Same Tools… New Tricks?
I’ve been at this for a while now—23 years in the edtech world, 16 of them in my current role—and I’ve noticed something that makes me chuckle (and maybe makes me feel just a little old). When I first started as an instructional technology advocate, it felt like every week there was some shiny new tool to try. Everything was fresh, different, exciting. Fast forward two decades, and here I am…still talking about the same tools.
Now, don’t get me wrong—there’s a reason they’ve stuck around. Great tools stand the test of time. Padlet, for example, has been part of my toolkit forever. But the Padlet I was showing teachers back in the day is not the Padlet we have now. It’s evolved, borrowed from other platforms, absorbed the features of things like Flip and Jamboard, and is even dabbling in AI. It’s less a “new tool” at this point and more of a “Swiss Army knife that just keeps adding more gadgets.” (At this rate, I’m expecting Padlet to start brewing coffee.)
The funny part is that it leaves me in this strange spot. On one hand, it’s a win—teachers don’t have to feel like they’re on a hamster wheel of constant change. They can get good at a tool and keep using it for years, even as it adapts. That’s stability, and that’s rare in technology. On the other hand, I sometimes wonder: am I missing something? Are there truly no brand-new tools out there, or have we simply reached a point where the old guard is flexible enough to do everything we need?
Of course, AI is the one big exception. That’s the genuinely “new new” right now—different, disruptive, and not just another feature tacked on to an existing platform. But outside of AI, the pace of new tools has slowed, and that’s got me asking: are we in a golden age of mature, reliable edtech, or is there space waiting for the next big thing?
Either way, I guess the irony is that after 23 years of “keeping up,” I’m still standing in front of teachers, excitedly sharing…Padlet. Maybe the tools aren’t what’s new anymore—it’s the ways we keep using them. Or maybe I really am just getting old. (Let me know if you see Padlet adding a rocking chair feature.)