Thereās a line in Jurassic Park where the mathematician played by Jeff Goldblum says: āYour scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didnāt stop to think if they should.ā
When it comes to education, we have our own version of this.Ā
Some EdTech experts get so caught up on whether they can build or use a feature that they risk consideration of other users. Some might skip the question of whether the teacher can actually see it, whether the student stuck at home can access it or whether the team maintaining it six months post-launch has any idea itās broken.
Brooke Rosenthal, our very own Lead Product Designer at Subject, is essentially the Ian Malcolm of product design ā the person in the room asking whether the whole system actually works before anyone signs the contract. She spent two years visiting real classrooms to find out what classrooms actually needed, wanted and used.
Hereās whatās on the dashboard this week:Ā
Todayās Deep Dive: Look at the whole EdTech equation
Reading Rainbow: Rock, paper, improv
From Our Desk: But how are your students actually feeling?
Watch of the Week: Your pirate era startsā¦ now?
The best EdTech platforms consider the student AND the teacher
Before Brooke led our product design team, she studied medical anthropology ā which is a very fancy way of saying she watches how people actually behave in their environments instead of how they perform when someone with a clipboard is watching.
She took that into product design research and visited real classrooms for two years, and she found something every 2nd grader has been saying for a decade: students and teachers should BOTH have a say.
This is the Ian Malcolm problem with EdTech. Itās easy to get so preoccupied with whether a new, flashy platform CAN be built āĀ but itās important to take a minute to ensure that itās useful for all parties involved.
She calls it the three-rung ladder.
Rung 1: The StudentĀ
Most students can find value in a tech platform. They watch videos, fill in some blanks, and they submit their work. Itās beneficial, sure āĀ but does it actually help students connect with their teachers and with the coursework itself? Only if you factor in rung twoā¦
Rung 2: The TeacherĀ
A teacher with 28 students doesn't automatically know which video each one is watching or who's been staring at the same blank for 11 minutes. Without full admin access, the teacher's job shifts from learning guide to professional guesser (and that causes both stress for the teacher and confusion for the students).
Rung 3: The Platform TeamĀ
When those teachers and students report feedback with the software, you need to know that someoneās actually listening. On the perfect three-rung ladder, the product is being used, observed AND consistently updated accordingly.Ā
Miss any rung and the whole ladder falls. Unfortunately, you just won't know it for six weeks.
Next time youāre considering adding a new platform or tool to your schoolās stack, there are five questions you should ask. Read them here.
1 in 5 Students Still Chronically Absent. Cool Cool Cool.: A 31-state analysis found chronic absenteeism dropped from 29% to 21% between 2021-22 and 2024-25, meaningful progress that still leaves 1 in 5 kids missing 10% or more of the school year. Before the pandemic the number was 15%, so we are essentially celebrating having driven the car into a ditch and then gotten it most of the way out.
The Case for Bringing Weird Stuff to Class: Edutopia reports that object-based learning ā putting real physical things at the center of instruction so students can handle and examine them ā produces deeper understanding and better retention than passive content delivery. Good news: the object can be almost anything. Bad news: students will now expect you to bring something every time.
Yes, and the MBA Was Optional: An elementary school principal who moonlights with an improv comedy troupe argues that the best lessons in leadership begin with two words: "yes, and" ā and that listening carefully, building on others' ideas and reading a room are more useful than any conference keynote. Somewhere a leadership consultant is staring at their invoice and reconsidering everything.
Send Them Away So Theyāll Come Back: A new piece in The 74 argues that chronic absenteeism is fundamentally an engagement problem (not a logistical one) and that meaningful time spent outside of school can actually bring students back to it. The cure for not wanting to be at school is, apparently, briefly not being at school. We'll give that one a moment to land.Ā
But how are your students actually feeling? With our new Student Check-in feature in Subject, you have an easy way to see how your students are feeling before they start their coursework.
Katie Redd officially hit the road in Cleveland to shadow Pro Service Plumbing. Stay tuned for our brand new CTE courses launching soon.
Your next beach read: How station-based learning can fit into your classroom.
Our pick of the week: One Piece
Why Weāre Obsessed: The live-action remake of this cult-classic manga book follows a crew of gloriously chaotic misfits sailing across an impossible ocean world to chase their individual dreams while somehow becoming each other's best reason to keep going ā which, if you squint, is also a pretty accurate description of what a good classroom feels like on a good day. It's a show about pursuing something absurd with total conviction, and that energy is extremely useful when you're trying to teach eighth graders anything at all.
Recommended lesson integration:
World geography and cartography: Students map island regions, identify climate zones and debate which one they'd actually survive. At least one child picks the ship graveyard. That child is performing a legitimate risk-benefit analysis. Full marks.
Character archetypes in literature: Every Straw Hat is a walking archetype. Assign each student a crew member, watch them realize they've been assigned Usopp (a coward who grows into a hero through repeated near-death experiences) and then explain that this is actually the most interesting arc in the whole series. They will resist this. They will eventually agree.
Dreams, goals and intrinsic motivation: Luffy has never once doubted he'll become King of the Pirates. Not for a single second of his entire life. Use his completely unhinged certainty as a launch pad for students to identify what they want and why it matters to them. One student will write "become a pirate." Do not correct this. It is the most honest goal in the room.
Teamwork and found family: Ā The Straw Hats share no blood, no hometown and in several cases no understanding of how society works. They chose each other anyway. Perfect anchor for an SEL unit on showing up for people who are nothing like you.
Join over 4 million professionals who start their day with Morning Brew ā a free daily newsletter on business, finance, and tech that's actually fun to read. Try it for free.
Thank you for joining us for another edition of On The Subject. Weāll see you again in a week, with more stories from the hallways.
The Subject Team
Want to learn more about our curriculum offerings? Contact us today.