The energy at our latest "Steal My Workflow" user group was electric! This highly-requested session was specifically for LearnPlatform admins and was designed to get everyone together to share ideas. It's clear that wherever you are on your edtech journey—whether you’re a seasoned pro or in the first year of implementation—the drive for efficiency, compliance, and cross-functional collaboration is a shared priority.
Three incredible district leaders—Lindsey Evans from New Hanover County School District (NC), Pam Candelaria from Aurora Public Schools (CO), and Meredith Bates from Cabarrus County Schools (NC)—pulled back the curtain to share how they leverage LearnPlatform workflows to transform their digital resource review processes. The key takeaway? Automation is the antidote to avoiding edtech chaos.
Best Practices: Mapping Out Your Vetting Process
Our volunteer districts demonstrated that successful edtech management hinges on clear steps and district-wide buy-in. Here’s a summary of the powerful strategies they shared:
1. Automating Multi-Level Review for Efficiency
For districts with multiple schools, routing requests manually is a non-starter. New Hanover County Schools created a "New Product Workflow" that saves time and automatically directs the review process.
- School-Level Approval First: When an educator submits a request for a new tool, it is routed to the school’s MTAC (Media Technology Advisory Committee) representative. This acts as a quality control gate, ensuring the request aligns with school needs before going to the district level.
- Conditional Routing to Content Experts: It is during the building MTAC review step that the correct district content experts are assigned. The MTAC reviewer form uses "tag checklist" to select the appropriate subject area, which automatically routes the request through the correct conditional steps to the assigned district expert. This conditional routing ensures the correct subject matter expert is vetting the resource. Lindsey shared that this automation has eliminated the need for a standing monthly meeting with a cross-curricular review team.
- Automated Stop Workflow & Set Status: During either the MTAC or District Content Expert review step, if it is determined that the product does not meet district standards, the workflow is stopped and the status is set to “Reviewed & Denied.” If it passes the MTAC, and the Content Expert Review, it will automatically be assigned to the Technology Team for a final student data and security review.
2. Evolving Compliance: A Focus on Accessibility (ADA)
Compliance is constantly evolving, and for Aurora Public Schools in Colorado, the focus has shifted heavily to digital accessibility, driven by state law (Colorado House Bill 21110). This law is similar to the upcoming ADA Title II expansion.
- Legal as a Core Step: Their workflow includes a crucial step for the Legal team to gather and track compliance documents like Data Privacy Agreements (DPAs), Certificates of Insurance (COIs), and accessibility documentation. Pam described this Legal step as "the longest and frequently most frustrating part" of the process, as it relies heavily on vendors being responsive.
- Provider Applications for Documentation: They highlighted the value of LearnPlatform’s Provider Applications feature, which is "critical" for compliance. This allows them to request documentation directly from vendors and enables vendors to upload it to the platform. Pam noted that accessibility is mirroring the trend of data privacy, as more vendors are now publishing accessibility statements and VPATs on their websites.
3. Proactive Re-Vetting with Dedicated Workflows
The reality is that vendors constantly change their terms of service and privacy policies. Cabarrus County Schools addressed this by creating a special, streamlined workflow just for annual re-vetting during the summer months.
- Summer Review Focus: This short workflow was used to re-vet paid resources, which was prioritized knowing that treasurers would soon be purchasing them. The goal was to ensure the library was ready for teachers when they returned in August.
- Accessibility Checklist for Tags: They integrated their EC (Exceptional Children) department by sending them an "accessibility rating" checklist. Meredith explained that the simple checkbox review automatically creates accessibility tags on the products, which teachers can easily filter or view.
- Must Pass: If the product does not pass the accessibility review, the workflow stops, and the status is set to "reviewed and denied."
Similarities & Differences in Approach
While all three districts use the power of LearnPlatform workflows to vet edtech, their specific approaches vary based on their size and needs:
Process Components | New Hanover County Schools (NHCS) | Aurora Public Schools (APS) | Cabarrus County Schools (CCS) |
|---|
Initial Request Route | Teacher >School-level MTAC > District Content Expert > Digital Learning Team | Teacher> IT > Subject Matter Expert > EdTech > Legal> Final Approval | Admin triggered workflow > Accessibility > Data privacy > Final Status |
Core Compliance Focus | Student Privacy and Data Sharing Agreements | Data Privacy, Security, AND Accessibility (due to state law) | Data Privacy, Terms of Service, AND Accessibility |
Workflow Design | One comprehensive "New Product Workflow" with a unique step for each of their 45 schools | Complex workflow focused on thorough documentation and legal sign-off for compliance | Two distinct workflows: one extensive for new products and one short, administrative workflow for annual re-vetting |
Status Management | Uses tags extensively to denote which subject areas are approved for use | Uses tags to track documentation status (e.g., Under DPA/Insurance/Approved), and sets the final status for use. | Keeps statuses simple (Approved for 25-26, Staff Only, 13 and Over) and uses tags for accessibility details. |
The Non-Negotiable: Achieving Buy-In
A consistent theme across all presenters was the challenge—and eventual necessity—of gaining buy-in from all stakeholders (Curriculum, IT, Finance, Principals).
- Leadership Mandate: Lindsey shared that their superintendent determined vetting "was not going to be an us thing" and made "all of the directors for instruction get all of their people involved, and so it was kind of not a choice."
- Enforce at Purchasing: The most powerful lever for compliance proved to be getting the Finance/Purchasing department on board. Pam explained that their purchasing director told her department to "check LearnPlatfrom first" and that "If it's not approved in there, that request gets sent back to the person." Lindsey agreed that school treasurers will stop a purchase if it's "not in LearnPlatform." This "hard stop" ensures compliance for paid resources and gives the vetting process real authority.
Product Updates:
Our Product Manager, Kara Marolt, shared a few features recently released or coming soon:
- Individual Workflow per Request: This new choice in the Workflow Builder allows you to disable combining requests into a single workflow run. This is great for evaluating individual license purchases per building or teacher, or managing other unique approvals.
- Automated Email to a Non-User: Workflows can now send automated email notifications to any external email address. This is perfect for notifying stakeholders that don't log into LearnPlatform, like an external IT ticketing system. Previously, an email notification required a user to be attached.
- Duplicate a Workflow Step: You can now duplicate a single step in the Workflow Builder, which makes building out similar, multi-step processes much easier.
We are also currently working on a platform-wide accessibility audit to eventually publish an official VPAT for LearnPlatform.
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