Five recommendations for higher education systems elevating student and faculty voice in edtech evaluation¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The conclusion offers implementable steps for other systems: "Community college and other higher education systems that are interested in elevating student and faculty voice in their edtech evaluation processes can leverage the following recommendations". The five are: inventory existing evaluation processes and workflows; engage the broader community through interviews and focus groups to identify priorities and pain points; center learners, instructors, and administrators by codifying an ideal evaluation system; collaborate with vendors with a history of productive collaboration to test new processes; and provide transparency into the newly designed process.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Institutional capacity to run focus groups, codify requirements, and maintain vendor relationships

Constraints¶

Target Learners¶

• Community college students
• Higher education learners broadly

Target Learning Goals¶

• Equitable access to well-vetted education technology supporting learning

Related Strategies¶

• Five-step iterative co-design process for developing edtech evaluation criteria with learners and vendors
• Conduct ed-tech pilots by articulating the instructional need, setting clear product-review criteria, involving educators in planning, supporting educators throughout, gathering data from all users, deciding from data, negotiating purchasing options, and sharing results

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Van Nostrand, P., Noakes, S., Foster, A. J., & Burstein, R. (2025). Putting learners first: Broadening access through technology evaluation in California Community Colleges. Digital Promise. https://doi.org/10.51388/20.500.12265/279