Mendon-Upton Includes Student, Teacher Voice in Edtech Procurement

Mendon-Upton Regional School District (MURSD) is a small suburban district in central Massachusetts which provides their teachers access to over 200 edtech tools. MURSD participated in the Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education’s OET 2022-2023 EdTech Peer Learning Cohort. During this cohort, MURSD improved edtech evaluations to align with the district’s vision and curricular needs.  

MURSD incorporated student voice in the edtech evaluation process by appointing a high school student to the technology committee, which determined the criteria for evaluating each edtech tool in the district. The committee also included a teacher, a media center specialist, a technician, and the technology director, who led the committee. They included the student in every conversation and the student and even built a technology inventory database for the district. 

The committee also developed a process for teachers interested in piloting edtech tools. Teachers can nominate tools they want to test using the Digital Tool Pilot Proposal Form. The technology team reviews the submitted proposals and scores them on the MURSD Digital Tool Pilot Evaluation Rubric to help ensure the pilot’s success. Finally, pilot teachers participate in an annual Digital Tool Evaluation process each school year in May. Educators and students self-report their experience with the tool using the district’s evaluation form. The form differentiates questions by role and asks users about impact, usability, engagement, and whether they would recommend the tool. Based on this input, the technology team can renew the pilot and potentially scale the tool, abandon the tool, or consider redesigning the pilot. 

By including teacher voices in the selection process, the MURSD technology team hopes to identify the tools supporting student learning and thoughtfully invest in effective solutions.