Public conversations about educational technology often swing between extremes. On one side, EdTech is framed as a cure-all for engagement, equity, and efficiency. On the other hand, it is reduced to a shorthand for excessive screen time and digital overload. Both narratives oversimplify a much more complex reality—one that educators and district leaders navigate every day.
CoSN’s recent webinar, “Purposeful EdTech That Works: Reclaiming the EdTech Narrative”, was designed by the EdTech Innovation Committee to move beyond the “EdTech is good” versus “EdTech is bad” debate. Instead, district leaders and educators shared real-world examples of how intentional, balanced technology use is improving learning outcomes, supporting teachers, and creating healthier digital environments in K-12 systems today.
“We know today in the EdTech landscape that there are some challenges out there in public opinion,” said David Jarboe (Harrison School District Two, Colorado) and co-chair of the EdTech Innovation Committee. “We want to own the narrative; we want to get ahead of it to make sure that we’re doing what’s best for kids. We know that through our collective efficacy we can make a greater impact for kids in what we do every day.”
CoSN Board Chair Stacy Hawthorne (EdTech Leaders Alliance) added, “CoSN’s really invested in this work. We want to protect our members and make sure that we’re doing good by students. … It’s really important that we use tech in a meaningful way, and that we advocate for digital well-being.”
Speakers shared how they evaluate tools not by novelty or volume of use, but by impact on students, teachers, and instructional outcomes. Read highlights from their insights below:
Streamlining Device Repair to Protect Access and Instruction
Johannah Arndt (District 279 Osseo Area Schools, Minnesota)
Johannah Arndt described how their district reworked its student device repair process to ensure consistent access in a one-to-one environment despite having a very small in-house team. By categorizing Chromebook repairs into three tiers — simple on-site fixes, more skilled internal repairs, and complex work outsourced to a flat-rate third-party vendor — the district was able to work more efficiently, reduce staff strain, and come in tens of thousands of dollars under budget.
This approach also allowed the district to maintain a larger spare-device pool and implement a “hot swap” system, ensuring students receive immediate replacements when devices break so that learning continues uninterrupted, while making device support more sustainable and approachable for both staff and students. “We have found that this has increased our ability to provide better services,” said Arndt. “Functionally, it’s been doing wonders for our large system and our small in-house repair team.”
Preparing Students for a Digital Future…With Purpose
Cary Fulgham (Lubbock ISD, Texas)
Cary Fulgham explored why pushbacks against educational technology are growing, suggesting that it stems less from technology itself and more from how it has been used. For example, the shift toward mandated, curriculum-driven digital platforms that have replaced textbooks and paper without preserving creativity or innovation.
While acknowledging the necessity of digital tools for preparing students for college and careers, Fulgham talked about how effective EdTech must go beyond digitized worksheets and compliance tasks to reintroduce opportunities for creativity, collaboration, and student-led exploration. Examples include collaborative digital spaces and the use of AI tools to support diverse learners, such as special education classrooms where interactive technologies enable students to ask questions independently while reducing teacher cognitive load. Fulgham reframed technology not as something to retreat from, but as something to intentionally re-embrace, balancing required digital use with meaningful, innovative experiences that reflect how students will learn and work in the future.
“Our students need to be prepared for the colleges and the careers that are going to be their future,” said Fulgham. “We know that our world is moving into a digital age where you’re going to have to be able to function online. You’re going to have a job that’s going to require digital components to it. So, a lot of our education has moved in that direction.”
Across these examples, a clear theme emerged: effective EdTech is not about more screen time, but better use of time, digital and otherwise.
High-Impact Tech Use to Increase Student Engagement
Theresa McSweeney, CETL (Boise School District, Idaho)
Theresa McSweeney, CETL, shared how purposefully integrating Minecraft Education addressed both student disengagement and persistent help desk challenges by channeling students’ interest in gaming into structured, instructionally-driven learning experiences. Drawing on classroom experience and districtwide support work, McSweeney described how Minecraft EDU fostered communication, collaboration, and community (while reducing behavior issues and breaking down long-standing social cliques) by giving students agency and positioning the teacher as a learner alongside them.
“I had no idea what I was doing. I have never played Minecraft before, and so they were empowered to help me understand what to do. And what I noticed was my classroom was incredibly noisy because they were communicating with each other more, so while we were using this digital tool in a digital space with computers in front of us,” said McSweeney. “It was really noisy, and they were communicating in a way that I had not seen before, and that extended to places like the lunchroom and the playground, and they started to integrate with each other, and there were fewer behavior problems, there was a better sense of community within the classroom space.”
Building on this model, McSweeney explained how tools like Notebook LM were used to generate lesson ideas, infographics, and shared norms, supporting age-appropriate access while reinforcing clear policies for use. Across elementary and junior high levels, the approach showcased creativity, written communication, and democratic participation, demonstrating how well-designed, transparent EdTech use can improve engagement, strengthen classroom culture, and model curiosity and adaptability for students.
Redefining Screen Time Through Quality, Engagement, and Design
Micah Miner, CETL (Beach Park School District #3, Illinois)
Micah Miner, CETL, reframed the screen-time debate by arguing that the issue is not the presence of screens, but the quality of engagement they support within teaching and learning.
“We have to explain that screen time isn’t necessarily all bad, and we want to make sure we use that correctly,” said Miner. “So, engagement quality is key to screen time.”
Rather than treating screen time as either good or bad, Miner shared that it should be evaluated pedagogically, by whether it promotes cognitive challenge, social interaction, and meaningful learning.
Miner suggested three priorities for purposeful screen use:
- designing tasks that require genuine mental struggle and mastery;
- intentionally supporting social and interpersonal interaction, including collaborative digital experiences; and
- creating time and space for students to step away from familiar digital environments and engage physically.
At a systems level, Miner also described using screen-time analysis, filtering data, curriculum mapping, and professional learning to distinguish active from passive use, reinforcing that thoughtful leadership, instructional design, and educator support are essential to making screen time healthy, balanced, and effective.
Untethered Teaching: Using EdTech to Engage Every Student
Katie Harmon (Westhill CSD, New York)
Katie Harmon, a former classroom teacher turned technology leader, described how her district re-centered EdTech decisions on desired learning experiences rather than devices or platforms. Recognizing that simply substituting digital tools for traditional ones does not meaningfully change instruction, the district focused on supporting teacher mobility and whole-class cognitive engagement.
By equipping teachers with portable, stylus-enabled devices and wireless casting, educators were freed from the front of the room and able to teach from anywhere: shifting classroom culture, improving behavior management, and increasing instructional flexibility. Paired with interactive lesson tools that allow all students to respond, annotate, and reflect simultaneously, the approach ensured every student was actively engaged rather than passively observing.
The result? Harmon’s district is calling it the “untethered teaching” model, demonstrating how thoughtful technology use can transform instruction, engagement, and classroom dynamics without increasing screen time.
Student-Led Device Repair as a Scalable, Career-Ready Solution
Samantha Reid (Jenks Public Schools, Oklahoma)
Samantha Reid shared how her district addressed the challenge of maintaining nearly 20,000 devices with four technicians in their IT department: by building a long-running, student-led Chromebook repair program that has become both a cost-saving strategy and a powerful workforce development model.
Through a structured high school (and now middle school) program, students handle all device repairs, recycle usable parts from end-of-life devices, and significantly reduce replacement costs while keeping devices in circulation for a six-year lifecycle. Using a mastery-based system, students progress from basic repairs to advanced work alongside district technicians, gaining real-world experience in what is treated as a professional job environment.
The program includes certification opportunities, a formal curriculum, and clear career pathways, resulting in graduates who have gone on to work as district technicians and in external technology roles. “We have had three of our technology student intern students come back and work as technicians in our district,” said Reid. “Two of them have now moved on and are now working at other technology jobs out in the real world.”
The approach demonstrates how purposeful EdTech operations can simultaneously ensure sustainability, reduce costs, and prepare students for future careers.
Building Systems for Purposeful, Sustainable EdTech Use
Melissa McCalla (Pasadena ISD, Texas)
Melissa McCalla shared two complementary strategies districts can use to move from fragmented or inconsistent technology use toward a clear, purposeful EdTech vision. First, McCalla described implementing a digital resource approval process designed to center student outcomes, use budgets efficiently, ensure privacy and cybersecurity compliance, and create a predictable, transparent pathway for piloting and scaling tools, from individual classrooms to districtwide adoption. Built through cross-department collaboration and continuous improvement, the process aligns curriculum, technology, purchasing, and professional learning while using data to evaluate impact and return on investment.
Second, McCalla introduced a Digital Innovation Wellbeing Initiative, a more holistic framework that intentionally integrates student mental health, digital citizenship, and innovation rather than treating them as competing priorities. Grounded in a portrait of a graduate and shaped by student, family, and community voice, the initiative establishes shared norms for healthy screen use and embeds well-being into instructional and leadership practices, demonstrating how systems, not just tools, make purposeful EdTech sustainable.
“We’re in our first year, and we have three subcommittees and those committees make up about 50 different stakeholders from our district,” said McCalla. “We were able to bring enough voices to the table, including parents, community members, and students, to really think about how we design norms for really healthy screen experiences.”
3 Frameworks for Purposeful, Equitable EdTech Decision Making
Nick Stoyas (Elmhurst District 205 Public Schools, Illinois)
Nick Stoyas highlighted three complementary frameworks their district uses to guide intentional planning, evaluation, implementation, and instructional use of technology.
- The CITES Framework from CAST ensures inclusive decision-making by clearly defining roles and accountability across educators, administrators, assistive technology specialists, and IT professionals—helping districts evaluate curriculum and emerging tools like AI through a universal, equity-centered lens.
- The Value-Add of Technology (VAT) framework supports disciplined implementation by requiring that any adopted tool demonstrably benefits students, illustrated through a districtwide communication platform that improves family access and multilingual outreach while enabling targeted, outcome-driven professional learning.
- The American Association of School Libraries (AASL) framework informs instructional alignment by grounding technology use in research-based practices that enrich curriculum, support literacy, and expand hands-on learning opportunities.
Together, these frameworks ensure that equity, voice, and impact are not accidental, but intentionally embedded in how and when technology is introduced to support learning. “Equality and the equity that’s been introduced and promoted during this session and across our district and across so many others isn’t standalone or by chance,” said Stoyas. “It’s thoughtfully curated to ensure we introduce technology in the moments that we know it’ll have the greatest impact on instruction and learning.”
CoSN’s EdTech Innovation Committee meets virtually every month to develop resources on CoSN’s Driving K-12 Innovation Top Topics and other timely trends that have the potential to significantly impact K-12 education.
AUTHOR: Stephanie King, Writer and Communications Manager,
CoSN’s EdTech Innovations Committee and Driving K-12 Innovation
Published on March 3, 2026
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