Keeping Up With the Techies

Written by Katie Maciulewicz

As Bob Dylan sings, “Times, they are a-changing.” And in the world of edtech, they’re a-changing rapidly. 

This past summer, Flip (formerly Flipgrid) announced that it had been acquired by Microsoft and was only going to be available to schools using Teams for Education. Our coaching team first lamented losing access to this incredible tool. Then we watched on teacher Twitter (X, whatever), as over the course of the next day other edtech platforms one-by-one announced a new feature: video submissions!

It took less than 24 hours for other companies to see the need and adapt their tools to fit. So how do we, as coaches, keep up with all of these changes? And how do we help our teachers adapt to changes without overloading them?

Follow the Money

If a school district is spending money on an enterprise account for all teachers on an edtech platform, they likely want to see teachers actually using that platform. (If you don’t use it, you lose it!) What is your district or school paying for already? 

Do a tech audit: Which of these paid tools are teachers actually using? Which are being underutilized? Why are they underutilized? Do teachers just need more support to learn how to use these tools? How can you, as the coach, help teachers learn more about using these tools? 

Start your own professional learning there! The coach needs to be familiar with the school’s LMS and any other subscribed platforms so that they can support teachers in using these tools. 

Additionally, these paid tools are a great starting place when you are asked to provide a solution to a classroom problem. Don’t introduce even more tools to teachers that might have a paid premium upgrade or limitations to what teachers can do for free. Start with what they already have access to and build from there. 

Backwards EdTech

Technology is not a teaching strategy. It’s a tool. 

Say it louder for the people in the back!

Sometimes, when we learn about a new tech tool, we get excited to use it and try it in the classroom without considering the actual point of using it. Is it just fun? Or does it help to teach a skill, demonstrate learning, practice new information?

When teachers have a classroom goal, challenge, or problem, often a tech tool can help. But it must be a tool that 

• Actually supports the goal or challenge
• Connects to and reinforces learning goals and standards
• Is easily accessible for teachers and/or students
• Can be a sustainable solution for the teacher (i.e., not a one-time use and then everyone forgets how it worked).

So, rather than throwing a tech tool at a problem, start with the problem and decide if there’s a tech tool that could help. 

Keep It Simple

Sometimes a no-tech solution is the way to go. Just because we have so much access to technology doesn’t mean that we have to be using tech tools all the time. 

I was a high school English teacher who was given a vocabulary book to use with my freshmen. As we learned the words and reviewed for the tests, I hosted a mini-lesson called “Fun with Words,” (which always led to a joke about “Fun with Flags” hosted by Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory, but I claimed that my segment was more fun.) I would break down a couple of our vocab words into its roots, and students would then have to make connections to other words they already knew. For example, one of our words was “malevolent,” and students would note that “mal” means “bad” in both Spanish and French and that Maleficent is a Disney villain. 

Some students would use digital flashcards to practice and we might use some gamified learning platforms in class, but usually the no-tech learning and review was what actually helped students learn how to use the words rather than just memorize definitions and synonyms and forget them by the next week. 

Tech? Or No Tech?

It’s time for your quiz! Consider the following classroom challenges. What are some possible solutions you could propose to a teacher both with and without tech?

Scenario 1: A teacher is struggling to keep students engaged during a lecture on a complex scientific topic.

Tech: Use an interactive slides presentation tool like PearDeck or Nearpod.

No Tech: Pause to ask a question periodically. Think-pair-share. Have students draw or mindmap the concept.

Scenario 2: A teacher is struggling to differentiate instruction for students with varying learning styles.

Tech: Use adaptive learning platforms like IXL, NoRedInk, or Quizziz to meet students where they are and help build their knowledge over time.

No Tech: Create a choice board or menu for learning and assessment – give students choice and voice in how they demonstrate their knowledge.

Scenario 3: A teacher is feeling overwhelmed by the amount of paperwork and administrative tasks.

Tech: Collect and grade work through the school’s LMS. Create self-grading assignments through Google Forms.

No Tech: Keep a paper to-do list. Time block your calendar and batch work. Consider if you actually need to grade every piece of student work – if it’s an assignment that’s just for practice, sometimes completion points are acceptable; or a “you write five journal entries, I grade one” system works well for daily work.

I couldn’t tell you now, four months later, which platforms stepped up to fill the hole left behind by Flip. But if a teacher told me they had used Flip a lot and needed a similar tool, I would of course do the research to find the best solution for that teacher and their needs. 

Yes, times are changing, and they are going to continue to change. In the end, I suppose the point is that while keeping up with classroom technology is important for coaches and teachers, it’s impossible to keep up with all of it all the time. It’s more important to be knowledgeable about what teachers and students need and to do our best to support them however we can – with or without tech.