Not all classroom technology disrupts learning. Asking these questions before you purchase new edtech can help you balance innovation with healthy digital habits.
Many districts are entering the school year with new policies restricting “harmful” technology use in the classroom, ranging from bell-to-bell cellphone bans to screen time limits. These are the “right” decisions to combat classroom distractions, according to new guidance from the Department of Education.
However, not all screen time is the same, argues Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education Kirsten Baesler.
“In contrast, instructional technologies should be judged by their impact on learning, not simply whether they happen on a screen,” Baesler said in a statement. “The same tools that can distract during recreational use can also expand access to advanced courses, support students with disabilities, and help close learning gaps, when used wisely.”
Instructional technology should serve four primary purposes, according to the guidance. Edtech should:
- Have a clear instructional purpose
- Be backed by independent evidence
- Be transparent in design and data use
- Be supported by strong implementation
In the modern age of AI, educators have become increasingly concerned about student data privacy. Recent high-profile cyberattacks on edtech companies force schools to be highly selective in their purchasing decisions.
As the vetting process becomes stricter, the Education Department urges leaders involved in such discussions to ask these five questions before purchasing a new product:
- What learning problem does it solve?
- When should it be used?
- For whom should it be used?
- For how long should it be used?
- What evidence demonstrates that it improves learning?
‘Intentional’ screen time in school
Meanwhile, the screen time debate isn’t keeping leaders from adding innovative technology that benefits students and teachers.
In Washington, the Peninsula School District is rolling out personal agentic AI agents for educators so they can spend more time “being human,” Chief Information Officer Kris Hagel recently told District Administration.
The initiative is a top-down approach to AI education before pushing student-centered AI policy, according to Hagel, a featured speaker at the upcoming Future of Education Technology Conference in January.
Many educators don’t feel comfortable letting AI take over their classrooms. Instead, AI will serve as a teacher’s personal assistant this school year.
Unlike normal AI chatbots, agentic AI doesn’t rely on users to input their next steps. Agentic AI can operate independently to achieve a goal, using web tools or software programs and even fix its own mistakes without user feedback.
“Agentic agents can run on a schedule. They can do proactive work,” Hagel says.
Instruction will be more engaging as a result. For instance, one of his high school chemistry teachers used the AI to create science simulations about the cell membrane and interactive learning games.
The district also has an aeronautical academy where kids can learn to be a pilot. Career and technical education staff members are already brainstorming ways to use agentic AI to build airplane simulations for students.
“We’re fascinated by what we can build, and we’re got a really strong foundation here,” he says. “Now, it’s just getting it in front of people so they can use their creativity to see what they can come up with, which is what we’re hoping and planning for this year.”
