While researching a bit for our presentations, I realized how many new and innovative technologies there are to entice students in a classroom. Literally, people have thought of everything to keep students interested. If you don’t believe me, check out this list of 92 edtech tools for teachers. I read through this list, and I was enticed by almost all of them. They are great! These edtech tools are interesting, fun, engaging. They are everything a student needs, but how many of these should I use?

Down the hall from me at my high school is what I would call “a very techie teacher.” He is constantly telling me about a new edtech tool or asking some interesting question on his Twitter with 1,000,000 (exaggerated number here for effect) followers. I love watching him teach, I love having him as a coworker, and students really enjoy him. The biggest negative (and the biggest positive) about his teaching is the amount of technology he uses.

Students love the engagement of the technology, but there is a different login for each new edtech tool, and there is a new password with each edtech tool. Biggest of all, there is a learning curve with each edtech tool. This poses a question for me: Which edtech tools do I use? How many edtech tools is my max?

I want to engage students with new technology, but I do not want to overwhelm them with more technology. Students have a lot of logins and learning curves from other teacher, so I want to keep my classroom as streamlined as possible. I want to use technology, but I want the technology I use to be purposeful and use regularly.

This question mainly comes out of my experience and mistakes in using technology in the past. I have been that teacher who is determined to use some type of new technology is her classroom; therefore, I spend hours learning about the technology, I spend time teaching it to my students, and then I assign something on it. After that assignment is over, we never use it again. While the learning of new edtech tools is never a bad thing, I sometimes regret taking so much time for something that will amount to so little of my class.

Is there an answer to this question? What is the right amount of technology in the classroom? How often should technology be used for students to be familiar with it? I would love feedback from people who are “techie” teachers and those who are not.