It is always a good time to review expenses and look for possible savings
US schools spent more $27 billion in edtech in 2021. If your district is like many others, there are plenty of opportunities to cut edtech budgets.
Virtual learning led to experimentation, which is good. With schools evolving and federal COVID relief dollars drying up, it’s time to take a hard look at educational technology effectiveness, usage, and budgets. Which ones are worth the investment? Here’s a high-level look at how to start answering that question.
1. Find the apps
This is the hard part: the perpetual whirlwind of identifying gaps, exceptions, and shadow apps
The number of technology products has almost triplicate during the last six years. That’s a lot of apps to track, not to mention learn and maintain. According to a client survey Per Lightspeed Analytics, districts reported more than 2,000 apps in use. 300 apps accounted for 99% of total usage, while an additional 1,700 apps were used less frequently.
2. Assess effectiveness
Another difficult part.
If the app doesn’t have a proven and vested interest in education, does it belong? Maybe.
First impressions at a surface level don’t always tell the whole story; for example, non-educational applications such as social media platforms may still play a niche role in certain classrooms. But not all apps marketed for education are actually educational anyway.
Pro Tip: search independent and peer reviewed investigation instead of research bought and paid for by an edtech startup. Remember: Efficiency can look different for individual platforms, especially administrative software. Learn how different districts have navigated the complex process of choosing new SIS and ERP systems that will withstand decades of use.
3. Eliminate duplicates and risks
Now things are getting a bit easier, at least technically. It can be hard to narrow down apps that do similar things; after all, there’s a reason educators chose them all.
Curriculum guidelines can help. Keep an eye out for similar apps and crop the overlap.
Browse apps with privacy policy changes. The same Lightspeed survey revealed that 91% of apps used in school districts had multiple privacy policy changes; the median was three changes per application.
4. Compare the market
Don’t be fooled by the flash.
Edtech companies sell edtech. Edtech partners support Edtech users. The market is shifting to favor the latter, but that doesn’t mean the former is going away. On the contrary, they can even become more tenacious. Remember, marketing budget and targeted ads ≠ effectiveness. Be especially wary of companies that make bold claims without (independent, peer-reviewed) evidence to back them up.
5. Ask your neighbors
What do you do when you’re in the market for a great home investment? You read reviews and reviews are worth gold. Word of mouth is the best way to get a real and honest look at the good and bad of edtech (and many other things).
Most district leaders really enjoy comparing notes on what works and what doesn’t, and are happy to share both the good and the bad experiences.
6. Adapt the school culture
Now that you’ve purged your edtech, how will you weed out future additions to make sure the plethora of apps doesn’t get out of hand?
This is a role for the IT department, of course, but it’s also a matter of culture. There will always be a new hot app that educators want to explore, at least we hope so. This is how edtech will evolve. Incorporate a sense of caution into the school’s technology culture. After all, students deserve the most effective and safe educational technology available, and that’s not always the newest and flashiest educational technology.
