Dive Brief:
- LearnBop, a developer of digital math tools, has released a free guide to help administrators making education technology purchases.
- "The Administrator's Guide to EdTech Purchasing" was developed in collaboration with Superintendent John Carver of Iowa's Howard-Winneshiek district.
- It’s intended to help administrators take a more systematic approach to technology purchases, starting with identifying the problem to be solved, finding the relevant technology, and implementing it.
Dive Insight:
As technology use has expanded in school systems, the question of what role it should play has become a pressing one. But more immediately, school administrators are facing basic dilemmas: What problems can technology solve? Where can you learn about new technology? How do you make technology systems work well?
Carver’s district has received praise for its approach to education technology, and in the guide, he shares his thoughts on how he and his team resolved similar dilemmas.
“Because they’re so busy, when it comes to procuring education technology administrators can often end up going after the shiniest object instead of the one that will best serve their students,” Carver told eSchool News. “This isn’t because they don’t care, but simply because they’re overwhelmed with decisions to make and don’t have established best practices. This e-book is a big step toward correcting that.”