Students and teachers used messaging apps, social media and websites to stay connected in the immediate aftermath of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

Now, as the hardest-hit schools begin to reopen, advocates of technology that’s become prevalent in American classrooms say it will only become more essential in aiding students scattered by the storms.

Administrators say the recovery has potential to demonstrate how much instruction can carry on outside school walls amid future disruptions, using things like digital textbooks, videoconferencing and virtual science experiments.