Technology Challenges in Healthcare Education

When schools invest precious time, energy, and money into educational technology, the hope is that it will end up saving them all of these things in the long run. To ensure this outcome, educators need to be aware of the common challenges in making this technology work for their program. By getting ahead of these challenges, EdTech tools can do what they were designed for and bring greater ease and efficiency into your daily life.

Here are some of the key technology challenges that healthcare education programs may face:

Lengthy Onboarding Time.

Instructors and students are often already juggling numerous responsibilities and packed schedules. Successful adoption of a new EdTech tool may not be a matter of whether the user likes the tool or sees the need for it—it may simply be a matter of whether the tool is intuitive enough to learn to use quickly. 

By choosing an EdTech tool that is easy to learn and tailored to your specific audience, you can dramatically reduce the time needed to integrate it into your program. You will also reduce the overall cost to your school because staff will spend less time onboarding users, troubleshooting issues, and searching for workarounds to make the tool fit your program’s needs. 

Inconsistent User Adoption.

‍If instructors are resistant to a new technology, you may simply need to provide more clarity on how it can support pedagogy. Spend time outlining the benefits educators will see from proper adoption of the tool, such as quick access to detailed student data, easier scheduling and grading, and improved student collaboration and engagement. EdTech can also offer a level of personalization to students’ needs that would be difficult to achieve without it.

If instructors adopt the new technology, this increases the likelihood that students will as well, since their instructors will constantly refer to the tool, integrate it into the course structure, and require students to complete tasks with it. Before long, your investment will become a regular part of your school’s weekly rhythms. 

Weak Data Security.

A comprehensive EdTech tool will allow you to synthesize and review student data at-a-glance, making it much easier to have personalized conversations with each student, create improvement plans, and update your curriculum as needed. Protecting this sensitive data is a necessity that educators may not think about until they see the next news headline about a major data breach. Investing in a tool that is robust and secure can save you time, money, and headaches down the road. 

No Integration with Existing Technologies.

A great EdTech platform may not have every functionality you could possibly dream of, but it may be able to compensate for this by integrating with other popular tools. These integrations can be simple to set up and may even reduce onboarding time, since users can continue using familiar tools instead of learning a new version of it. On the other hand, some EdTech platforms may introduce a more robust version of a tool you currently use, in which case you will want to consider the long-term benefits of transitioning users fully into the new platform. 

By being aware of these common challenges, you can get ahead of them and ask the right questions in the technology vetting process. Our all-in-one software platform, Leo, offers thorough onboarding support, robust tools that are tailored to the needs of healthcare education programs, regular security updates, and integration with numerous popular tech tools. Contact us today to learn how Leo can improve your program and overall student success.