"Frickin' Packets!" & A Lesson for EdTech Products

Guest Post By: Gerard Dawson, High School English Teacher & Blogger

"...if you would just get up and teach 'em instead of handin 'em a frickin packet, yo!"

This quote was from a Texas high school student named Jeff Bliss. He stormed out of class, totally fed up at the "frickin' packets" that his teacher dumped on him with no help.

Did you see this video? Regardless of his disruptive behavior, Mr. Bliss makes some great points about what students need to learn.

Jeff's rant actually holds a great lesson EdTech firms that want to offer curriculum resources or tools for schools. Ultimately, he helps us to realize that students (and teachers) get frustrated when they have too much dumped on them. They need additional support. And it's important to remember that this happens even if they were the ones who sought you out.

So how do you provide more, and make the user experience a great one? How do you avoid turning a user into the next Jeff Bliss?

Based on the EdTech tools I've used in my classroom, and the ones other educators love, here's a list of things you can do. When done with care, this is the stuff that I believe separates good EdTech companies from great ones:

• Implementation help: how do I use your resource/tool?
• Success stories/case studies: how have people just like me used this and reaped benefits?
• Plans of action: how do I fit this curriculum/tool into my existing life and responsibilities?
• Real support: will a real human being check in on me to see how I'm doing? Is it clear to me what to do if I have questions?
• Entertainment (don't discount this): is the resource or tool fun to use? Does it make me smile?
• Personalization/relevance: Does it feel like this was made for me?
• Alignment: Do you show an understanding of my needs? Do you account for my specific student population/standards/school climate/state requirements?

There are more of course. And even if these questions have all crossed your mind, I think you should watch the video of Jeff. Consider how to build something that helps teachers teach with the heart that Jeff demands.

Thanks for sharing!