LearnPlatform, known for its innovative edtech effectiveness system, published its mid-year “EdTech Top 40” report on digital educational products usage, providing insight into tools and resources in use in K-12 districts, schools and classrooms within the United States. In addition to ranking the most accessed resources, the report contains new data from the analysis of more than 8,000 edtech tools used by over 2 million K-12 students and over 225,000 teachers between August 1 and December 31, 2021.
For the first time, LearnPlatform has released data on the average individual use of edtech tools by teachers and students during the fall semester, in addition to aggregate monthly district usage. In the first half of the 2021-22 school year, the average K-12 student accessed 74 different education technology products, platforms or services while the average K-12 teacher interacted with 86 different tools in the course of their work. The average district accessed 1,403 tools per month, which is essentially unchanged compared to 2020-21, showing that districts are still accessing high numbers of edtech tools. During the same period, 97% of U.S. schools reported providing primarily in-person instruction, as opposed to hybrid and remote during the pandemic era.
“It’s clear that tech-enabled learning is here to stay, not just a function of school closures and remote learning,” says Karl Rectanus, CEO and Co-founder of LearnPlatform. “Are we supporting individual students and teachers to benefit from this variety and number of tools? While there may be no ‘right number of tools,’ everyone should want to know whether the tools they are investing in are actually leading to the desired outcomes.”
To further help educators and stakeholders understand the role that the thousands of digital tools play in the K-12 ecosystem, the report also considers products across four categories – “Learner Focused,” “Educator Focused,” “Organization” and “General & Pervasive” – as well as considering their primary purpose and type.
“Knowing what’s being used is just the first step to understanding if, when, and how instructional practices are working best for students and teachers,” Rectanus says. “As districts face budget constraints and uncertainty around continued funding, it’s essential they have the evidence they need about the effectiveness and safety of edtech at the time of decision making to be responsible stewards of available funding. LearnPlatform is working across the whole market to make that happen.” Learn more.
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