the 20 things you should know when designing for classrooms
TRANSCRIPT
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The 20 things you should know when designing
for classrooms.
Co-designing with teachers, for their world
Know where you fit. There are three types of
technology teachers need.
1
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TECH TEACHING TOOLS
TECH THAT AMPLIFIES AND AUGMENTS OTHER
TOPICS
TECH AS A CURRICULUM SUBJECT
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Know who you’re designing for.
2
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Focus on what the user needs, not what you think they need. Teachers know the classroom better than anyone else, just as kids know the playground. You will be proven wrong — and that’s a good thing.
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Teachers are natural born hackers.
3
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Involve teachers across your whole product cycle. They will reward you by
adopting your tech and giving it a purpose you couldn’t imagine.
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Want teachers to adopt your product instantly?
Do your homework.
4
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Help schools and teachers satisfy the criteria against which they’re
judged. Show teachers how exactly your solution fits with their teaching
and learning objectives.
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5
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Give teachers an opportunity to feel
confident using your tech.
“You wouldn’t expect to teach a whole classroom of kids how to
make a cake if you weren’t confident doing it yourself.“
Photo credit: Universe Awareness
Clare Copeland
Senior Lecturer and the Subject Leader for Computing and Information, London South Bank University
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Understanding teachers’ reality
6
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Teachers don’t have time. Make this into an
opportunity, not an obstacle.
“I like to be spoonfed and have the opportunity to watch something at home
or quickly before the class happens.”
ANYWHEREANYTIMEQUICK SIMPLE LOW BARRIER
Nadia Raza
Teacher and Senco at Al Sadiq & Al Zahra schools !
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The role of the teacher has changed. The answer to this could well be the next Airbnb
for teachers - but better!
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community engagement
publication of resources and teaching tools
professional development
portfolio building
speaking at conferences
CPD certification
knowledge exchange
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brand ambassadors mentoring
search for resources and teaching tools
teachers rating contentrecruitment
peer endorsement
teachers as curators
training
teacher meetups & seminars
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We’re at the point when things like programming can’t be taught by teachers alone.
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#changes in the job market
need to make teaching relevant
re-education of teachers
#
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CONTINUOUS INNOVATIONindustry input
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“It’s a lot to ask a teacher to teach the new computing curriculum without training. You
wouldn’t do it in any other profession.”
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9
Teachers don’t have much money but they need
your tech. What’s your go-to-market strategy?
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?“The already limited budget
for technology we have for a
year is difficult to spend wisely
as you don’t know what tech
is going to come out - it’s
hard to predict.”
“We don’t buy apps. We just do the
free ones. Mainly because we find it
very difficult to set up volume
purchasing. An average school,
unless it’s an academy, is not
allowed a credit card. In the US,
not even a debit card.”
WHO MAKES
PURCHASING
DECISIONS?
HOW AND
WHEN ARE
THEY BEING
MADE?
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Your typical marketing techniques won’t cut it.
10
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Teachers trust other teachers’ expertise and they love to share their stories. Peer-to-peer is the most successful amplifier of a good story amongst educators. Dare to embed this in
your business model!
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Designing for utility, longevity
& adaptability
If your hardware will be used by kids, it needs to
be indestructible — things get broken.
11
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Expect daily repeated use by many children%
Nadia Raza
Teacher and Senco at Al Sadiq & Al Zahra schools
“We’ve got 15 tablets for 400 children. It takes a lot to maintain all the tech we
have. Laptops are losing keys, you need to replace batteries, things go missing.”
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Ensure tech is used in the way you intended.
13
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Photo credit: Kathy Cassidy
Isabella Lieghio
ICT Education Consultant at Icon Learning, Apple Distinguished Educator
“Children should be using the interactive whiteboard to enhance their learning, it’s not the teacher’s tool. Many schools don’t let children
touch the boards.”
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Nadia Raza
Teacher and Senco at Al Sadiq & Al Zahra schools
“There was a maths-related app, with questions that come up and kids have to tick the right answer.
They’re competing against each other. What I noticed was that they were pressing every answer to get to the right one. As a teacher, it was really depressing because they were not using any maths in a maths
lesson. It was teaching them practice of that particular game [alone].”
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Tech savviness of children is over-rated. Pedagogy is key
with or without tech.
13
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FOR ACTUAL LEARNING TO TAKE PLACE,
HAS TO BE USEFUL BEYOND THE “WOW” MOMENT.
Clare Copeland
Senior Lecturer and the Subject Leader for Computing and Information, London South Bank University
“Many of my colleagues think the children know everything — they’re
digital natives, but they don’t!”
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“Our solution teaches kids how to code.” Are you sure?
14
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“You’re teaching to that [particular] software and kids find it hard to
transfer it to other things.”
Nadia Raza
Teacher and Senco at Al Sadiq & Al Zahra schools
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A good piece of edtech …
ACHIEVES
LEARNING
OBJECTIVES
FITS WITH
ASSESSMENT
FRAMEWORK
LINKS TO
OTHER
LEARNING
AND REAL
LIFE NEEDS
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It’s not about an app, it’s what you do with it.
15
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sometimes the simplest tool can make THE BIGGEST impact&
Nadia Raza
Teacher and Senco at Al Sadiq & Al Zahra schools
“I used an avatar to redirect my authority to kids in a different voice. They didn’t know it was me but they
found it fun and interactive. They paid more attention.”
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Design for multiple use cases. Make things that become indispensable.
16
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“I don’t mind paying for a good app that I can use for different subjects, on different occasions
throughout the year.”
Isabella Lieghio
ICT Education Consultant at Icon Learning, Apple Distinguished Educator
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Gamification is not a thing.
17
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Play has always been a part of our learning process. Humans are social beings and enjoy engaged learning
experiences. However, with all the hype around gamification, don’t forget that
your main agenda is to get kids to learn.
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Measuring value
18
Forget ROI. In the classroom, we’re talking VOI.
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&VALUE OF
INVESTMENTRETURN ON
LEARNING
How do you measure whether knowledge or a skill was acquired,
or a mindset was changed?
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This is what you’re up against: proving value to multiple stakeholders in a
complex ecosystem
19
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Education authorities
ExaminersSchool
Teachers
Parents
Students
Potent
ial employ
ers
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#
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LACK OF HARD DATA
TECHNOLOGY DOESN’T WORK IN S ILOES . OTHER PROCESSES INVOLVED IN TEACHING AND
LEARNING PLAY A ROLE , TOO.
RAPID PACE OF CHANGE OF TECHNOLOGY TIME IT TAKES FOR
ROBUST EVIDENCE TO EMERGE IN EDUCATION
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Edtech and the unbearable lightness of impact measurement.
20
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“There’s that thing around the impermanence of technology and children’s work. How do you
make it tangible to both children and parents – around recording their progress?”
Clare Copeland
Senior Lecturer and the Subject Leader for Computing and Information, London South Bank University
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“What I find difficult about technology is that most of our books are catered for Ofsted, so if you’ve done something with computers, how
do you prove that you’ve done that?”
Nadia Raza
Teacher and Senco at Al Sadiq & Al Zahra schools
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