Blog Post #3 - Evaluating Technology

Evaluating Technology in General:

Evaluating technology resources is important for schools and/or districts because it allows for an environment to be tailored to the needs of both the students and the educators. Technology evaluations can be done by researching, exploring, and piloting new resources. Teachers and technology coaches have the options to evaluate through connecting with others in the community, individually, or in collaboration with the students in the class. There are many rubrics, questions, and other resources that can be used to aid them in the evaluating process. A struggle that many teachers/coaches face is having limited time but still wanting to evaluate technology before using it in the classroom. In this case, my suggestion would be to look at reviews reported by other professionals in the field. Another option would be to watch an overview video of the resource to quickly understand the broad concept of the resource under consideration.

My Experience Evaluating a Tool:

The tool that I evaluated was eMaze. I used a rubric to guide my evaluation; however, my thought process considered the purpose of the program. As I explored the eMaze site, I asked myself when, how, and why I would use the program to determine if it was practical for my needs. This particular tool resembled PowerPoint or Google Slides. I feel it would be most beneficial in the case of a presentation. The rubric that I used is provided below under resources. My opinion on the rubric is that it is a great foundation to evaluating the quality of a tool but needs additional thought to know if the tool is correct for the intended use. I would expand on the sample rubrics by incorporating a section of possible use/purposes. Another category to add into the rubric would be age/grade in which the resource would be appropriate. In conclusion, my overall thoughts on evaluating technology is that it is essential in order to find the best use for tech in the classroom.

Sample Evaluation Questions:

There are many approaches to technology resource evaluation; however, I would like to provide a couple basic questions that can aid the evaluating process. Remember, you are not limited to these few questions!

• What is the purpose of this tool?

• Is the tool easily accessible?

• Does the tool limit learning/teaching or enhance learning/teaching?

• How much time does the tool require in preparation?

Resources:

1. Sample Rubric #1

2. Sample Rubric #2

3. eMaze Technology Tool