Dive Brief:

• As educational apps grow in popularity, districts struggle to balance privacy concerns with flexibility and student learning.
• New Canaan Public Schools in Connecticut presents a forward-thinking approach, including hiring designated "technology integrators" on staff, who work with administrators, teachers and students to train them on apps and address privacy concerns.
• The district has also given its teachers as much flexibility and control over their own technology use as possible and allows them to request or suggest apps and use tools like Twitter in the classroom

Dive Insight:

Districts looking to loosen restrictions on teachers' technology use and teachers looking to experiment face a dizzying array of choices. District Administration reports that there are a few things districts can do to sift through their options that include everything from pre-selecting a short list of permitted apps and installing them on all school devices to creating internal App Store lists of possible apps for teachers and students to use. And once those tools are in the hands of teachers, training and a willingness to experiment and fail are key.

"You have to be willing to be innovative and try new things," says Robert Miller, New Canaan’s director of digital learning. "A lot of this is not about teacher control anymore. It's about student control and students having a voice in the curriculum of learning."