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Paper, Pencils, and AI: Putting the Ed Back into Ed Tech
Thursday, October 29, 2026 @ 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm EDT
Paper, Pencils, and AI: Putting the Ed Back into Ed Tech
Presented by Amanda VanDerHeyden, Ph.D., Researcher, Author, and Innovator in Education; and Tim Heckel, Chief Technology Officer, SpringMath Accelerate
Sponsored by SpringMath Accelerate
Learn more about earning a CE certificate and our accessibility features.
Educators are weighing the benefits of ed tech against growing concerns about the impact of screentime on students. But ed tech doesn’t need to be an all-or-nothing decision.
In this edLeader Panel, Amanda VanDerHeyden, Ph.D., and Tim Heckel discuss the importance of paper and pencil activities for learning and reducing screentime while leveraging the immense power of technology to help educators deliver effective instruction. Tune in to learn:
- How paper-based activities support working memory, reduce cognitive overload, and build stronger problem-solving and reasoning skills
- Strategic uses for technology, including automating many of the time-consuming and challenging parts of a teacher’s day, like data-based decision making
- What AI can and cannot do for educators
- Why technology is the right tool to drive implementation science in classrooms
Join us to learn how to strike the right balance between paper-based learning and purposeful technology use so you can put AI and other technology tools to work where they matter most: giving educators time back and helping every student get the instruction they deserve. This edLeader Panel is of interest to elementary through high school school leaders, district leaders, and curriculum and instruction leaders.
About the Presenters
Amanda VanDerHeyden, Ph.D., is an internationally recognized researcher, author, and innovator in education, with deep expertise in academic screening, intervention, implementation science, educational technology, and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS). As the developer of SpringMath, she has led the platform’s evolution into a schoolwide solution that accelerates math achievement through efficient, data-driven practices. Dr. VanDerHeyden has published over 100 scholarly articles, ten books, advised state departments of education and policy groups, received national awards for her contributions to education research, and is a sought-after presenter. Her full bio can be found here.
Tim Heckel is a veteran ed tech leader with more than 25 years building end-to-end systems that fuse intuitive front-end design with resilient, high-volume back-end architecture. As Principal Architect at Cedarlabs, Tim built the recipe-driven data-transformation engine now trusted for K-12 state reporting in Massachusetts and Iowa. He later founded Slatebox, an AI-powered visualization platform that turns complex information into dynamic, story-rich presentations. His career spans cloud providers, bare-metal clusters, and every hybrid space in between, coupling deep DevOps expertise with seamless AI integrations. Tim mentors emerging engineers and champions scalable, data-informed solutions that advance learning outcomes. Tim is now bringing his incredible talent to SpringMath Accelerate as the new Chief Technology Officer.
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Learn more about earning a CE certificate and our accessibility features.
SpringMath Accelerate is an MTSS solution designed to improve math achievement for all students through a comprehensive system of screening and progress-monitoring assessments, classwide and individual interventions, and data-driven decision-making tools. SpringMath Accelerate empowers teachers by automatically interpreting data, pinpointing specific skill gaps, and providing recommendations for instructional next steps, each and every week, so all students achieve grade-level foundational skills mastery.
