This post is sponsored by zSpace.
Educators want to deliver high-quality classroom experiences that make learning stick. The right technology choices can support this effort.
The key is looking past price tags and shiny demos to focus on the real instructional value that the technologies bring to the classroom. These factors are important but if you’re not careful, you can make a choice that doesn’t match your goals. You can wind up with solutions that don’t do everything you need them to do. Or you get tools that are entertaining but don’t drive real learning.
But good news: Making smart edtech choices isn’t difficult. Following these six keys will help you stay on track when evaluating products and services for your district:
- Scope: Avoid solutions that address only one problem or content area. Look for technology that has broad effect in all STEAM classes to reduce spending on additional tools.
- Authenticity: Authentic learning experiences help students apply real-world concepts in real-world contexts.
- Collaboration: Solutions that encourage teamwork improve collaboration and small-group accountability.
- Creativity: Students imagine, experiment, take risks and make discoveries more freely.
- Experiential: Technology with the greatest effect empowers students to make their ideas real (either through 3D printing or augmented and virtual reality) and enables them to see what works and what doesn’t in a concrete way.
- Evaluation: Solutions that support complex and evaluative thinking teach students to analyze options and situations, solve problems and grasp abstract concepts more fully.
Edtech that meets these criteria doesn’t have to break your budget. You can give your teachers and students exceptional tools and experiences by researching and investing in solutions designed to work across the curriculum and up and down the grade levels.
Want more? Download SmartFocus on EdTech Investment, sponsored by zSpace, to get more tips and insights on making smart edtech purchases.