Tech Checklist: Is This App or Tool Worth the Investment?
Use this checklist to help you determine if the new technology you are considering adding to students’ (and families’) plates is worth the investment.
1. Does it meet a real need?
Technology should enhance teaching and learning, not add to your list of daily tasks. Technology can make work easier — but it also may increase the amount of time spent on routine tasks. Before deciding how to incorporate technology into the classroom or school, understand why you want to use it. Your decision will be based on whether and how it meets a real need for both teachers and students. Technology should have an impact in one way or another on student achievement. Remember that technology won’t help if the teacher doesn’t know how to use it, so don’t purchase new hardware or software before finding out if teachers are trained to use them effectively.
2. Is the tool accessible?
Technology is worthless if it’s out of reach for students; so, find out how you can make it accessible. Technology should be easy to use — both by teachers and learners. It needs to be flexible enough for all students to access at some point in time; they should not feel intimidated, belittled, or left out because the equipment and software are too complicated. Technology also must support diverse learning styles and approaches. When evaluating technology, look at what works best for your school community. For example, consider how different people learn through sound (e.g., listening to music), motion (e.g., watching a video), or visual elements (e.g., reading). Technology needs to support the variety of ways students learn and improve
3. Does the tool help you meet your goals as an educator?
Technology should support the goals of your school’s academic programs. Technology can help teachers and students work together more efficiently, but it will do little to improve achievement if teachers don’t know how to use it well or integrate it into lessons. Ask yourself what you want to accomplish with technology at your school, then ask: How does this tool help us meet our goals? Technology planning is a continuous process that requires regular evaluation. Technology needs to add value; there have been many grandiose technologies touted as revolutionary in the past that simply took too much time away from instruction. Technology doesn’t need to create busywork for teachers — we all have enough of that already!
4. Is the free version enough?
Sometimes an application or website offers a free version that has limited functionality. This might be all you need. Consider what your purpose is and how you intend to use the product before jumping to buy. You may be getting all you and your students need with the free version. Beware of vendors who tell you that their product is so great, you need to upgrade to the full version. Technology vendors are salespeople; they want to make money by selling you something more than what you really need. Just because a company offers a free trial doesn’t mean it meets your needs and won’t have any unintended consequences on student learning. Technology should be based on sound pedagogical reasoning; otherwise, don’t spend your precious time or hard-earned dollars on it.
5. Is it worth the time and training to use it?
This is a hard question. Consider all your stakeholders including parents, grandparents, caregivers, students, and fellow teachers. Anyone who may interact with the technology needs access to training and resources including one on one direct help. Do you have a way to offer this and is it worth it for the product? Technology use can often be awkward and frustrating. Technology should help students learn, but if teachers are not comfortable using that tool or feel they have enough on their plate already, you need to reconsider whether investing your time and money will lead to improved school achievement.
6. Is this adding to my students’ experience or just a substitute?
Is the use of tech enhancing a learning experience or just serving as a substitute for an analog experience? IE using a Chromebook just to type or annotate. Technology should contribute to a student’s learning. Technology can enhance, lower the cost of, or simply provide access to new experiences that support students’ achievement and teachers’ instruction. Technology is not meant to just replace old technology; it should expand students’ opportunities — through both content and interaction with others — in ways that were not possible before.
Written by Alfonso Mendoza Jr., M. Ed. and Natalie Conway
