Nine criteria for re-evaluating your edtech 

The end of the school year is a great time for school IT professionals to take a breath and celebrate the year’s successes. But it is also an ideal moment to reflect and solicit feedback from educators, administrators, and other IT users to figure out which edtech solutions are supporting safe, effective digital learning — and which may need re-evaluating.

Success can look different depending on available IT resources, needs, and expectations. Here are a few tips for running a smooth end-of-year edtech evaluation.

Four elements to consider when planning next year’s edtech

Choosing edtech is a complex decision that requires clarity on what is important to administrators and teachers. Here are a few things to consider as an IT administrator:

1. Usage rates
   Access to analytics, is key to check usage rates for apps and devices. Can license numbers be trimmed for certain products? Conversely, are there software solutions that seem worthy of a larger investment?
2. Vendor consolidation
   In many cases, there may be the ability to streamline billing and support by using the same vendor for multiple products. Could an existing relationship with a major vendor supply additional products? And is there a price break for bundling multiple products?
3. Budget maximization
   When you recognize software or services that are experiencing high usage, it can be an opportunity to maximize your budget. Many vendors offer discounts for longer-term contracts. Consider contacting your highest-use product vendors to see if there are ways to make your budget go further.
4. Automation and insights
   School IT leaders recognize that the best edtech not only supports new learning opportunities — it gives the automation and insights necessary to keep school networks and devices running smoothly. Are your current edtech offerings providing enough reporting and automation capabilities to make device management easier?

Five edtech upgrades to consider

If you find space in the budget, it may mean it is time apply it to better versions of the edtech currently in use. Here are five solutions to consider upgrading:

1. Web filter
   Web filters help schools limit students’ access to undesirable online content. But the best filters also use AI to block harmful content and help schools identify student mental health concerns.
2. Classroom management software
   Classroom management software gives teachers complete insight into what students are seeing and doing online. Some solutions also provide discreet chat functionality and the ability to blank screens to help keep students focused and on track.
3. Device usage analytics and insights
   The more devices a school owns, the more chances there are for theft, loss, misuse, or underuse. IT teams need software that provides insights into device usage and location, as well as remote access capabilities.
4. Endpoint protection
   Schools cannot function if they are constantly stalled by cyberattacks. Good endpoint protection solutions predict, stop, and correct the effects of ransomware and other digital threats.
5. Device health
   Software updates are important to the safety and security of your device. Device health monitoring software can help IT teams predict and prevent device issues and reduce downtime.

Upgrade and save with Lenovo

If consolidating your edtech while saving precious budget dollars sounds good to you, consider Lenovo’s education software bundles. Lenovo and our ecosystem of partners offer all these solutions bundled together at a discounted rate:

LanSchool – Help teachers guide learning, increase collaboration, and maximize teaching time with our award-winning classroom management software.

Lenovo NetFilter – Filter inappropriate content and identify concerning student behaviors with cloud-based, AI-driven content filtering and student safety solution.

Absolute – Monitor installed software, assess their security posture, and measure application health with mobile device management and analytics.

SentinelOne – Secure your school’s endpoints, clouds, and data to predict, stop, and correct the effects of malware.

Lenovo Device Intelligence – Proactively monitor devices and assess, predict, and prevent device performance issues at scale with AI device intelligence.

Ready to re-evaluate your edtech?

Download our K-12 Buyer’s Guide to learn more.