Giving Compass' Take:

• Edtech executives and developers need to understand how to make products effective for teachers and students.

• How can teachers start working with edtech executives to produce better quality products? 

• Can you guess what the best edtech tool is? An empowered teacher. 

As I work as the Director of Business Development at Zinc, I quietly envy classroom teachers’ work. And it’s not just the summers off I’m missing(!), but the purpose, fulfillment and knowledge that comes with the day-to-day work with students.

For this reason, and because of all the gems of wisdom and insight that come from teaching, I think it’s time for education technology leaders to head to the classroom—as teachers. Whether they’re MBAs, technologists, or literacy leaders, they can all teach a lesson or two about life and business.

  1.  The educator’s ‘no’ isn’t (necessarily) personal: This stressful combination of too many programs and too little time doesn’t just lead to initiative fatigue, but it also leaves educators screaming “no” (politely) to new pilots.
  2. It’s about the numbers, but not only the ones you think: There's another number that also shapes how a product is used and implemented: the ratio of staff to the hours of workload on their plate.
  3. Your experience as a teacher (or with them) may no longer be relevant: While the core of teaching won’t change with technology, if you’re creating tech for the classroom, it’s important to be up to date on today’s learning environment
  4. No matter how good it is, your product can be better: How many times have you designed something to what you thought was perfection, only to find countless hiccups once it’s placed in an actual classroom?
  5. The product shouldn’t be designed for the purchaser: The administrators are often the ones with the most purchasing power, and students are typically the ones with the least. That can lead developers to prioritize designing tools for administrators’ experience, even if the the product is meant to be used in the hands of students and teachers.

Read the full article about edtech executives by Colette Coleman at EdSurge