What real problems do teachers face that educational apps often fail to solve?

Hi everyone,

I’m a game developer exploring the idea of building a small educational app prototype, mainly as a learning exercise and to better understand the EdTech space.

Before building anything, I’d like to understand real classroom pain points from people with experience in education or educational technology. Many educational apps look good on paper but don’t get used long-term.

From your experience: • What problems do teachers actually need software to solve? • What features are often missing or poorly implemented in educational apps? • What makes an app realistic to use in a real classroom (time, setup, monitoring, assessment, etc.)?

I’m not selling anything and I don’t have a product yet—just trying to avoid building something that isn’t useful in practice. Any insights are appreciated.

Submitted February 11, 2026 at 10:32AM by Javier_004 https://ift.tt/LOusFCh

Boomers Backed Public School Teaching of Critical Thinking Back in the Day. What Changed?

How do the Boomers in your life explain their complete 180\* turn from wanting their kids to think and reason independently in the 1970s-1980s to now believing that “someone important with top secret information and knowledge” should be allowed to determine what is truthful, honest and believable? They even pushed local school boards to teach this. My fellow early Gen X cohorts, at least, were taught to question and challenge every single thing in school AND in our churches. What happened to cause this complete reversal?

Submitted February 11, 2026 at 04:14AM by EastAd7676 https://ift.tt/lZQoE3r

What happened to teaching actual digital literacy skills in elementary instead of just device management?

Been thinking about this a lot lately. When I was in school we learned typing, how to use word processors, basic troubleshooting, file management. Now I watch elementary kids who can navigate Instagram perfectly but don't know how to create a folder or attach a document to an email.

We've got a whole generation that's "tech native" but only for consumption not creation or productivity. They can swipe and tap but ask them to format a document or organize files and they're completely lost.

Feels like curriculum shifted to "here's how to behave online safely" (which is important) but forgot to teach the actual skills they'll need for any job ever. Or is this just my district?

What are other schools doing for digital literacy that's actually practical?

Submitted February 11, 2026 at 01:35AM by MagnusChased https://ift.tt/EpY1UaT

Math is ruining my life

Does anyone else feel like no matter how much you study, math just doesn’t click? I spend hours on problems and still get them wrong.

I’ve tried videos, apps, and asking friends, but it’s still a struggle. At this point, I think math might just hate me.

Submitted February 10, 2026 at 01:11PM by oweyoo https://ift.tt/CNhlXDa

Considering becoming a school guidance counselor in NYC — advice on pay and education?

Hi everyone! I just graduated with a BA in Communications and I’m really interested in pursuing a career as a school guidance counselor in NYC.

I’d love to hear from anyone who works or has worked in NYC schools:

• What is the salary like, especially for someone starting out versus more experienced counselors?

• What education or certifications did you need to get your foot in the door? (I know a Master’s is usually required — any tips on programs that NYC employers respect?)

• How competitive is the job market for school counselors in NYC?

Any advice, personal experiences, or resources you found helpful would be amazing — thanks so much in advance!

Submitted February 10, 2026 at 10:58AM by sjlxx09 https://ift.tt/2UMF6Rg

Looking for an advocacy group

I'm a teacher who unfortunately was in a very bad accident a few months ago and had to step down from my position due to being unable to work. I'm at the point that as much as I truly love teaching, I feel like there's not going to be any education unless people step up to fight the war on public, patriotic education for every child.

Is there any groups out there that actually offer some salary for work? I'm looking for something like the anti-moms for liberty. I'm even willing to run for office if they ask me. But I want to contribute with more then cash.

Submitted February 10, 2026 at 09:44AM by IleGrandePagliaccio https://ift.tt/WIK0GqE

Neurodivergent CS student building an interactive math learning platform. Looking for educator and student feedback

Hi r/Education,

I’m a computer science student who has struggled with math throughout my academic life. Despite doing well in most subjects, university-level math has been a constant obstacle for me. I’ve had to repeat multiple courses, and traditional study methods never really worked with the way my brain processes information.

Over time I noticed something interesting: whenever I built my own tools to support learning, I improved much faster. Creating structured, interactive systems helped me understand concepts that textbooks and static exercises couldn’t.

Because of that experience, a friend and I recently started working on a project aimed at making math learning more intuitive and interactive. The idea is to combine several tools that are usually scattered across different websites into a single platform:

• interactive visualizations and graphing
• step by step problem solving
• guided learning workflows
• customizable practice problem generation

Our goal is not to replace teachers, but to create a supplemental tool that supports different learning styles. Especially for students who struggle with traditional approaches.

Our focus is primarily on tools that help students explore and understand math concepts, rather than on creating full traditional courses.

We’re currently building an early version and opening a waitlist for people who want to try it when it’s ready.

I’m posting here because I’d really like feedback from actual educators and students:

• What tools or features do you feel are missing from current math education technology?
• What makes a math platform genuinely helpful rather than just flashy?
• From a teacher’s perspective, what would make a tool like this useful in the classroom?

Any thoughts or constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

Submission Statement:

This post is relevant to r/Education because it seeks discussion and feedback about educational technology for math learning from the perspective of both students and educators. The purpose is not to advertise a product, but to gather informed opinions about what makes digital learning tools genuinely useful in real educational settings.

Project link for context and demo preview only: axiomatical.app

Submitted February 10, 2026 at 06:01AM by xsuster https://ift.tt/4QIszar