendent at Colton Joint USD also spoke on the panel and stated, “the most immediate and obvious shift that you see in classrooms is the engagement. As technology is integrated I’ve seen the students wanting to learn in a way that I’ve never seen in my entire career. So while there may not be studies to document outcomes, it’s clear to me we have more learning going on.”

The Learning Counsel looks forward to seeing all our Southern California friends again the next time we’re in the LA or San Diego areas. Keep up your great work!