Giving Compass' Take:

· Writing for Getting Smart, Karl Rectanus discusses the changing field of education and the latest EdTech Usage Trends report from 2017. Based on data from the report, schools should reevaluate the technology they purchase and ensure each platform is can work with other tools.

· What is the best way for schools to weigh the pros and cons of edtech tools? How has edtech influenced student outcome?

· Here are some of the top trends in edtech.

When you think about it, the rise of education technology within society is very new—the most extreme in terms of human history, innovative in terms of education systems and still considered “emerging” in terms of technological advances. There has been an explosion in the amount spent on technology in school districts—for example, the amount spent on IT in 2018 is estimated at $14 billion—and it has been accelerated by the ability to use real-time data to measure success and usage, rather than traditional assumptions about user experiences. Today, millions of pieces of data are gathered, stored and used to make evidence-based decisions on how to implement a technology.

This data can also lead to a better understanding of the fidelity of a school’s programs, a crucial and oftentimes overlooked measure of success. In our latest EdTech Usage Trends report, released in late 2017, LearnPlatform has the opportunity to analyze overall data points on edtech use and compare the findings to our 2015 report to identify some notable trends. As technology is deployed to improve teaching and learning strategies, educators and administrators evaluate their use of edtech in order to understand what works, what does not, and begin planning for more efficient and effective usage. An important component of this evaluation is to understand the holistic market space for edtech usage upon a school’s purchase of a license.

Technology continues to rapidly advance and the education sector is one area that is poised for growth. For both vendors and educators, it becomes crucial to understand if products are used and how much, as well as the trends associated with these measures.

Read the full article about broad edtech trends by Karl Rectanus at Getting Smart.