Last year families with two children or more averaged around $650 on back-to-school items. But for 2015 it’s already been estimated that consumers are cutting back, averaging out to about $207 per student—down from $244 in 2014. While U.S. consumers are estimated to spend about $68 billion on back-to-school and back-to-college items this year—down 9% from $75 billion last year—it’s teenagers who are making up the deficit, spending a collective $900 million dollars of their own money on electronics alone. That’s two-thirds of teens and nearly 6 in 10 Millennials.

The most-desired items from both Millennials and teens? Laptops—followed by wearables, headphones and tablets. So what tech trends can help disrupt education without disrupting the classroom?

Joining Randi on ‘Dot Complicated’ today to discuss the newest in back-to-school trends were Brett Kopf, the CEO and founder of Remind, a secure messaging app that opens up a direct line of communication between educators, parents, and students; and also joining the conversation was Veronica Belmont of ‘Endgadget’s’ tech-advice show Dear Veronica.

BRETT KOPF

“The whole reason I started Remind was because I was diagnosed with learning disabilities.”

“If we can figure out a way to make a teacher’s life easier and get parents to be more active in their kids schooling we’ve done our job.”

“The majority of our growth has happened via word of mouth.”

“Teachers haven’t had access to the best, most simple, mobile technology—yet.”

“Remind allows for motivational messages from teachers saying how proud they are of their students.”

“Teachers use reminders for tests or exams and coaches use it to let players know about weather problems.”

“We’re hoping we can help with snow day info soon.”

“We launched a feature called ‘Chat’ where the teacher can chat with the parent directly efficiently and easy.”

“From the teacher’s perspective, it saves them time to talk directly to the parents. From the student’s perspective, they think it’s cool to get a message on the device they want to communicate on.”

“Parents love to know what’s going on in their children’s education.”

“We have quite a few students with learning disabilities.”

“Remind helps build these tight relationships with parents, students, and educators.”

“I had a teacher in NOLA who told me that before using Remind only 12 out 24 parents showed up to parent-teacher conferences. After he started using it every parent showed up.”

“What parent doesn’t love seeing a photo of their kid climbing on a T-Rex on a field trip?”

“There’s a lot of control we give to the teacher to make their lives easier.”

“If a teacher tries to send a message after 10 pm or before 6 am there’s a notification that pops up saying ‘It’s late, are you sure you want to send this message?'”

“If there’s simple enough technology that can be easily accessed by teachers it can help make the job easier that they have to do.”

“Parents always hear about the bad that technology does. There’s actually a lot of good that tech provides. Our entire company is focused on making it safe and efficient for teachers and parents to communicate.”

“Kids have access to a phone and the internet everyday. The ability to know what to search for is important.”

“All kids learn differently. I would go crazy looking at a text book for an hour.”

“I would love to see more entrepreneurs solve problems for teachers. But they need to listen before just building a bunch of tech.”

“I love the Evernote app. I take all my notes and journal in it.”

VERONICA BELMONT

“Every kid going to college or high school has a laptop. But wearables are huge.”

“Outside of the classroom services like Khan Academy and Code Academy are great for learning.”

“Kids these days have active social media lives. They post everything online. A lot of it is permanent.”

“It’s important for educators and parents to remind kids that social media posts will follow them for the rest of their professional lives.”

“A lot of teenagers are moving away from sites like Facebook and Twitter where their teachers and parents are. They use Instagram and SnapChat more.”

“The private Instagram messages aren’t as easy to let teachers and parents see what their kids are after.”

“There’s a strange phenomenon called ‘white-walling’ on Facebook. People will have a whole conversation and then delete it so their page is blank.”

“Technology is so engrained in our personal and social lives that I don’t know if withholding tech as punishment would work. Kids may need their laptop for homework.”

“I’ve see kids as young as 6 and 7 getting iPhones. It seems ridiculous but it’s a case by case basis.”

“I had a pager growing up so that was our way of having our parents get in touch with us.”

“People aren’t meeting in the classroom anymore—they’re swiping left and right.”

“The proper channels of communication are very important on how to engage with technology.”

“This is the way that kids are seeing the world now. Stress critical thinking, not just the internet to supplement their education.”

“Listen to educational podcasts with your kids, talk about STEM education.”

“Back in the old days when we did research we used encyclopedias. The internet is so easy to find information but you have to look at it with a critical eye.”

“Reading Rainbow and PBS Kids Go have wonderful apps to get rewarded for learning.”

“I think textbooks are a big issue. At the college level books are very experience and necessary, making it difficult for kids to get them.”

“10% Happier is a guided meditation app based on a book by Dan Harris. I’ve been telling everyone.”

Make sure to join ‘Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg’ next week when she sits down with Carolyn Gerin the co-founder of the WedTech Summit to discuss the newest in wedding technology. Only on SiriusXM Business Channel 111 on Wednesdays 9am PT/12ET.  

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