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What’s New in Educational Technology – January 2026
Welcome to 2026! This edition includes some new thoughts on post-high-school experiences and the application of today’s technologies. As a faculty member, are you considering the direction your students need to take to be prepared for their futures? Speaking of the future, how will New Jersey’s Cell Phone ban affect education outcomes?
This month’s articles include a look at College Prep and CTE Prep. We will view some practical resources supporting the teaching of coding and other modern technology areas. One more thought: have you considered offering certification exams? Certifications like A+, CEH, and Security+? (There are many more and in fields beyond Computer Science, for example, an entry-level medical certification is available.) Why not offer the certification exams?
1. Which is more important: College Prep or CTE Prep? A recent Edweek poll of over 450 school districts has found an almost 50/50 balance between the two post high school perspectives. Rural and Urban districts were more likely to favor CTE, while Suburban districts leaned more toward College Prep. What may be more interesting is that modern CTE, i.e., Computer Science areas like Artificial Intelligence, Security, and Programming, were considered as important as College Prep areas and should be considered as college experiences.
What does this mean for today’s school districts? Many Rural districts are traditional in that they lean toward preparing their students for the kinds of jobs in the local economy. This approach is an ongoing extension of past practices. And helps to provide the manpower to maintain the local economies. If we view modern technology as an extension of the computer era, then College Prep and Computer Science become integral to the college-bound experience for interested students. Do Schools Put College Prep and CTE on An Equal Footing? We Asked Educators
2. Learning Forward’s (New Jersey) Day of Learning is March 25th (2026) Where do your instructional coaches, curriculum and development heads, and other professional development staff get insights about moving your faculty and staff forward in their roles? Learning Forward is a national organization focused on improving education through staff development. The New Jersey chapter will have its annual conference on March 25th in Monroe Township NJ (Central NJ) in the New Jersey Principal’s and Supervisor’s Association location. Click here for details: Day Of Learning 2026 | Learning Forward New Jersey
This link brings you to the NJ Newsletter: Learning Links
Here is the URL for the national organization: Services | Learning Forward Professional Services
This link is for my Pennsylvania readers: Welcome To Learning Forward Pennsylvania
The national organization publishes a bi-monthly journal. It is available as a hard copy or a web based version. Clicking on the following link will take you to the journal. Scroll down past the “$ Buy Hard Copies” link to see the web version. Learning Communities For Leaders
3. TV.Garden is now FameLack.com Just a quick note: The worldwide TV website has changed its URL name. The features are the same, either go through the list of countries or use the globe to find a country’s TV stations. It can be useful for language teachers or to view news stories as presented in other countries. Many countries do have English-language TV stations. If you decide to use these as reinforcement for World Language courses, keep in mind that local speakers speak very fast! https://famelack.com/
4. Need help teaching Python? I look at this website as a way to improve your personal coding skills, so your teaching improves. They do not offer a pricing plan for schools (at least not yet). A 30-day trial is available; the annual plan can cost $350 per person. If you would like to see what each course is composed of, check out this link: curriculum/paths/computer-science.md at main · bootdotdev/curriculum · GitHub. The main website can be found at Learn backend development the smart way | Boot.dev .
5. What is Acrobat Studio? Adobe has added a fourth product to the Acrobat line up. The first 3, Acrobat Reader, Acrobat, and Acrobat Pro still exist. The fourth, called Acrobat Studio, is based upon Pro and adds Express Premium and collaboration tools so that teams of users can work together on presentations and creating business documents. It is a business product, an academic version has not been released. Acrobat for business pricing & plans | Adobe Acrobat
6. An alternative to Acrobat for PDF Reading, Editing, and Organizing. I am not a fan of monthly payments, especially for programs that may be on multiple PCs! PDFgear is free to use and download onto Windows, MAC Os, Android, and iOS (iPhone and iPad) devise. And, is Free! There is also a web based version. Give it a try here: PDFgear - Free PDF Editor Software & Online tools
7. From Addy Osmani: 75% of the code written by AI does not work properly! Actually, it will appear to work but there will be errors; the user still has to work through the flaws. In other words, if you are not familiar with the coding language don’t expect the code generated by AI to be completely usable. In other words, AI won’t replace developers very soon. Mr. Osmani writes a newsletter about using AI. He has worked for Google as a developer for 25 years and specializes in the AI area. Here is a link to his web page: AddyOsmani.com Here is a link to his article about using AI for coding: AddyOsmani.com - AI writes code faster. Your job is still to prove it works.
8. Free AI for Creating Lesson Plans and Grading! The website says “Stop Working Weekends”. Okay, just what is free? If you only need to create 3 lesson plans a week, then this is free. The grading side of it will read hand written work as well as documents submitted in the popular data formats including .docx and .pdf. The lesson planning side will work with your districts (or state mandated) standards. Click here to look it over: JustTeach
9. Google Gemini introduces Personal Intelligence. This should not be a surprise. Everything happening within the Google environment is monitored, so why not connect it all through Gemini? There are benefits, though from the outside looking in many of these have existed in some other form for a while. For example, if you receive an email for an appointment, the date and time will find themselves placed on your calendar app. (I see this all of the time on my Android phone.) Perhaps with Gemini the location of the appointment will automatically find its way to your Google Maps app. BTW: This can all be turned off if you feel your Google apps know too much about you… Personal Intelligence: Connecting Gemini to Google apps
10. The Confidence of Teachers in the Face of TechnologyA European study involving about 27,000 teachers self-perceived technology competence showed that very few teachers rated themselves as being extremely competent with most falling in the A- to B+ category. Women placed themselves at the lower end. A large percentage of teachers felt that teaching the use of technology to students is difficult. While the overview did not break out teachers by subject area, I would have to believe that only the teachers who teach a technology subject took the highest ratings, while most other teachers were comfortable enough to place themselves at the next level. Much of the report and other studies can be found here: The Digital Competence Landscape of Teachers: A Large-Scale Analysis on Self-Perceived Competence and Gender Differences | Technology, Knowledge and Learning | Springer Nature Link
11. Want to know more about Microsoft’s Academic solutions? Look into the Microsoft Education Solutions Guide Sometimes you really do not know what you have. For example, there are 3 versions of Microsoft 365 for Education. So, what are the differences? And, how do I get them installed and working on student and staff computers? (I have some idea, but it was always a daunting process!) The Education Solutions Guide is an easy to understand, well written guide to understanding the software and the differences between each version. Also, what accessory apps are available for each version and how to install them.
It goes deeper because the guide covers how to administer the applications by the IT Administrator. This includes security, turning on and off features as needed, and updating. How to uninstall but leave the users files intact. Things that are important but have not been easy to understand.
One thing to know, Microsoft still uses the Academic licensing IDs of A1, A3, and A5, but have added another name for each. A1 is also called Baseline. A3 is also called Standard. While A5 is also called Advanced.
Here is a link to get you there: Microsoft Education Solution Guide - M365 Education | Microsoft Learn
Here is an easy to copy and remember link: aka.ms/esg
12. New Jersey bans use of Cell Phones during the School Day beginning August 2026. On January 16th, Governor Murphy signed a bill banning cell phones during the school day beginning with the next school year. The NJ Department of Education is creating guidance about this topic as there are times when using a cell phone may be helpful. (Using the Video or Photo features for example.) Here is Dept. of Education Statement: Student Digital Wellness
13. Pennsylvania Senate Bill 1014 Proposes a Cell Phone Ban beginning in 2027. Here is the sponsorship memo: PA Cell Phones in Schools Bill
14. 12 Free Months of Microsoft 365 and Linked-In Career Premium for College Students If you know of students who are considering their post higher education careers, free use of Microsoft Office and Linked In can be very helpful. As long as they have a working college email they can sign up. Here is a link: Microsoft Student Discount on Office, Word | Microsoft 365
15. Become a Test Center. Pearson is well known for its many testing resources. Now your school district can provide tests for local professionals and also for your students. I believe that the savings involved, the school district already owns the facility and much of the technology, which could lead to students saving money and still earning a professional certification. Here is the link to more information: Become a Pearson Test Center
There is a lot to review this month, so please share this newsletter with those colleagues who may benefit from this information. Or, have them subscribe by sending an email to: subscribe@tcclass.com
Looking forward to February’s news!
Mitch Ravitz
mitch@tcclass.com
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