An interesting finding of the survey (above) is that school principals expect their prospective teachers to have an already-developed technology skill set in order to give them hiring consideration. Principals want new teachers to know how to use technology to create authentic learning experiences for students (75 percent) and how to leverage technology to differentiate instruction (68 percent) before they apply for a position at their school.

In other words, one’s ability to demonstrate how he or she will utilize technology will be a key consideration in the hiring process. That’s because, as with nearly all professions, hiring managers know there’s a shorter learning curve for those who already have the right technical skills to do the job.

You should brush up on your technical skills and highlight these in your application materials and during interviews to give yourselves a greater advantage over other applicants. Add to that the fact that educational budgets simply do not allow for adequate on-the-job training, and the burden is on you to keep up with tech trends as they arise.

There was a time teachers could assume that what they taught in the classroom would last their students a lifetime. Now they are tasked with preparing them for careers that don’t yet exist, technologies we can hardly envision, and problems that have yet to emerge. Impossible? No. Challenging? Yes. But meeting the challenge involves a major rethink of education itself – its purposes and how we deliver it. 

Since you’re aiming for a career in education, utilizing technology effectively is a crucial skill that you’ll need to be able to demonstrate. It’s a skill that can set you apart from the rest of the crowd, whether you’re applying for your first job in education or you’re trying to show your employer why you’re a valuable asset to the school.

As a teacher of the future, you must become more adept in your ability to use data to diagnose problems and prescribe interventions that assist students in going to the next level. The one benefit of testing data is it allows educators to see students’ strengths and weaknesses at different times in the year to curtail pitfalls that are inevitable if there is no diagnosis.

You can have a profound effect on whether their students embrace technology, in the classroom and beyond. The way that you present technology skills will also affect what kinds of technological thinkers your students become. Integrating technology into other subject areas such as history, English and the arts will teach your students to use creative, technology-based problem solving skills in many areas. 

If you’re aiming for a career in education, utilizing technology effectively is a crucial skill that you’ll need to be able to demonstrate. It’s a skill that can set you apart from the rest of the crowd, whether you’re applying for your first job in education or you’re trying to show your employer why you’re a valuable asset to the school.