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25 Stupid Uses of Educational Technology, According to Educators
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Classroom Technology From Our Research Center

25 Stupid Uses of Educational Technology, According to Educators

By Kevin Bushweller 鈥� March 27, 2023 1 min read
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It鈥檚 probably fair to say that most teachers, principals, and district leaders have a love-hate relationship with technology.

They love it when it is easy to use, boosts student learning and engagement, and generates a good return on investment of time and money. But they hate it when it is complicated and glitchy, has little impact on student performance, and wastes time and money.

Bad or misguided use can sour educators on the potential of technology to enhance learning, derailing future attempts to integrate digital tools into instruction.

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Classroom Technology From Our Research Center Misguided Use of Ed Tech Is a Big Problem. How 69传媒 Can Help Prevent It
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With that in mind, the EdWeek Research Center asked teachers, principals, and district leaders across the country this open-ended question: 鈥淲hat is the worst or most misguided use of educational technology you have experienced during your career in K-12 education?鈥�

We received roughly 800 responses. Following are 25 particularly useful or illuminating ones that we pulled from the survey results. You might not agree with all these sentiments, but they are worth considering as schools integrate more technology into teaching and learning.

1&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;鈥�Replacing computers, tablets, Chromebooks that work and are fairly new.鈥�

鈥擡lementary School Teacher | Alabama

2&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;鈥淭he constant use of Chromebooks is destroying our basic elementary foundation skills.鈥�

鈥擡lementary School Principal | Alabama

3&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;鈥淥ur school district invested thousands of dollars into VR [virtual reality] headsets for our college- and career-readiness teachers to use. According to students, it is just a very bad video game.鈥�

鈥擧igh School Fine Arts Teacher | Arkansas

4&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;鈥淯se of message boards for comments during -based 'anti-racist' lessons.鈥�

鈥擧igh School Science Teacher | California

5&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;鈥淭hinking that students only want to learn online. They don't. They appreciate print sources, hard copies of handouts, and books.鈥�

鈥擲uperintendent | California

6&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;鈥淭he most misguided use of educational technology has been the overuse of ineffective platforms.鈥�

鈥擡lementary School Principal | California

7&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;鈥淪eeing 1-to-1 computer programs adopted and then seeing the technology unused or misused.鈥�

鈥擲uperintendent | California

8&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;鈥淗aving kindergarten students use iPads to take reading and math assessments.鈥�

鈥擡lementary School Teacher | California

9&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;鈥淯sing technology as a babysitter.鈥�

鈥擯rincipal, Other Grade-Level Configuration | Illinois

10&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;鈥�Virtual teaching for kindergarten. They are too hands on. It just didn't work.鈥�

鈥擡lementary School Teacher | Michigan

11&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;鈥�Smartboards. They are not interactive with kids. Adults still do all the work when using them.鈥�

鈥擡lementary School Principal | Minnesota

12&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;鈥淭hat all accommodations and/or modifications can be offered on technology.鈥�

鈥擠istrict Administrator鈥擲pecial Education | Mississippi

13&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;鈥淭eachers linking Google Classroom to websites and not screening them first.鈥�

鈥擯rincipal, Other Grade-Level Configuration | Missouri

14&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;鈥淭eachers using a smartboard as a bulletin board.鈥�

鈥擡lementary School Principal | Nevada

15&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;鈥淯sing 'computer time' to have kids complete rote memorization tasks online and then play games, rather than learn actual computer skills.鈥�

鈥擧igh School Math/Computer Science Teacher | New Mexico

16&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;鈥淭he purchasing of smartboards before teachers were properly trained on how, when, and what to use them for. It became a huge waste of time and money.鈥�

鈥擠istrict Administrator鈥擳echnology | New York

17&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;鈥�Trusting that by using technology to replace tried and true methods there is a guarantee of improvement.鈥�

鈥擠istrict Administrator | North Carolina

18&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;鈥�Tutoring with no human involvement.鈥�

鈥擡lementary School Principal | Pennsylvania

19&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;鈥� as a primary source of classroom instruction.鈥�

鈥擧igh School Principal | Pennsylvania

20&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;鈥淟ive grade books that students and parents can see. It has increased 'grade grubbing' and stress among students.鈥�

鈥擧igh School Principal | Pennsylvania

21&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;鈥淲hen teachers consider what technology to use and then fit the topic to the technology, rather than use the appropriate technology to fit the topic.鈥�

鈥擧igh School Social Studies/History Teacher | Texas

22&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;鈥淭he unwillingness to stick with a program long enough for all parties involved to get comfortable with the platform.鈥�

鈥擬iddle School Fine Arts Teacher | Texas

23&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;鈥�69传媒 using school computers to watch porn.鈥�

鈥擧igh School World/Foreign Languages Teacher | Texas

24&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;鈥淎llowing cellphones to be used inside the school building at all!鈥�

鈥擡lementary School Principal | Vermont

25&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;鈥淭eaching concepts in front of a group of students who are following along on computers at their desks.鈥�

鈥擠istrict Administrator鈥擲pecial Education | Washington State

Kevin Bushweller
Deputy Managing Editor,  Education Week
Kevin Bushweller oversees coverage of educational technology and learning environments for Education Week.
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