ed tech

Educators are hyped up about these two new technologies


Relatively recent advances in two ed tech tools mean they might be ready for classroom use.

A new survey reveals that an overwhelmingly large amount of educators–89 percent, to be exact–said they found value in ed tech such as augmented reality and virtual reality.

Thirty-one percent of those respondents said the technologies will change teaching and learning in the classroom as we know it.

The report, “Evaluation of Ed Tech: What Technology Means to Educators Across America,” also reveals that just 13 percent of educators gave their school or university an ‘A’ when asked to rank their available ed tech’s ability to improve the learning experience for students, according to a new study.

Despite that low confidence in technology’s impact on learning, most surveyed educators said they tend to view technology as a positive addition to the classroom.

(Next page: Survey results on goals for tech use; barriers)

Education professionals say their top goals for ed tech include:

  • A way to better engage students (69 percent)
  • Access to more academic resources (58 percent)
  • A means to better prepare students for academic success (58 percent)

Barriers still exist to limit ed tech’s full potential at schools and universities:

  • Cost (29 percent)
  • Compatibility with existing technologies (24 percent)
  • Ease of use (22 percent)

The report also identified that distractedness (42 percent), price (25 percent), and alienation (22 percent) are three of the top concerns when it comes to adopting technology in the classroom.

When it comes to most-valued technologies, educators selected presentation tools (55 percent), textbook and content services (48 percent) and classroom efficiency technologies (48 percent).

Many parties are involved in the ed tech decision-making process at schools. However teachers are typically not one of them. Administrators are most responsible for making ed-tech decisions, followed by heads of IT and ed tech, while just 5 percent of teachers have a say in the technologies that will be put in their classrooms.

The top three sources of guidance for ed-tech decision-making are word of mouth (53 percent), online research (52 percent) and conferences (50 percent).

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Laura Ascione

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