The 20 things you should know when designing for classrooms

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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

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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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8

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


“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


“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


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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


“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.

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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

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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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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


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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


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