Author: Noelle Henry

Every year, I watch teachers wrestle with dying laptops, tablets that won’t hold a charge, and interactive boards that flicker more than they teach. As a technology coordinator for a mid-size district, I’ve learned that panic-buying devices when old ones fail is the surest path to budget chaos and frustrated educators. A sustainable device refresh […]

I still remember stepping into a classroom during my first week as an IT coordinator. A cart shoved in the corner held about thirty laptops, and nearly half wore sticky notes: “broken hinge,” “won’t charge,” “screen flicker—day 34.” Teachers had stopped bothering with repair tickets because the turnaround was so slow they’d just plan around […]

Walk into any classroom mid-lesson, and you’ll see devices at work—kids researching, making, talking through ideas together. Those Chromebooks, iPads, and laptops are the spine of modern teaching. But they don’t last forever. Batteries fade. Keys stick or pop off. Operating systems drift past their support window. When a single cart of devices dies halfway […]

Walk into just about any K-12 classroom and you’ll spot a collection of devices that reads like a timeline of budget cycles, last-minute buys, and hand-me-down carts. A few screens flicker. Batteries can’t hold a charge past second period. Some keyboards are missing the ‘E’ key. You already know the drill: unreliable tech can scramble […]

A teacher guides peers through new classroom software during a PD session. Walk into any school that just spent thousands on new laptops or a shiny interactive whiteboard, and you’ll likely find a handful of teachers using them brilliantly—and a whole lot more letting them gather dust. The missing piece? Ongoing professional development. We treat […]

When budgets tighten, professional development is usually the first line item to get the axe. I’ve watched this play out in school districts, edtech startups, and engineering departments. The logic feels reasonable—hardware, software, and infrastructure seem more urgent. But after years in classrooms and tech teams, I’ve learned that neglecting your people’s growth is a […]

You’ve probably sat through a demo that felt less like professional learning and more like a timeshare pitch. The salesperson clicks through slides, promises overnight results, and name-drops districts that supposedly signed on. You walk out with a glossy handout and a nagging feeling that something was off. Evaluating edtech isn’t about resisting change. It’s […]

By Sandra Okonkwo I still remember my first Chromebook rollout—a middle school in Lagos, buzzing with that end-of-summer chaos. I thought the hardware would trip us up. It didn’t. The boxes sat there, pristine and orderly. The real headache started the moment we had to configure hundreds of identical-looking devices so an actual class could […]

Most schools have an IT department. Fewer have a dedicated technology committee. That distinction matters more than many administrators realize. When a school relies solely on its IT staff to guide technology decisions, it misses the perspective that educators, curriculum leaders, and even parents bring to the table. The result is often technology that works […]

When most school administrators think about technology leadership, they point to their IT department. That team handles the network, fixes broken Chromebooks, and makes sure the student information system stays online. Those responsibilities matter. But here is the problem: an IT department alone cannot decide whether your school should adopt a new learning management system, […]

I have sat through enough technology committee meetings to know the pattern. A group of well-meaning educators spends months drafting a document that checks every compliance box, gets signed by the superintendent, and then collects dust on a server drive somewhere. Two years later, someone asks where the technology plan is, and nobody can find […]

Understanding What Changed in 2025 and Why It Matters to Your Classroom Last year, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released an advisory that formalized what many of us have been observing for years: social media is affecting our students’ mental health in measurable ways. The advisory pointed to research showing a 66% increased risk […]