The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the lives of people around the world. We had to quickly adapt to different ways of working, learning, and connecting with each other. There has been continuous and mounting worry about the spread of the virus, disruption to the status quo, and it has been unlike anything we've experienced in modern times.

Many of our recent conversations have begun with the proclamation that we are living in "unprecedented times." This phrase is intriguing as it implies that we have never before known anything like this. While I have never experienced a pandemic, I have read that the global response to the 1918 pandemic, or The Spanish Flu-during which at least 50 million people died-was similar to that of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Schools closed around the world as the virus continued to spread. In the United States, in Chicago and New York City, public schools remained open-even during the flu's deadliest month, when approximately 195,000 Americans died. The Chicago Health Commissioner argued that keeping schools open would reduce virus spread as the disease was not particularly dangerous for school-aged children; cities that closed schools did not seem to do any better at containing the virus than Chicago; and children were much better supervised in school, where learning could continue uninterrupted.

Over one year into the COVID-19 pandemic, close to half the world's students are still affected by partial or full school closures, and over 100 million additional children will fall below the minimum proficiency level in reading as a result of the health crisis.

In the two months after the pandemic hit, the school districts in the United States used an average of 1,300 education technology tools each month, according to EdTech Insights research. Students, teachers, parents, and administration were dependent on technology for remote learning and classroom management, and this will likely continue through 2021 and beyond.