A common assumption is that to stand out from the competition educational technology must have lots of different features. However, this can lead to making their product confusing for a new user or require an excessive amount of training time before the technology is able to be used effectively in the classroom.

Educators need technology that is user-friendly and quick to learn. While some training will never go amiss, your product should be easy for someone to interact with and quickly pick up how to integrate their new tool into their daily lessons.

Schools tend to have some hesitation investing in more complicated technology. Teachers already have a lot on their plate to juggle, between assisting students, creating and tweaking lessons, and more. Spending hours learning how to use an overly complicated tool sounds like the time investment might not be worth the reward.

Simplified devices stand a stronger chance to truly transform a classroom. The easier and friendlier the technology is to learn, the more likely even the most hesitant educators will take to using those tools in their classroom.

So how do you make sure that your EdTech tools are easy to use?

Decluttered User Interface

Having lots of bells and whistles can be useful. But if the interface is cluttered or overly complicated, this can intimidate users and confuse them. When a teacher needs to be efficient with their time, having to comb through rows and rows of different options looking for one item can be a deterrent to future use.

Simplify

The best tools are intuitive to use. The faster your learning curve, the less time it will take for anyone to be able to walk up and begin utilizing the EdTech effectively. So if a substitute teacher needs to take over a lesson, the ideal scenario is that they can walk into the classroom with little to no instruction and be able to keep the students on course.

Customization

If a user interface is customizable, users can quickly condense their tool bars down to the most productive features. This helps declutter the UI as well to make it easier to find the tools that you need.