Knowledge
Here are a few pointers for evaluating an EdTech solution for your school
The ultimate goal must be awareness of your technological surroundings and how that specific technology will integrate with your institution – instead of interfering with the educational environment.
Education Technology providers tend to make various claims about the usefulness of their solutions and for educators and administrators there’s usually no available reference, aside from marketing materials and vendors’ “studies” of their own programs to validate these.
Team ScooNews surveyed more than 100 education professionals on their edtech successes and frustrations, as well as their future technology adoption goals and desires to obtain these pointers for evaluating an edtech solution for your school:
1. When evaluating an edtech solution, it’s important to first decide what outcomes a school wants to focus on.
2. Ask for references. Please speak to the educators who are already using the solution for their feedback and use case story.
3. Seek input from all stakeholders. If your school doesn’t already have a technology committee, create one. Committee members should include representatives of all affected stakeholders.
4. Always do a pilot. Before deciding to go full-on with the solution, carry out a test with a smaller subset of the overall universe of stakeholders.
5. Are there any additional requirements? Please evaluate all factors related to technology upgrade, hardware and any other requirements in advance.
6. Are there any drawbacks or service times that will affect the working time of the staff or team members involved? In addition to the time spent teaching and interacting with students, educators have enormous administrative burdens throughout a school year—preparing lessons, finding teaching materials, grading, reporting, communicating with parents, and supporting school functions to name a few.
7. Is the technology available across multiple platforms i.e. mobile, web, desktop etc.? Schools use a variety of devices (such as tablets and laptops) to connect to the Internet. This means that apps and tools must run on many platforms, including older operating system versions.
8. Are there any hidden or recurring costs associated with servicing or supporting the technology that I should be aware of before making my purchase? The hidden costs of technology can dent a school budget, so understanding total cost of ownership is vital to financial success.
9. Is there a better solution that achieves the same purpose and at a better price? As in other avenues of life, it makes sense to estimate costs and cost-effectiveness of EdTech solutions.
10. Is the solution easy to use? Always evaluate the solution for user interface, the learning curve and support provided. Training, technology support, and instructional coaching enable strong implementation of the new tool.
At the end of the day, different organization adopt technology for the classroom for different reasons. The ultimate goal must be awareness of your technological surroundings and how that specific technology will integrate with your institution – instead of interfering with the educational environment.
Do you agree? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Please feel free to write to us at editor@scoonews.com if you would like to share your edtech experiences or review an edtech solution at use in your school.