With all the edtech products out there, it can be difficult for schools/districts to make informed choices. In this interactive session, participants will understand the signals of quality and usability in edtech, follow a review process to evaluate tools, and will leave feeling empowered to make quality edtech decisions.

Session topic: Educators and education leaders have unprecedented access to edtech products, but there’s no clear way to determine a product’s quality or effectiveness for learning. How can decision-makers know if a product meets learning standards and drives student achievement without a shared definition for what makes a product effective and usable for teaching and learning in the classroom? This session will introduce a framework for evaluating edtech product quality based on five dimensions of teacher usability – user interface and agency, learning design, digital pedagogy, inclusivity, assessment and data. Engagement strategy: (1) Introduction (5 minutes) – Welcome and brief introduction to the workshop; setting the goals and expectations for the workshop. (2) Understanding edtech product quality & teacher usability (10 minutes) – Overview of teacher usability framework for evaluating edtech products in K-12 education; interactive discussion on the importance of each dimension in educational settings; small group exploration of case studies showcasing high-quality edtech products. (3) Hands-on exploration (20 minutes) – Participants will be divided into small groups at tables. Each group will choose an edtech product they are considering in their school/district to evaluate based on product alignment with the dimensions and indicators of the teacher usability framework. Presenters will guide exploration and provide support as needed. (4) Evaluating edtech products (5 minutes) – Facilitated group discussion on the challenges and best practices in evaluating edtech products for educators and education leaders, and how to incorporate evaluation frameworks into decision-making processes. (5) Wrap-up and reflection (5 minutes) – Summary of key takeaways; Opportunity for participants to ask final questions and provide feedback. Takeaways: Participants will feel confident in their ability to effectively evaluate and select edtech products that align with dimensions of teacher usability including user interface and agency, learning design, digital pedagogy, inclusivity, assessment and data.