Technology, Teacher Edition - Forever in Beta.

As an educator in Texas, my experiences with technology have stirred up many feelings throughout my career. When I encounter new technology, I initially feel excited about discovering innovative ways for my students to demonstrate mastery or for me to teach. Soon, however, frustration sets in as it becomes apparent that it either lacks essential features for use with sneaky students or is completely safe but not user-friendly. More often than not, it hardly seems worth the effort.

In the non-education world, technology evolves at lightning speed—constantly adding shiny new features, new ways to interact and new ways to create. These leaps forward are fueled by consumers of the technology. Money flows in, enabling not only the maintenance of functionality but also improvements.

Countless technological advances could enhance education, but chronic underfunding leaves schools running on fumes. There is hardly any money for districts to invest in technology. This means that for developers, there is very little return on their time investments to create and maintain technology for educators. Teachers are left with websites and programs that could be amazing but instead cause stress due to broken functions and complicated interfaces.

It feels like a teacher had an idea that could transform classroom technology but lacked funding. So they enlisted their college-aged son, a budding developer, to bring their vision to life. The son had enough experience to build the web application, but the interface remained outdated, and essential functions that modern applications offer were missing.

Even so, the web application gains traction and proves valuable in the classroom. It grows tremendously, but even with some school districts contributing funds, there isn’t enough money to build the necessary team to maintain functionality or develop new features. As teachers encounter issues, there’s no support to resolve their problems.

This challenge became especially evident when my district adopted a new program for project-based learning. I received a single introduction to the application during a planning period and was then expected to explore and figure it out on my own—because, of course, teachers have so much extra time to teach themselves these things. Once I did figure it out, I discovered many flaws that made it incredibly difficult to use.

My technology-challenged co-worker struggled significantly with the program and lacked the technical skills to find workarounds as easily as I could. Sharing assignments between us was nearly impossible. It became a frustrating hassle—yet abandoning it wasn’t an option, as the district had invested in the technology and expected us to use it.

Despite the endless possibilities for engaging students through technology, the lack of resources prevents us from fully meeting this need. Until policymakers prioritize school funding over political agendas, educators will continue to struggle with these limitations. It is imperative that educators, administrators, and community members advocate for increased funding and push for policies that support technological advancements in education. But that’s a conversation for another time.