Giving Compass' Take:

• This EdSurge post profiles several math teachers who use technology to improve their craft, making sure that gaining insights from students is always at the forefront.

• Beyond the bells and whistles, edtech tools can help us enhance the learning experience — and when used in innovative fashion by open-minded educators, they can lead to revelations in the classroom.

• Here's how teacher training boosted math scores in this San Francisco school.

After several decades of experimentation with technology in schools, we continue to face fundamental questions: What role should technology have in the classroom? How often should it be used? What are the opportunities for technology to transform both teaching and learning?

As the CEO of Woot Math and previously of Kerpoof, I have spent the last ten years grappling with questions like these. Of course the answers are not easy or obvious, but I think asking these type of questions is critical in mapping a path towards innovation. Sometimes that path involves a deep dive into specific aspects of practice or pedagogy, such as the recent conversations I had with several math teachers that we work with closely.  The extraordinary teachers would be effective with or without edtech tools, but all of them have figured out how to use technology to impact their students in meaningful ways.

But sometimes it is helpful to step back and consider what technology does best in the broadest term — in communications, financial markets, self-driving cars, medicine or education — to improve, make more efficient, and even replace entire paradigms.

Read the full article about finding "aha" moments in math class by Krista Marks at EdSurge.