The disconnect between the creators of education technology and those who use it has forever been a problem. Call it the scourge of “shelfware”—software and hardware purchased by a district, introduced to teachers one morning in an August PD workshop, then promptly ignored once school starts. Two recent pieces of news point to fixes. J-PAL North America, a research center at MIT, has announced that it will partner with two leading education technology nonprofits to test promising models to improve learning, as part of the inaugural round of the Education, Technology, and Opportunity Innovation Competition. ISTE also announced the Edtech Advisor last month, which is an online space where educators can rate and review edtech tools and apps based on their experience using these tools in their classrooms. Certainly these aren’t a cure all for shelfware, but it’s a start.
—Kevin Hogan, Managing Director of Content
