Table of Contents
[toc headings="h2,h3" title="Table of Contents"] The Edtech industry exploded in 2020, when roughly 93% of children in the U.S. switched to distance learning as a result of pandemic-related lockdowns. While this was the first time many people heard about Edtech, the truth is it's nothing new. Online and tech-assisted learning were already on the rise even before this shift, both within learning institutions and among the general public. Just what is Edtech, what are the situations where it's used, and what advantages and drawbacks does it have for teachers, students, parents, and businesses? Read on to find the answers to all of those questions.
What is Edtech?
Edtech is short for education technology. It's basically software and hardware that helps students learn and teachers teach, either as a teaching aid within the classroom or to facilitate virtual and online learning environments. As an abbreviation, Edtech also refers to the industry and companies that develop these technologies. This is an older industry than many people think, starting with the introduction of networking and basic computing to schools in the mid-80s. Its use exploded during the 1990s thanks largely to the growing popularity of the internet. The term Edtech today encompasses a wide variety of tools and systems to improve the ways a student gets information from educators. Some examples of Edtech include online courses, educational games, video meeting apps, digital whiteboards, and a range of other options to expand the learning experience beyond books and in-person lectures.
Types of Edtech
The examples mentioned in the last section are just the tip of the Edtech iceberg. As the industry has grown, the variety of software, hardware, and other tools included in this category has expanded, too. Here are a few of the common types of Edtech you're likely to encounter today.
Distance learning
This category of Edtech tools help expand classes beyond their physical constraints. They can be used to create entirely virtual classrooms, or in hybrid arrangements, with some students in-person and others streaming in from elsewhere. Classes still happen on a set schedule and involve live instruction from a teacher happening in real-time, letting students ask questions or engage in group discussions just like they would in a traditional class.
Flipped classrooms
In the traditional school setting, teachers spend class time lecturing and demonstrating knowledge then send kids home with homework to reinforce it. A flipped classroom takes the opposite approach. Students watch videos or read textbook chapters in advance then do their assignments in class, with the teacher and their fellow students on-hand to give assistance or answer their questions. The Edtech component of this model comes in the form of recorded videos or digitally distributed resources and reading that students can learn from at their own pace.
Online courses
Websites like Udemy, Coursera, and Masterclass have hundreds of courses on a wide range of topics, giving people around the world access to affordable education. These classes are one-off education options that don't require prerequisites or enrollment in a university, and are often completely asynchronous and self-guided. While the cost of courses through these platforms varies, there are also Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) which are free and open for anyone to access via the internet.
Edutainment
Learning gets a lot easier when it's fun. That's the theory behind edutainment apps and software, which present educational material in the context of a game or similarly entertaining format. These tools often use similar gamifying techniques to pure entertainment apps, but with the added value that you'll learn something along the way.
Instructional technology
This is the teacher-focused side of Edtech. Instructional technology includes the tools and software that helps teachers run their classrooms more efficiently and provide more dynamic, personalized attention to students. These programs often include data analytics features for going in-depth on student progress, as well as tools to help teachers stay organized. A common subset of instructional technology is Learning Management Systems (LMS), software that manages the entire student experience through an online portal.
How Edtech is used in the classroom
The first wave of Edtech that came to the classroom was largely hardware-based. Through the '80s and '90s, more schools began to provide computers for teachers and students to use, though the options for using this hardware in the learning process were limited. More recently, the emphasis has shifted from hardware-based systems to cloud-based software and apps. Using these, both students and teachers can access learning materials and resources from anywhere, freeing classrooms from their physical space restraints. While Edtech certainly existed in 2019 and before, the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the need for remote communication and instruction methods. Today, Edtech is used in many areas throughout a school. Students often use devices like tablets to study and do their homework, with software that sends their work straight to teachers so they can keep track of their progress, quickly provide feedback, and have more data to assess whether their kids understand the material. On the other side, instructors and administrators use learning management systems to track student engagement, grades, and learning goals. Edtech also has a role in developing the curriculum and lesson plans used in a class, and can help make teachers' lives easier by making things like grading, attendance, and student assessment more efficient and less time-consuming.
How Edtech is used outside the classroom
Children aren't the only ones who benefit from educational technology. The rise of distance learning and online course content is a benefit for learners outside the education system as well as K-12 students. Many universities now offer completely online degree programs, and there are a plethora of websites where anyone can gain knowledge of a wealth of subjects for less money than they'd pay for college classes. Along with individual, independent learning opportunities, Edtech is gaining ground in the corporate and business world as a training tool. Businesses use learning software and similar tech to train new hires, encourage ongoing skill development, and facilitate upskilling, reskilling, and DEI initiatives. The same tools that are used to create a virtual learning environment are equally suitable for remote workplaces. Many people don't think of technology like video conferencing as educational technology, but these remote collaboration tools offer the same services and features for business leaders as they do for educators. These products don't just enable teams to work together on projects but also let managers keep track of everyone's work and gain more insights on it, assessing their team's strengths and weaknesses to drive continuous improvement. There has also been a recent wave of stand-alone educational tech that's designed as entertainment as well as a learning tool. One popular example is the language learning app, with multiple options now available that gamify language learning to increase retention. There are similar apps that teach people skills ranging from art and astronomy to coding and cryptocurrency mining, all at their own pace and in a fun way.
Benefits of Edtech
More flexibility in where and how learning happens
This benefit was what spurred the Edtech revolution of 2020. These tools make location-independent learning a possibility, which allowed students to continue with their lessons when they couldn't gather in groups. That has wider benefits for learners of any age. A hybrid classroom lets students stay on top of their coursework even when they can't physically be in class because of illness, travel, or other life interruptions, while asynchronous learning enables adult learners to pursue further education without putting their life on pause.
More targeted and personalized learning
The pace of classroom education needs to work for the entire group. Inevitably, this means more advanced students will spend some of their time reviewing things they already know, while those who are struggling may not grasp a concept fully before the class needs to move on. Edtech allows lessons to be more tailored to the student's needs. For students, this means they can breeze through the things they know and spend more time on the things they don't. For a teacher, getting more specific data on their students' performance lets them adjust their teaching approach to match.
Better classroom organization
Teachers and administrators have a lot of information to juggle at any given time. Edtech software keeps lesson plans, assignments, grades, and notes on student behavior and performance all in the same place. This helps teachers to use their time more efficiently, as well as helping them track and monitor student progress.
Challenges of Edtech
Equality and access
In U.S. Census figures from 2020, about 86% of six-figure households reported children using online resources from home to facilitate their learning. That dropped to about 66% for households with an income of $50,000 a year or less. As education (and society at large) become increasingly tech-dependent, one major challenge will be ensuring the same resources and knowledge are available to everyone, no matter their income level or socio-economic status.
Decrease in student socialization
Book learning isn't the only kind of education a child gets in school. The K-12 years especially are when kids learn how to engage with their peers in a healthy, productive way, teaching them the social skills they'll need to thrive as adults. As learning becomes more individualized, this can lead to feelings of isolation in students that make them less engaged in the learning process, and prevents them from gaining the social skills that are naturally developed in an in-person classroom environment.
Accommodation of different learning styles
Many Edtech programs that exist currently deliver coursework through a screen, often in the form of read-and-respond type exercises. This can leave students who thrive on other learning styles, like auditory or hands-on learners, at an inherent disadvantage. One significant challenge for Edtech developers moving forward will be expanding and adapting their offerings to provide the same depth of education for all students.
Edtech in the future
It's difficult to predict with certainty just how Edtech will evolve in the future, but it seems safe to say that the industry is on a growth path. The full potential of Edtech has not yet been realized, and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, IoT, blockchain, and cognitive intelligence will likely have an impact on how it continues to develop moving forward. One of the most significant Edtech trends during 2022 was its role in expanding education beyond the traditional institutional environment. The education tech innovations that will happen in 2023 and beyond are likely to continue this trend. As skill shortages persist across the workforce, Edtech opens up avenues for workers to level-up their ability and stay current with the needs of their company and industry. However it changes in the future, one thing is for sure: Edtech is here to stay, and it's on a growth trajectory. This makes it a smart career choice for those with skill sets in both technology and education, as well as a useful tool for both teachers and learners.
The Edtech industry exploded in 2020, when roughly 93% of children in the U.S. switched to distance learning as a result of pandemic-related lockdowns. While this was the first time many people heard about Edtech, the truth is it’s nothing new. Online and tech-assisted learning were already on the rise even before this shift, both within learning institutions and among the general public.
Just what is Edtech, what are the situations where it’s used, and what advantages and drawbacks does it have for teachers, students, parents, and businesses? Read on to find the answers to all of those questions.
What is Edtech?
Edtech is short for education technology. It’s basically software and hardware that helps students learn and teachers teach, either as a teaching aid within the classroom or to facilitate virtual and online learning environments.
As an abbreviation, Edtech also refers to the industry and companies that develop these technologies. This is an older industry than many people think, starting with the introduction of networking and basic computing to schools in the mid-80s. Its use exploded during the 1990s thanks largely to the growing popularity of the internet.
The term Edtech today encompasses a wide variety of tools and systems to improve the ways a student gets information from educators. Some examples of Edtech include online courses, educational games, video meeting apps, digital whiteboards, and a range of other options to expand the learning experience beyond books and in-person lectures.
Types of Edtech
The examples mentioned in the last section are just the tip of the Edtech iceberg. As the industry has grown, the variety of software, hardware, and other tools included in this category has expanded, too. Here are a few of the common types of Edtech you’re likely to encounter today.
Distance learning
This category of Edtech tools help expand classes beyond their physical constraints. They can be used to create entirely virtual classrooms, or in hybrid arrangements, with some students in-person and others streaming in from elsewhere. Classes still happen on a set schedule and involve live instruction from a teacher happening in real-time, letting students ask questions or engage in group discussions just like they would in a traditional class.
Flipped classrooms
In the traditional school setting, teachers spend class time lecturing and demonstrating knowledge then send kids home with homework to reinforce it. A flipped classroom takes the opposite approach. Students watch videos or read textbook chapters in advance then do their assignments in class, with the teacher and their fellow students on-hand to give assistance or answer their questions. The Edtech component of this model comes in the form of recorded videos or digitally distributed resources and reading that students can learn from at their own pace.
Online courses
Websites like Udemy, Coursera, and Masterclass have hundreds of courses on a wide range of topics, giving people around the world access to affordable education. These classes are one-off education options that don’t require prerequisites or enrollment in a university, and are often completely asynchronous and self-guided. While the cost of courses through these platforms varies, there are also Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) which are free and open for anyone to access via the internet.
Edutainment
Learning gets a lot easier when it’s fun. That’s the theory behind edutainment apps and software, which present educational material in the context of a game or similarly entertaining format. These tools often use similar gamifying techniques to pure entertainment apps, but with the added value that you’ll learn something along the way.
Instructional technology
This is the teacher-focused side of Edtech. Instructional technology includes the tools and software that helps teachers run their classrooms more efficiently and provide more dynamic, personalized attention to students. These programs often include data analytics features for going in-depth on student progress, as well as tools to help teachers stay organized. A common subset of instructional technology is Learning Management Systems (LMS), software that manages the entire student experience through an online portal.
How Edtech is used in the classroom
The first wave of Edtech that came to the classroom was largely hardware-based. Through the ’80s and ’90s, more schools began to provide computers for teachers and students to use, though the options for using this hardware in the learning process were limited.
More recently, the emphasis has shifted from hardware-based systems to cloud-based software and apps. Using these, both students and teachers can access learning materials and resources from anywhere, freeing classrooms from their physical space restraints. While Edtech certainly existed in 2019 and before, the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the need for remote communication and instruction methods.
Today, Edtech is used in many areas throughout a school. Students often use devices like tablets to study and do their homework, with software that sends their work straight to teachers so they can keep track of their progress, quickly provide feedback, and have more data to assess whether their kids understand the material.
On the other side, instructors and administrators use learning management systems to track student engagement, grades, and learning goals. Edtech also has a role in developing the curriculum and lesson plans used in a class, and can help make teachers’ lives easier by making things like grading, attendance, and student assessment more efficient and less time-consuming.
How Edtech is used outside the classroom
Children aren’t the only ones who benefit from educational technology. The rise of distance learning and online course content is a benefit for learners outside the education system as well as K-12 students. Many universities now offer completely online degree programs, and there are a plethora of websites where anyone can gain knowledge of a wealth of subjects for less money than they’d pay for college classes.
Along with individual, independent learning opportunities, Edtech is gaining ground in the corporate and business world as a training tool. Businesses use learning software and similar tech to train new hires, encourage ongoing skill development, and facilitate upskilling, reskilling, and DEI initiatives.
The same tools that are used to create a virtual learning environment are equally suitable for remote workplaces. Many people don’t think of technology like video conferencing as educational technology, but these remote collaboration tools offer the same services and features for business leaders as they do for educators. These products don’t just enable teams to work together on projects but also let managers keep track of everyone’s work and gain more insights on it, assessing their team’s strengths and weaknesses to drive continuous improvement.
There has also been a recent wave of stand-alone educational tech that’s designed as entertainment as well as a learning tool. One popular example is the language learning app, with multiple options now available that gamify language learning to increase retention. There are similar apps that teach people skills ranging from art and astronomy to coding and cryptocurrency mining, all at their own pace and in a fun way.
Benefits of Edtech
More flexibility in where and how learning happens
This benefit was what spurred the Edtech revolution of 2020. These tools make location-independent learning a possibility, which allowed students to continue with their lessons when they couldn’t gather in groups. That has wider benefits for learners of any age. A hybrid classroom lets students stay on top of their coursework even when they can’t physically be in class because of illness, travel, or other life interruptions, while asynchronous learning enables adult learners to pursue further education without putting their life on pause.
More targeted and personalized learning
The pace of classroom education needs to work for the entire group. Inevitably, this means more advanced students will spend some of their time reviewing things they already know, while those who are struggling may not grasp a concept fully before the class needs to move on. Edtech allows lessons to be more tailored to the student’s needs. For students, this means they can breeze through the things they know and spend more time on the things they don’t. For a teacher, getting more specific data on their students’ performance lets them adjust their teaching approach to match.
Better classroom organization
Teachers and administrators have a lot of information to juggle at any given time. Edtech software keeps lesson plans, assignments, grades, and notes on student behavior and performance all in the same place. This helps teachers to use their time more efficiently, as well as helping them track and monitor student progress.
Challenges of Edtech
Equality and access
In U.S. Census figures from 2020, about 86% of six-figure households reported children using online resources from home to facilitate their learning. That dropped to about 66% for households with an income of $50,000 a year or less. As education (and society at large) become increasingly tech-dependent, one major challenge will be ensuring the same resources and knowledge are available to everyone, no matter their income level or socio-economic status.
Decrease in student socialization
Book learning isn’t the only kind of education a child gets in school. The K-12 years especially are when kids learn how to engage with their peers in a healthy, productive way, teaching them the social skills they’ll need to thrive as adults. As learning becomes more individualized, this can lead to feelings of isolation in students that make them less engaged in the learning process, and prevents them from gaining the social skills that are naturally developed in an in-person classroom environment.
Accommodation of different learning styles
Many Edtech programs that exist currently deliver coursework through a screen, often in the form of read-and-respond type exercises. This can leave students who thrive on other learning styles, like auditory or hands-on learners, at an inherent disadvantage. One significant challenge for Edtech developers moving forward will be expanding and adapting their offerings to provide the same depth of education for all students.
Edtech in the future
It’s difficult to predict with certainty just how Edtech will evolve in the future, but it seems safe to say that the industry is on a growth path. The full potential of Edtech has not yet been realized, and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, IoT, blockchain, and cognitive intelligence will likely have an impact on how it continues to develop moving forward.
One of the most significant Edtech trends during 2022 was its role in expanding education beyond the traditional institutional environment. The education tech innovations that will happen in 2023 and beyond are likely to continue this trend. As skill shortages persist across the workforce, Edtech opens up avenues for workers to level-up their ability and stay current with the needs of their company and industry.
However it changes in the future, one thing is for sure: Edtech is here to stay, and it’s on a growth trajectory. This makes it a smart career choice for those with skill sets in both technology and education, as well as a useful tool for both teachers and learners.