Schools throughout the country are experiencing the same teacher-driven adoption of technology tools. Internet-savvy teachers are increasingly finding tools to use in the classroom on their own, and lower business-startup costs mean the tools are more readily available.
In response, many education companies are changing how they market and sell their products. Nationwide sales teams and central-office visits are giving way to word-of-mouth and sophisticated business-intelligence software as preferred methods for pushing adoption. Companies offer free products to teachers with the goal of influencing districtwide purchases of more-robust versions-known as the "freemium" pricing model.
But in most sectors of the existing K-12 system-with its various stakeholders, budgetary restrictions, and procurement regulations- the so-called "consumerization" of education faces many barriers, experts say, making it difficult to find the right balance between selling directly to teachers and addressing the needs of central-office administrators.
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Dropping a whole bunch of technology, or the hottest device on the planet into the laps of teachers or kids isn't necessarily a plan for success either. All that seems fairly obvious, but if it is, why do we still see only the simplest of lesson plans for technology, as well as disjointed, fragmented lessons in most classes today?
A news story from Cornell talking about integrating mobile devices into higher ed...paints an unfortunate, yet realistic picture of the discrepancies between research/trends and practice