- What's the educational purpose of the tool? Am I drawn to it because it serves a pedagogical purpose or because it's shiny and cool?
- Will it increase what students can do and create? Or how they meaningfully engage in the learning materials?
- Will it improve how students can collaborate with each other? With me?
- Will it streamline how we communicate with each other and how we exchange content (ie: the teacher feedback loop -- create, assign, do, collect, assess, return)?
- Will it improve the quality and speed of feedback to students?
- Will it help create a more authentic learning experience for students by giving them access to a wider audience, the tools of the trade, or real world problems to solve?
- Will it improve what we can do with the precious face-to-face time we have in class?
At the end of the day, it has to be about meaningful learning, not cool tools. I'm often reminded of Alan November's most excellent explanation: "Adding a digital device to the classroom without a fundamental change in the culture of teaching and learning will not lead to significant improvement." Ain't that the truth.
Meranda, Seth (2011). "Screen of Apps" via Flickr. Attribution, non-commercial.
Neebe, D. & Roberts, J. 2015. Power Up: Making the Shift to 1:1 Teaching and Learning. Stenhouse.
November, A. 2013. "Why Schools Must Move Beyond 'One-to-One Computing." E-school News.