Educational technology (EdTech) can make life much easier for teachers or it can be a hindrance and time consumer. In order for EDTech to be useful to teachers, it must streamline the job they need to do and save much needed time during the school day and integrate fully across all of our needs. If teachers feel they need to have a degree in computer technology in order to use a platform or that a platform only addresses part of their needs, they will not invest their time in that platform.
Family communication is a HUGE piece of education. Caregivers want to know how their student is doing and how they can support them. With EZ Stickerbook, family communication is easy whether it be private messages, group messages or class announcements. Choose to send a message to one family, a group of students, or a whole class.
Collaboration is also an important part of education. Teachers and students, teachers and parents, students and parents; all important connections. EZ Stickerbook combines all these partnerships so that it is a one stop shop for all collaborative efforts. Parents can communicate with teachers, teachers can collaborate and communicate with students, parents can collaborate and communicate with their students.
Students also need to be motivated in order to produce their best work and feel invested in their learning experience. EZ Stickerbook provides that motivation by offering students sticker rewards and words of encouragement. Positive reinforcement is what this platform is based upon. Meeting children at their own learning level and celebrating their gifts and achievements – that is so important.
Assigning differentiated work is another great feature of EZ Stickerbook. Teachers can easily assign work to groups of students at their level of learning. If there are 3 learning levels in your classroom, send out 3 different assignments. Each student gets what they need and gets the practice needed to learn a skill.
Most importantly, all of this is achieved within EZ Stickerbook on one single platform. A collaborative, unified learning environment requires the integration of all of these functions for the betterment of the student. Teachers are frustrated by EDtech that is a half step in this direction (copy-paste anyone?) and we need a better way of doing all of this to both save teachers’ precious time and enable better outcomes for kids.
Kim LaCoste
Kim LaCoste has worked in early childhood education for over 30 years. She has a BS in Elementary Education, a MS in Early Childhood Education and a CAGS in School Leadership. When not in her kindergarten classroom, she likes to read, spend time with her dogs, go to the beach and spend time with her son and husband. Using technology in her classroom is one of her passions.
