Giving Compass' Take:

• Education Dive discusses a new EdSurge report that shows a gap between schools' investment in new learning technology and the impact on student outcomes.

• Are educators getting enough return on investment when it comes to edtech? How can we make sure there's a better onboarding period for such classroom tools to increase effectiveness?

• Here's why it's so important to create equitable design in edtech.

With the massive increase in edtech and, as a result, education apps, schools continue to boost their investment in these programs — but in the end, they don't really use them, EdSurge reports.

Schools that don't properly utilize the apps they buy won't see much of an impact on student outcomes, Ryan Baker, director of the University of Pennsylvania Center for Learning Analytics and co-author of a study from K-12 data management company BrightBytes, told EdSurge. He added that regardless of a school's demographics, implementation and assessment are what matter most in boosting their effectiveness

The BrightBytes study examined 390,000 students' tech usage among 48 school districts, and the report noted that measuring apps' impact on learning outcomes could be separated into three categories:

  • Investment — cost, the number purchased, and the time and effort devoted to using them.
  • Engagement — the number of students who use apps, how they use them and for how long, and their reactions.
  • Impact — how they affect their performance.

Read the full article about schools not using edtech they invest in by Jessica Campisi at Education Dive.