3 Tips on How to Get The Most out of Your Pilot Phase
When you are introducing a new educational technology to your school, it's important to test it out and ensure that this is the best product or vendor for your staff and students.
Pilot Phases give you the opportunity to do just that before you commit and sign a contract with an EdTech provider. This period can be extremely beneficial to you, your staff, students and their parents.
Here are 3 tips on how to make the most out of this testing period:
- Define who you want to help the most
- Consider how long you want to pilot the product
- Ask questions!
1. Define who you want to help the most
Think about which audience at your school is going to benefit the most from implementing this technology.
- Does this tool help your teachers create and deploy assignments or assessments?
- Does this new technology help your students provide instructor feedback and interact with each other?
- Does this software make the parents of your students feel confident that their kids are learning the content in the most efficient way?
It’s important to ask these kinds of questions and realize the exact purpose of implementing this technology. Once you have defined who your target audience is, make sure that you give those audience members a place to provide feedback and ask questions. This can give you insight on if contracting with the piloted vendor is worth the monetary and time investment.
2. Consider how long you want to pilot the product
Some Pilot Phases can last a week, a month, a quarter, a semester, or even a year.
Ask your vendor how long their Pilot Phases typically last and if there is an option to shorten or extend your institution’s testing phase.
Depending on your vendor and your implementation timeline, there isn’t any real need to rush this process. This process can include having your key audience utilize the tool for the first time, integrate it into their online or in-person course, test it with multiple use-cases, and then provide their review. You want to ensure that this is the right tool for your school and that can take time. So don’t be afraid to ask to extend the Pilot Phase. Which leads us to our third tip.
3. Ask questions!
Your point of contact (POC) with the potential technology vendor is likely an expert in the product and the company values. You want a technology vendor that you can champion when your students, parents, or staff come with concerns, problems, or questions. To achieve this goal, don’t be afraid to ask any and all questions about your vendor and the product. This includes questions around pricing or why they do what they do.
Pilot Phases exist for you to make an educated decision on a new tool or technology. Make the most of this testing period with the tips above.
Start your Pilot Phase with Derivita today!
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