Beyond Button-Pushing: ISTE + ASCD 2025 and the Heartbeat of Education

As always, attending the ISTE + ASCD conference in San Antonio, Texas, was invigorating and energising for me, not merely for the abundance of educational technology to excite the nerd in me, but for the rich human connections at its core. Conferences like ISTE remind me that, despite the lure of new digital tools, the heartbeat of our profession remains whanaungatanga, the profound relational bonds we build.

Both Google and Microsoft unveiled numerous features intended to impress teachers. Google, for example, showcased updates to its NotebookLM, a tool genuinely beneficial for managing complex projects and supporting student research. Microsoft similarly announced updates aimed at streamlining tasks like rubric creation and quiz generation. Yet, I found myself questioning: Are these truly transformative, or merely faster ways of doing the same old tasks? 

Such scepticism was echoed strongly in a session from Australian educator Brett Salakas that highlighted the Vatican’s "Antiqua et Nova" document on AI and education. The Church emphasises technology as a human creation intended for collaboration with divine wisdom, reminding us to harness innovation responsibly, ethically, and always in service of human dignity. Particularly poignant was the document’s caution against reducing education to mere functionality or efficiency, exactly my concern with many current "AI tools" that replicate traditional tasks without fundamentally improving teaching or learning.

To illustrate this point, take the use of AI for generating lesson plans. While convenient, this approach risks depriving teachers of the critical reflective practice inherent in lesson planning. Creating lessons is not just an administrative task; it is a core professional practice allowing teachers to deeply understand their students' learning needs, interests and progress. This reflective practice is essential for professional growth. Extending this analogy to students, we must also recognise that the learning process itself is far more valuable than the final product, emphasising the necessity of engaging deeply rather than merely achieving outcomes quickly.

Richard Culcatta's first morning keynote touched on ISTE's Transformational Learning Principles of Nurture, Guide and Empower, reinforced the beauty of my own country's national curriculum. At the front of the New Zealand curriculum are the key competencies. I observed striking parallels. New Zealand has embraced the competencies of thinking, using language, managing self, relating to others, participating and contributing for nearly two decades. ISTE’s principles align closely, emphasising relationships, equity, curiosity, reflection, authentic experiences, and learner agency. It's reassuring, if somewhat ironic, to see these longstanding pedagogical values being newly embraced internationally.

My own session at the conference showcased Marlborough Boys College’s commitment to placing humans at the centre of educational technology through Ako (reciprocal learning), Manaakitanga (care and support), and Whanaungatanga (relationships). We demonstrated how our innovative practices do not simply use technology to automate education but rather enhance genuine human interaction and learning experiences. This aligns deeply with ISTE’s transformational principles and the holistic integration of new technology.

Ultimately, technology in education should deepen human connections and foster authentic, holistic learning experiences and not simply generate quick lesson plans or superficially mimic teaching through chatbots. The conference reinforced that the true transformative power in education lies in our relationships and shared humanity, reminding us all why we became teachers in the first place.

He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata. 

What is the most important thing in the world? It is people, it is people, it is people.