Why EdTech Usage Doesn’t Equal Impact ft. Dr. Paula Cushanick 

In this episode of My EdTech Life, I sit down with Dr. Paula Cushanick, known as Dr. C on TikTok, to unpack one of the most misunderstood ideas in education technology:

EdTech usage does NOT equal impact.

Districts often measure success through logins, minutes, and usage reports because they’re easy to pull. But Dr. Cushanick’s research and classroom experience tell a very different story.

In this conversation, we dig into what actually drives student growth, especially for emergent bilingual learners, and why equity must mean access and effectiveness, not just access alone.

Questions We Explore:
1. How should districts really measure EdTech effectiveness?
2. What does meaningful equity look like in digital learning?
3. Why do some students log thousands of minutes with no growth?
4. How can districts support teachers beyond “one-and-done” PD?
5. What are the consequences of bad implementation for students?

Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Dr. Paula Cushanick
03:21 Dr. Koshanek's Journey in Education
06:21 Research Insights on Technology and Language Acquisition
11:39 The Importance of Intentional Technology Use
16:50 Measuring Implementation Effectiveness
20:20 Consequences of Poor Implementation in the Classroom
24:26 The Importance of Language Output
26:33 Technology's Role in Immediate Feedback
32:21 Misconceptions About Bilingual Learners
36:31 Creating Supportive Educational Systems

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