During the COVID-19 lockdowns, schools and universities worldwide turned to educational technology (edtech) to keep students learning. They used online platforms for lessons, marking work, and giving feedback. Apps were used for teaching, and programs were introduced to help students collaborate on projects.
The Rise of EdTech
Since the school closures, the edtech market has kept growing. The value of this sector is expected to hit $132.4 billion globally by 2032 (£106 billion).
The Effectiveness Question
The big question is: How effective are these edtech apps and programs? The truth is, we don’t know much about their effectiveness. Some might even have negative effects. For instance, some educational apps show many ads to children and use features that keep them on screens without teaching them anything new.
Edtech is here to stay and will be a significant part of how children learn. So, it’s crucial to know whether it works.
Assessing EdTech Quality
Assessing and improving the quality of edtech is a big job, especially since it’s already so widely used. Here are some steps that can help:
- Collaboration: Tech developers should work closely with scientists who study learning. This way, they can use existing research to design better products.
- Research Consultancy Firms: These firms can quickly assess edtech and give developers feedback on how well their products work. Transparency in this process is vital to avoid bias. One way to ensure this is pre-registration, where a study is reported before it takes place.
- School Partnerships: Schools can provide valuable feedback on edtech. However, there need to be minimum quality and ethical standards before these technologies are sent to schools.
Setting a Standard
We need a standard metric to assess how well edtech works. But setting these standards is not easy. Historically, there has been a lack of standardized metrics for assessing educational impact.
- UK Government Review: A review analyzed 74 methods for assessing edtech quality.
- Research Study: In a study with colleagues, we found 65 different frameworks for evaluating school-specific edtech.
This abundance of evaluation methods can be confusing for edtech businesses and investors. They need clear standards to determine product quality and its impact on education.
The Need for a Yardstick
A standardized metric, or yardstick, is essential to ensure edtech products do more good than harm. This yardstick should consider both product quality and the process of using the technology. It should work for diverse populations and learning environments.
- Independent Verification: Any company can generate a study with user data. Therefore, independent verification of evidence is vital.
- New Initiatives: Initiatives like the International Certification of Evidence of Impact in Education are starting to consolidate different research approaches and standards globally. This will help schools and parents navigate the thousands of educational apps and platforms available.
Looking Ahead
Whether individual countries will create the legal and institutional frameworks to enforce these standards remains to be seen. Countries will need to select standards that fit their economic and educational agendas. A significant shift is needed so that schools can strategically choose edtech that will truly benefit children’s learning.
