Why experts say now is the time to evaluate your district's use of educational technology

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For much of the past 12 years, Casey Rimmer sometimes felt like a “dream killer” when it came to the educational technology tools used in her district. As executive director of curriculum and instruction for Union County Public Schools, a district of more than 41,000 students outside Charlotte, North Carolina, she was often tasked with informing teachers why the use was not approved. of a potential new tool.

Lately, however, the district has flipped the script. They are now asking teachers to review the tool's data privacy policy and age requirements when making a request, to better understand why a tool is (or isn't) suitable. When teachers feel part of the discussion, it often leads to productive conversations, she explains.

“We are working hard to help teachers understand the different processes and what they need to do if they want to incorporate something into their classrooms. Whether it is a free resource or an edtech product, there is still some type of criteria that must be met.

The new policies are part of a broader effort to strengthen and optimize the district's “educational technology ecosystem,” the collection of core and supplemental tools that teachers can use. And Union County is far from alone. In the coming months, many districts will take a closer look at the educational technology they use, especially as it relates to current budget realities.

Make difficult decisions

At the end of this year, the final round of federal pandemic funding, known as Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER), will expire, leaving school budgets uncertain in many districts. The funds they depend on for staff and technology will end in September if they are not allocated. (However, if funds are allocated, districts can request an extension use them until March 2026 in some cases).

For many districts, relief funding was significant. The San Antonio district has received 100 million dollars for the past three years, which it used to increase staffing and help combat pandemic-related learning loss.

As schools were forced to learn online, many districts used those funds to invest in educational technology: in hardware like laptops and Wi-Fi hotspots, but also in educational technology software. The most recent edtech-top-40-look-k-12-edtech-engagement-during-2022-23-school-year?ng” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Top 40 Educational Technologies Report notes that districts access an average of nearly 2,600 educational technology tools a year, a number that has increased in recent years as companies offered free access to their tools during the pandemic and districts spent their relief funds.

With these funds running out, districts may face some difficult decisions. But they can also see it as an opportunity to reevaluate their use of technology and how to maximize the resources they have, according to education experts who spoke in a recent webinar: “edtech-ecosystem” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Take Control of edtech: How to Manage an Effective Digital Ecosystem”, presented by Instructure, the company behind the Canvas learning management system and the educational technology assessment and management tool LearnPlatform.

“School districts really have to take a hard look at what the critical parts of this ecosystem are,” Tal Havivi, managing director of research and development at ISTE, said in the webinar. One way to look at it is as a “strategic selection,” he explains, in which districts confront budget realities with the question of whether the tools really meet their needs.

<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-to-assess-your-edtech“>How to evaluate your educational technology

Evaluating whether a district should continue using (and paying for) a tool is a dedicated job that involves collecting background data and surveying teachers and students to get their opinions. But both practices can reveal useful insights.

Core curriculum products can be quantitatively evaluated by looking at whether they are helping to achieve district goals around student learning. In other words, can tool use be linked to better reading or math scores?

But “there's also a qualitative piece around each of these tools,” said Melissa Loble, chief academic officer at Instructure, in the same webinar. “Is this the right experience that represents our district and our goals? Does it help teachers create a deeper connection with their students, address areas of gaps, or engage students in new areas that might interest them?

Most importantly, collecting good data on educational technology use can help districts see the bigger picture, he said. And feedback from teachers and students can help further contextualize these patterns.

That matches what Union County has found. Rimmer explains that the district uses LearnPlatform to track technology usage and start conversations. “As a district, we can monitor what our top 10 (most used) products are,” she said. “I want our top 10 products to be the ones we invest in: we invest money, we invest time, we invest in professional learning. “Sometimes, I can see maybe some free products popping up out there.”

When core tools aren't being used, Rimmer digs deeper and finds out why. Teachers may not yet feel comfortable using the tool with students or may not have received enough training. That's a pretty simple solution. But other times, teacher avoidance may indicate larger doubts about whether the tool is appropriate overall.

“Sometimes they are great products, and we have to say that the product, although it is an amazing, solid tool that does amazing things for other schools and districts, may not be doing it for us,” he said.

The good news is that teachers are more interested than ever in the educational technology they use with students and are more willing to experiment with new tools, Loble adds.

“I still see investments (districts wanting to build ecosystems), but they need to do it where they can get the most effective or greatest return on investment, with a reduced influx of funds,” he said. “We use dollars to try everything. We have tried it. “Now we are going to choose what will be most important (to us).”