Guide to find “almost perfect” tools for blended learning

This article outlines the process that can help you choose the best educational tool for your blended classroom. With the ever-growing ed tech tools, it is extremely confusing to find that one tool that works. There is absolutely no defined process that must be followed to choose the tools for your classroom; however, there are some very essential things that cannot be missed at any cost. Also, once you start looking out for your options, you will be amazed, how wonderful and annoyingly best they all seem. As the heading suggests, there is no way you can find the perfect tool for your classroom based on any article. This article is an effort to point you in the direction towards helping you create your own method of choosing a tool. Feel free to delete or add based on your requirements. In fact, it would be really great if you share your suggestions in the comment section.

This article is the part 2 of the Blended Learning Series. You can read the first article here.

1. Figure out the problem first

The blended learning is not just online content delivery or assessment. Technology plays many roles in the whole learning process. If it’s technology that drives learning in the classroom and not other way around, there is high probability your efforts and resources will fail. Different situations, demand different technology. Decide if you want the software for core content delivery, supplement content delivery, classroom assessment, classroom management, or for taking feedback. In this course on Blended learning provided in partnership by Silicon Schools Fund and the Clayton Christensen Institute, the instructors Brian Greenberg and Michael Horn divide the software into 4 categories:

• The whole course software: The one that completely replaces an existing course. All the content and lecture is delivered through these software. With these tools, the job of teachers is to monitor what students are learning, evaluating their performance, and guiding them when they face some issues. The teachers do not need to pick up the resources from different sources. All the content is at one place, organized and easy to use. Apex Learning and K12.com are examples of whole course software.
• Supplemental software: This kind of software is used where the teacher designs and delivers the core content. The job of these software is to support the core course. ST math, Accelerated Reader 360, and Dreambox Learning are the examples of supplemental software. By the use of these software, teacher can ensure a lot of personalization. Each student can move at their own speed and practice the concept based on individual mastery level.
• Teachers’ tools: There are a range of software that can ensure productivity, effective management and communication between teachers, students, and parents. Google Classroom, Pomodoro timer (present in form of apps), Slack and Trello are some of the tools that can be extremely helpful for teachers to prevent themselves from getting exhausted and unorganized. Edmodo is extremely popular amongst teachers to communicate with parents, students and other teachers. Exit Ticket and ClickEinstein allows teacher to quickly understand how well the students are understanding a given topic with the help of any digital device available to them. Learning Management Systems like Blackboard and Moodle can be used by teachers to give students everything needed by their students at one place.
• Learning Apps: The apps which can be used to supplement learning for students based on their individual needs. These apps are not always part of the classroom for the long period of time, but used sometimes for specific needs. An example could be an app which is dedicated to only algebra in Mathematics or an educational game that teaches preposition. These apps can be assigned to only the students who might need them and not to the whole class necessarily.

Though there may be other ways to categorize dofferent software, but these 4 type of software are inclusive of teaching, learning, assessment and communication.

Next you must, make a list of “negotiables” and “non-negotiables”. Buying any new tool for your classroom is no different from grocery shopping. While there are certain things that you might want to have, there are certain things that you need to have. The key is to write down what you want from the new software, i.e. things which are extremely necessary and non negotiable versus things which you like to have, but can compromise upon. This will help you a lot in choosing between different resources that you will come across.

2. Find the resources that are already available

This include both the hardware and software. While I do not endorse free stuff over quality. I cannot stress enough on the importance of keeping check of the resources that are already available to you. Are their desktops or laptops lying unused somewhere in a closet? Get them out. If getting devices is an issue, it will help to talk to your school principal. Discuss what is the policy on bringing devices in school. If your school allows students bringing their own device, this can be the perfect way to kickstart blended learning in your classroom.

Another thing that many times bothers teachers a lot is the resources needed to create content. Can you find content that is already available and you feel can be the perfect way to get started? Why not try it. The reason why blended learning seems like a herculean task is also because it requires a lot of preparation, especially to find the right content. The good news is you do not necessarily need to do everything from the scratch. Spend the time you would have spent on learning to design the content and then designing it on finding the best content online. A small tip — Find teacher groups on Facebook and LinkedIn. You will be glad you did. Teaching community is one of the most tight knit and open community. You will get enough support, if you take the first step.

3. Talk to the companies

While, asking for suggestions from your fellow teachers is great, following it word to word is not. The success of any new software or tool largely depends on several factors, like number of students using it, the infrastructure available to support it, the ease of using it (which is again subjective), the company providing the software among many. Even when you are asking for advice from the practitioners of software, it is really good to have your own requirements ready. This may help you find few out of many good solutions. However, communication with the technology/software providers is the key to find the best technology for your classroom.

Talk to the companies. Tell them your exact specific needs. Write your clear requirements and send them across to different companies. Just because you are new to blended learning, does not mean you necessarily have to compromise. Only go with the company which fulfills all or most of your criteria and requirements. Remember that list of non negotibles? This will be the time to put it on the table. You must communicate with them on the following points:

a) The number of students who will use it : How this affects the cost you will pay and the support you will get? Is this software can work with only a certain class size?

b) The ease of scaling it : What happens if you have a new admission in the classroom in the middle of the year?

c) The tech support : The tech support is a very crucial part of including any technology in your classroom. While you are closing the deal with technology provider, don’t forget to ask if:

• Teachers will receive any training session?
• Whether or not you will receive any support if you face issue using the technology?
• Whether any tech support will cost you extra and how much?
• What happens if the technology does not work as promised?

These are just some of the very important questions that you must ask the company you want to purchase software/hardware from. It is extremely important to discuss in length all the support you will receive from the company

d) Do you have a particular problem in your classroom that you hope to solve using this particular technology? Mention your problem statements clearly. If you want A and the company is giving you B, your experience is bound to be bitter.

e) Ask clearly what are the constraints ? Many software can only accommodate a certain number of devices/students at a given time. Similarly, there are different versions of software that have different features. Even if you end up compromising certain desirable feature in a software, you should know at what cost.

f) Is it available on cloud or not? Having the data on the cloud ensures that the data of students and teachers is available to them, even if they change their device, loose it or wish to move to another device.

4. Student experience comes first, everything else is secondary

Ultimately, every effort you put into finding the tools for your classroom are going to affect (positively or negatively) your students. Do not get swayed by the beautiful User Interface of a particular software. Remember, there is a difference between the user interface and user experience. Think about the experience your students will have while using this particular tool. Start by asking these questions:

• Is this software responsive? There are high chances that all students will not have same device. You must see that if the device is available on all device with seamless user experience or not. During the very initial stages, when we developed ClickEinstein, we started with an android and web version. While we did come up quick with the iOS version of the software, the students were really unhappy for the first two days. This was our first learning as a company and something that is worth sharing with teachers. If the particular software is available on all the platform, next you must check if it functions similarly in all the devices. Most of these software have a student version as well as the teacher version. You must try both of them on different devices.
• Is there too much of design? Keep this in mind — Too many design elements can lead to distraction. There is no dearth of amazing tools that are extremely beautiful. BUT they are necessarily not good designs. The interface must always emphasize something that the students need to learn. If an app has gone over the board with animations and extreme fluffy stuff, avoid it by all means. If you are getting distracted by the design of a certain software, be assured your students will be too. While gamifying the content and assessment is the best thing that has happened in learning, it need not to be always associated with animations or distracting music.
• Is it inclusive? Investing in a software, especially when you buy it is a big investment. It is extremely important to see if the tool is inclusive. This is especially important for the classrooms where there are students with low vision or color blindness. I admit it is like finding a needle in the hay stake to find a tool that has best of everything, but there are few basic things that you cannot afford to miss. Use of color — If the color is serving purposes other than enhancing the aesthetics, e.g. if it is a crucial part of the assessment itself , it will be cruel on your part to give this software to the kids who cannot differentiate between different colors. If you really want to understand the implications of what I am trying to say, try this simple test. Take a screenshot of your Google Drive Homepage. Save it as a png and then use this powerful tool to see how color blinds perceive the world around them. You will know, why great companies like Google use the colors in the way they do. Similarly, if the font of the text is too small that even you have to squint your eye, imagine what will the students with low vision do with it? Just as too much design is a bad design, too less design is equally bad. By too less, I mean to say the essential design elements that make up a good design. is this tool suitable for those with low vision or color blindness?
• Where are the calls to action? Call to action are the prompts which tell the user to do a task to navigate onto next level. Imagine your student has solved a maths problem in 2 minutes, but spends next 3 minutes to figure out where is the next question and what are going to be the nest step, how is it any better than 5 questions written you on the blackboard? A good software should tell your students clearly what they are supposed to do with clearly mentioned calls to action.
• Is it too hard? While the efficiency of using any software increases with time, there is software which might be too hard to use because of any of the above or different reasons. Simply put, a software should be intuitive. If you feel that the submit button is not at the place where it should be and is oddly placed on the left upper corner of the screen, I suggest show it to your students and see what they feel. You just look at the trash bin, and you know what it symbolizes. Ideally, this is how a software should be. Easy and intuitive. If by the need of the day, your students are not able to submit their assignments, because they are not able to use the app, it is a failure. Similarly, if there is a certain educational game with different level, remember it will be fun only if it is actually solvable. If not, student might actually feel unmotivated.
• How much time does it take to accomplish a task using this software? If there are unnecessary steps that prolong the time of actually getting to do the main task, don’t use it. On boarding process must be super easy. It is extremely difficult for students, especially in smaller grades to remember lots of passwords and username. You might want to look out for apps that allow login using their Emails, the apps where students remain signed in once they have created an account or the single sign in where the same user name and password works for all software you use in the classroom
• Does it give feedback while using the software? The different elements like change of color, subtle sounds, the change in interface, leader boards or sometimes, even a simple text or instruction, helps students get feedback while they are using any software. Are these cues apparent to the students? If not, you might want to move onto test the other tool.

Next Step

I cannot emphasize enough that as a teacher, you know your students way better than anyone. So, you must try to come up with your own rubric, especially for student experience. While this testing is done by you, the actual testing has still to take place with your students. You must pilot test any new software with your students There are many times, the free version of these software which are available to a certain number of students or for a certain duration of time or for certain number of students for a certain duration of time. Based on whatever, the case might be, you can choose to test it with a representative sample of your class which has students with different capacities, or you can choose to test it with few students for a certain duration of time till it is tested with all students, whatever is suitable for you. Under any circumstance, your rubric should be prepared beforehand. You can also prepare a simple questionnaire for your students tat they can fill based on their own experiences and then you can decide whether or not this app serves the purpose for you.

5. Are students getting any data and of what kind?

It goes without saying, that any software that is used in the classroom, must provide some data to the teachers that can help them understand their students better, but it is extremely and equally important to see what data will the students get. It should be kept in mind that grades are not always the only useful data for the students. It could also be the time it takes them to grasp a concept, the topics they are good at and the topics they are not so good at, the ability to assess themselves and like these many other things that help the students gain better understanding about their own learning curve. In nutshell, everything that is behind the grades of the student is of greater importance than grades themselves. How can a student ask for help from the teacher, if he/she do not know what they need to ask. A leader board, going to the next level and graphs etc. are good, but ultimately how will it helps students in assessing what they have learnt so far. This is the question you need to ask yourself as well as to those providing you software.

A note for the developers — think of all the possible use cases that can help students define their own learning.

6. How well the new software integrates with the already available software?

When you use 2 or more software, there is a lot of data coming from different places. It is important that the data from all these sources is in some way synced with each other. While many software providers might not allow integration, there are many who can adapt it to your needs. With the new players coming in the market, there are many options for schools/colleges to co-develop the software with these companies based on their needs and requirements. It works out for both the schools and companies. Do not shy away in exploring the scope of collaboration.

7. Who owns the data?

While this is also an important part of #3. I am writing it down separately to highlight. You must always know who owns the data and what data stays with the company. The U.S. Department of Education established the Privacy Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) as a “one-stop” resource for education stakeholders to learn about data privacy, confidentiality, and security practices related to student-level longitudinal data systems and other uses of student data. This document named Protecting Student Privacy While Using Online Educational Services: Model Terms of Service is a great resource for you to understand good practices related to the data protection of student.

To say, these 7 points encompass the process of selecting a software/technology for your classroom would be unfair. But they do cover some extremely important things to keep in mind while selecting the software. There are some very good resources that can further assist you in making your decision. These are:

• Edsurge Product Index: Till date Ed surge has a curated list of reviews for 386 products under curriculum category, 332 products under teacher needs, 268 products under school operations, 240 products under post secondary and 445 under others category. Apart from the very comprehensive list, Edsurge also provides a free ed tech consultation service to the schools by the name of Edtech Concierge. The school can schedule a diagnostic call to the concierge team to discuss and define their ed tech needs. Based on the preferences, the team prepares a list of ed tech options. Then, the Edsurge Concierge team engages with the companies with an anonymous description of school’s need and invite them for the proposal. The schools are provided with the proposals and assisted in identifying the companies that seem suitable. Once the companies are shortlisted, Concierge introduces schools to company.
• Graphite by Common Sense Media : Graphite is a free platform from Common Sense Education that saves you time by making it easy to discover the best apps, games, and websites for your classroom. The software are classified according to age, subject, grade, price, skills, and purpose. You will be able to find detailed review of thousands of apps.
• Edshelf: Edshelf is a socially curated discovery engine of websites, mobile apps, desktop programs, and electronic products for teaching and learning. You can search and filter for specific tools, create shelves of tools for various purposes, rate and review tools you have used, and receive a newsletter of tools recommended by other educators. The range of tools is huge ranging from 3D modelling to spreadsheet creator.
• Reddit: Not the conventional rating platform, Reddit has a large number of subs where you can ask for the review of a product that you are contemplating to use for your classroom. You can also ask for the teacher’s experiences with the tools they use or any other ed tech related question that you may have. /r/EdTech, /r/Teachers, /r/TeachingResources are few of the many subreddits where you can interact directly with the fellow educators.

To conclude, I would say — ” Students form the core of learning”. While choosing the tool, put yourself in their shoes. Do not be afraid to ask them, “Did you like it or not?” It does not matter if the tool is prepared by the best team of experienced developers or an ed tech startup that is just starting, if the technology and tool speaks to the student, it is worth using. Also, it is highly recommended to create your own rubric and compare your options. It would be lot more easier.

As mentioned before, this is article is to point you towards taking your own journey. If you think I missed something, feel free to mention in the comment section. You might also want to check out the Part 1 of the Blended Learning Series.

Happy teaching!

Originally published at blog.clickeinstein.com on November 27, 2015.