(from Hechinger Report) When a school is considering a new educational technology, whether it’s a device or a program, officials tend to research its track record. Did it work in other schools? But without knowing a lot of information about those schools, teachers and administrators may not make the best decisions.
Jefferson Education Accelerator, an ed tech evaluation and support venture, has identified more than a dozen variables that contribute to the success or failure of educational technology initiatives. Among them:
- Teacher agency — did teachers play a role in selecting the product?
- Student access to technology and internet outside of the classroom
- The number of ed tech products being implemented at the same time in the same school
- The quality of professional development offered to help teachers learn to use new products
- Whether a school fosters a culture of experimentation
- Whether the school first introduced the new product in a pilot
- The track record of previous ed tech initiatives
- Whether the school has made a single- or multi-year commitment to the new product
- Whether any educators had prior experience with the product before implementation
More at Hechinger Report
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