Kognity
The coming ed tech
Hopefully we will start to see the differentiation between EdTech products that have significant impact for teachers and students and those that do not. More and more focus is shifting towards impact, and rightly so!
Poor implementation is the number one reason that EdTech products fail to have an impact in schools, according to a recent study. Hopefully both the buyers (schools) and the EdTech providers will start to take this seriously, with it being a core part of a purchase process!
Focus on challenges for teachers and students (workload and wellbeing) will likely continue, whilst budgets remain low. Effective tools which help alleviate these challenges will likely gain traction in schools.
Challenges
It continues to be a very busy space. Teachers are getting an overload of information and it's challenging to get an overview of the offerings, what ties into which aspects of learnings, and how products differ vs each other.
Schools still do not have a holistic view of what a digital strategy for a school entails. It is not simply having a computer lab or a 3D printer and hope that yields results. Rather, a school needs to see it in a much wider context - how does the technology work with the current ecosystem, how does it fit into a teacher's pedagogy, how do we ensure we have systems or products that complement each other?
Crucially, technology is often viewed with deep scepticism from the educational world, and it is important to nuance this. Technology is neither a threat nor a saviour in education. Rather, when correctly designed, it should be an enabler of improving the existing ecosystem, by enhancing the role of the teacher and simplifying differentiation of teaching based on each student's needs
Conference stands (if known)
BETT Stand F72
Website
Karin Bjerde @kognity