As we move into the new year and new term, it’s always important to reflect upon the past year. To consider the lessons learnt and start to think about ways to move forward is crucial in the evolving edtech world.
But committing to a New Year’s resolution doesn’t have to be overwhelming; we believe even the smallest of adaptations can make the biggest difference to teaching and learning.
So, to commemorate the New Year and the new term, here’s a set of edtech New Years’ Resolutions to consider:
Make the most of your existing solutions
Advanced edtech solutions offer many features, meaning sometimes tools can get overlooked. Maximising the use of existing educational solutions and ensuring educators are aware of all the facilities available to them makes the most of existing resources and may even reduce the need for further investments.
Using Promethean solutions, teachers have access to a suite of free support direct from Promethean. From face-to-face training to webinars and online courses with Learn Promethean, the ongoing and accessible assistance helps get more mileage out of existing solutions and could reveal new teaching techniques and methods.
Carrying out regular updates to your solutions is just as important as utilising providers’ support, helping to keep every device running smoothly. In a fast-paced technological environment, updates are needed to ensure smooth operation and often to uphold network security.
No matter your solutions provider, being aware of all the support systems available to you and staying up to date with software updates is the best way to get the most out of technology in the classroom. If you don’t already, it’s something which we advise educational leaders to try to maintain in the new year! And if you’re not sure who is looking after software updates to your devices, contact your IT administrator.
Think about training and development opportunities
Part of maximising your existing solutions is having up to date training to ensure confidence and competence. Training can go beyond online resources, whether it’s during informal staff meetings, or a session where educators can familiarise themselves with the technology. Time for teachers and educational leaders to learn and trial resources is crucial.
Promethean can also provide support by helping develop digital leaders within your own school. Equipping an in-school volunteer with the knowledge and skills to transform learning enables best practice to cascade more seamlessly between teaching staff and sets up an approachable mentor for all things edtech. This digital leader can act as the go-to figure, while still having access to Promethean’s robust resources for any further requirements.
Conduct a regular edtech audit
With education technology always adapting, taking a proactive approach to edtech frameworks is the best way to stay ahead. From devices to software licences, audits can articulate the impact technology investments are having in relation to student outcomes and performance.
A self-managed tech audit measures usage to monitor which resources are having the biggest impact. In-house audits can be completed through gathering feedback to distinguish which solutions are most used and provide the best performance and reliability – it can be as simple as asking teachers what they think, or a more thorough process involving surveys and feedback sessions. Conducting regular, ongoing research on edtech tools helps gain a better understanding of their usage and effectiveness, software, and apps being used in classes.
While we believe any time is a good time to uplift pedagogy with technology, what better way to welcome in the new year than to boost best tech practice in the classroom.
Whether these New Year’s resolutions are standard practice to you, or are entirely new concepts to think about, we hope this list of resolutions has offered some food for thought as we enter a fresh term.
From Promethean, we wish a very Happy New Year to you all! And we cannot wait to see what’s in store for edtech in 2023 – make sure to keep updated.