How to Evaluate, Purchase, and Get the Most Out of Your EdTech Stack (feat. Joe Testani)

Career Everywhere

Joe Testani, Deputy to the President and former Associate Vice Provost for Career Education Initiatives at the University of Rochester, talks in this episode about how career services (and higher ed in general) can better partner with education technology vendors.

Before taking on his new high-level role as Deputy to the President in 2022, Joe worked in career services for over 20 years and implemented dozens of EdTech tools at the University of Rochester, Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Richmond, Yale, and more. He’s also served as an advisor for several EdTech companies.

In this episode, Joe discusses the current gap between the industries of higher ed and EdTech and how both sides can bridge the gap. He also shares his process for researching and evaluating a new EdTech vendor and what he looks for in terms of mission, product viability, customer service and support, etc.

Joe offers his best advice for getting buy-in to make a new technology purchase and working a recurring line item for technology into a career center’s annual operating budget. He then also digs into his most successful strategies for implementing EdTech and getting the most out of each tool.

Resources from the episode:

• Joe’s LinkedIn profile
• University of Rochester’s virtual career center (powered by uConnect)

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