How to guarantee the return on investment in educational technology? Ask these 4 questions

Key points:

Working with educators and curriculum and systems leaders across the state of New Hampshire, I often hear some common refrains about educational technology tools for the classroom.

I know ___ is a great resource, but I don't think teachers even know that.

Teachers are not capable of assuming “something else,” so everything we share with them has to solve problems they already have.

We want to use ___ but the technical staff has other priorities.

Somehow, after the pandemic and returning to “normal,” teachers are relying more on worksheets or things they find online (often without research) and can easily duplicate. They need tools that are easy to use, support active learning, and can adapt to the needs of diverse learners. There are almost too many options! Or too many different tools for different tasks. And unless yours is a very fortunate system, the technology workforce has not increased at a rate commensurate with the dependence and complexity of the technology that supports school operations and student education.

Perhaps some of these challenges sound familiar to you, whether you are a district, a school, a curriculum leader or instructional coach, a digital learning specialist, or a librarian. Across New Hampshire, school leaders are looking for strategies to ensure their educational technology investments are being leveraged to pay dividends in student engagement, accelerating learning, and saving teacher time.

To explore how to increase the return on investment (ROI) of educational technology, let's take a research approach. Consider your district, schools, departments, and educators, and ask the following four questions in a team meeting to ensure everyone is on the same page and experiencing these challenges and solutions with a common understanding.

Who are the educational technology coordinators in your district buildings?

Do your district schools have a central person who serves and is widely recognized as the central person for educational technology tools? Databases, lists, websites, newsletters, and the like are great ways to share information about digital tools and drive their use. Establishing and highlighting the person who fills this role can greatly help educators find the right person for specific support, spreading the word, coordinating training, and much more. Library media and digital learning specialists or technology coordinators are excellent candidates for this, especially when they meet regularly with their counterparts across the system. Information about educational technology is then not limited to one school, but is shared throughout the system. Educators in these coordinator roles will be most effective if they are members of school leadership teams and have the flexibility to integrate into the classroom to support educators and students as they actively participate in learning.

How could I increase usage without “adding something else”?

This is a challenge, because no matter what educational technology you have purchased, it will take an investment of time to take that tool from new to indispensable. Educators frequently seek administrative guidance on what they expect to see in the classroom or in use by students. Designated educational technology coordinators can take the lead, working with principals and curriculum leaders to set goals, lead professional learning, and encourage adoption of digital tools. Success will be achieved by ensuring teachers understand what different tools can do, highlighting best practices, sharing fun and relevant examples, and providing time for educators to play and learn new tools. Coordinators can also help optimize the number of tools needed, such as finding tools that combine technological functionality and content. Coordinators can make it fun by creating challenges that leverage engaging digital content and interactive learning activities that teachers can share, copy and edit. This solves a problem that teachers already have: lack of time. This is a great way to encourage rewarding and meaningful usage, ensuring that usage is based on value rather than mandates that satisfy compliance metrics.

In New Hampshire, all schools in preschool through 12th grade have access to high-quality digital content through the New Hampshire Department of Education. This content includes educational activities that educators can use as is or edit to meet the needs of their students. These resources can be shared and modified to support all learners and adapted to meet specific learning objectives. This type of sharing and collaboration reduces stress and saves time for educators. Now that's an incentive! This process can also alleviate confusion about which tools educators should select.

How can you keep your IT infrastructure and edtech teams on the same page?

Depending on how your IT infrastructure and edtech support teams are structured, they may not understand each other's work or have competing interests. Your district's IT infrastructure team should know what education buyers are purchasing (or requesting), the role and users of the tool, any specific technology requirements, and how they will integrate into your digital ecosystem.

Interoperability is increasingly important as a means to make deployments efficient, support ease of use, and protect student data privacy. Partnership and collaboration between technical and educational stakeholders, along with tools that support integration, such as single sign-on and learning management systems, can help ensure that all parties are on the same page, are part of effective implementations and that educators have a single point of entry. for finding the educational technology your school wants you to use. This collaboration also ensures that technology support teams understand the importance of educational technology tools and keep them accessible and operational. This cross-collaboration ensures that school technology coordinators can help fill communication gaps, accelerate support, and provide educators and students with best practices for all educational technology systems.

Is professional learning part of your educational technology implementations?

It is increasingly true that professional learning time for teachers is in short supply and that there are many initiatives beyond the implementation of effective educational technology for which districts are responsible. However, as with any new learning initiative, professional learning in educational technology is key.

As leaders with a school-wide focus, dedicated educational technology coordinators are prepared to assess and address professional learning gaps and opportunities. Library media or digital learning specialists are uniquely capable of helping create professional learning plans, planning professional learning days, and playing a leadership role in building internal capacity among educators to help them help their peers. Training on digital tools does not have to happen in a vacuum. New learning in literacy can be imparted through learning management systems. Skills learning resources can be created and shared with digital tools, so that both the skills process and educational technology training occur at the same time. Create useful opportunities for collaborative planning, taking advantage of learning tools that support exchange between teachers.

By identifying their educational technology coordinators as professional learning and communication leaders in their schools, district leaders can take a big step forward in the effort to realize the maximum return on investment in educational technology.