Wired In

Ian O’Byrne has existed at the intersection of education and technology for decades. As a middle school teacher in Springfield, Mass., in the late ’90s, he signed up for anything to do with literacy and technology. He clearly remembers his first conversation about Google.

“In my second or third year of teaching, a colleague mentioned it,” he recalls. “We all thought, That’s a silly name; that’ll never catch on.”

Today, as an associate professor of literacy education at the College, O’Byrne spends his days teaching, researching and pondering how we use technology to read, write and think. His focus? How to be more thoughtful about what and how we communicate, minding the impact of technology on our everyday lives.

O’Byrne, who describes himself as a college dropout who worked his way back up through community college, says it’s important to share his personal journey with students at the start of each semester.

“I tell them, ‘For some of you, being in college is the norm and even expected. For others, it’s a minor miracle. You’ve already won.’”

Sharing his own story is O’Byrne’s way of connecting with students who live in a digital world. He finds his their perspectives on AI and other rapidly evolving technology fascinating.

“AI can be used to create funny videos, but it can also cause fear because sometimes you can’t believe what you see,” he says.

A prolific creator, O’Byrne manages his own website, blog and “digital garden,” where he shares thoughts and works in progress. He helped build the Mozilla Web Literacy Framework and cowrote the definition of digital literacy for the National Council of Teachers of English, shaping the frameworks used by organizations worldwide to navigate digital transformation.

O’Byrne notes that the one constant in education – like in life – is change. “The recent buzz is all around AI, but we’ve been here before. Whenever technology changes society, we have an opportunity to make adjustments – or not. Are we redefining how we work? Some of us are. Others are sharing cat GIFs.”

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. O’Byrne is hyperaware of his responsibility as an educator to embrace technology, including AI. “If we do not give students the opportunity to use these tools and think critically about them, they’ll be left behind.”

His passion isn’t limited to just helping students understand tech tools; it extends to faculty and staff, as he advocates for using AI to harness, not hinder, students’ learning experiences.

O’Byrne is the director of the Initiative for Literacy in a Digital Age, which named him the winner of its 2021 Divergent Award. He’s quickly scaling up work that focuses on supporting both educators and learners, recognizing the importance of honoring diverse perspectives.

“A lot of my work,” he says, “explores how we can use digital tools and platforms to give students a voice and empower them to advocate for themselves and their communities.” – Christine Mahoney