Dive Brief:
- An EdSurge reporter attended a technology training session to learn how to use Illuminate and to separate hype from reality for hands-on instruction. He found the "biggest snag in any implementation starts with poor vision and a lack of communication."
- Jennifer Kalis, Implementation Manager for e-tech software Illuminate, told EdSurge, "If there's no clear picture from the district, if there are no specific goals, then there's no possibility of success."
- Oftentimes, repeated trainings and "aggressive customer service" on the part of ed tech companies better serve educators.
Dive Insight:
Clear communication plays a huge role in the successful implementation of ed tech products like data assessment software. So do goals: each district needs to understand why they need certain ed tech products, and what exactly they hope to gain from their utilization. In-person trainings result in less tech malfunctions, hardware and application troubleshooting, and a clearer overall picture of what an individual ed tech product can do and why.
Teacher feedback has questioned whether certain ed tech products save time, and on a more theoretical level, whether they're being used because they're an example of what is possible instead of what is practical.
