It’s crucial that educators be supported, according to Katy Knight, president and executive director with the Siegel Family Endowment.

Knight joined WorkingNation’s editor-in-chief Ramona Schindelheim for WorkingNation Overheard at SXSW EDU 2024 in Austin.

She says it’s a challenge for teachers to keep up with the fast-changing pace of technology. “I think [there is the need for] lots more professional learning opportunities to help teachers get oriented to these things. But also thinking about where’s their team support, where are the people that are going to help them figure this stuff out alongside their students and their communities so that they’re all sort of learning together about what the future holds?”

Knight adds, “We’re also thinking about what are the rapid ways that we can inject some opportunities for learning – for people to make career changes or to just shift within their work to take advantage of technology rather than having it sort of roll over them.

“We think about opportunities for leverage, and we talk about equitable gains. If technology is a rising tide, will it really lift all if we don’t actually equip people with the skills to understand it and take control of it?”

Learn more about the Siegel Family Endowment.