Digital Promise, a non-profit created by the U.S. Congress in 2008, has just released the Ed-Tech Pilot Framework--an eight-step guide for school leaders to refer to before piloting new education technology.

The framework was developed after five years of research into the impact of educational products and is based on the "best practices identified by observing and conducting pilots in fifteen League of Innovative Schools districts," Digital Promise says.

The eight steps are as follows:

1. Identify Need

2. Discover & Select

3. Planning

4. Train & Implement

5. Collect Data

6. Analyze & Decide

7. Negotiate & Purchase

8. Summarize & Share

As is becoming more and more accepted in education technology circles, the framework urges leaders to--as the very first step--identify a need that new technology will serve.

"District leaders must first articulate the problem they hope to solve using ed-tech. The more specific this problem is, the easier it is to determine whether a product successfully meets that need," Digital Promise said.

For every step, Digital Promise offers leaders several tools and resources in accompaniment.

For identifying a need, for example, Digital Promise includes resources like a technology needs assessment and a priority-vision-goal worksheet.

When the process is complete, Digital Promise recommends leaders summarize and share their findings not only within their own distinct, but to external peers and partners to provide a contribution to the entire education community.

"Sharing your results can help educators and district leaders find products that have been tested in contexts similar to their own," Digital Promise says.

After accessing and using the framework, users are invited to share feedback in the form of links, tools and resources, and advice on how the framework can be improved through this comment box.

To access the full framework, see here.

Nicole Gorman, Senior Education World Contributor

11/30/2016