Defining "Impact" In EdTech
If your EdTech tools disappeared tomorrow, would anyone truly miss them? This is worth asking, especially now that new EdTech tools and platforms are appearing all the time. Education technology is changing quickly, and tools that seemed innovative five years ago can now feel outdated. Many institutions try to keep up by adopting new tools without asking if they still provide benefits. However, if your EdTech tools aren't useful or don't offer any impact, it leads to wasted money, bored learners, frustrated teachers, and missed opportunities.
So, how do you define "impact" in EdTech? True impact shows through learning outcomes. This means that students should remember what they learn, apply skills in real life, and perform better in exams. It involves engagement, not just attendance, but also active participation and completion rates. Accessibility is also key; do the tools work for learners with different abilities and backgrounds, or do they leave some behind? Impact involves teachers, too. If a tool does not make teaching easier or more effective, it's a burden. Finally, relevance is also about the tool adapting to the institution's needs.
Overall, measuring the impact of educational technology involves many parameters. This article will help you find practical ways to assess whether your EdTech tools are still valuable or if it's time for a change.
Indicators To Pay Attention To When Measuring The True Impact Of Your EdTech Tools
Adaptation Rates
Many institutions make the mistake of celebrating high adoption rates. Although 90% of students using a program may sound impressive, it doesn't truly show anything about learning. Adoption means people are using the tool. What you should be focusing on is adaptation, which means how well they are incorporating it into their everyday learning or teaching. For example, if students download their university's app but never use it again, that's adoption without adaptation. But if they regularly use it, that shows adaptation. To measure this, look at usage patterns over time. Are learners still using the tool three months after it launches? Are teachers regularly including it in their teaching strategy? The true impact is seen in meaningful use.
Learning And Performance Analytics
The main goal of EdTech is to help people learn more effectively. So, you need to be aware of whether learners are truly retaining knowledge, building skills, and improving their performance. Traditional tests can help, but modern analytics provide deeper insights. To evaluate learning, you can check knowledge before and after using the tool to see if scores improved significantly. Then, you can test skill application and see if learners use what they've learned in real tasks, projects, or jobs. Lastly, you want to ensure long-term retention, meaning the knowledge stays with learners. To measure all these, track performance over time. Compare assessment results with tool usage data to see if frequent users perform better than light or non-users.
Engagement Metrics
Engagement is a key term often used in education, but it means more than just learners consuming content. An engaged learner is curious, interacts with the material, and asks questions. Unfortunately, many institutions only look at basic engagement metrics like logins or time spent on the platform. Yet, more time spent does not always mean better engagement. Sometimes, it just means a learner is confused and stuck. There are better ways to measure engagement, including how deeply learners interact with the content, if they use it consistently, and if they're collaborating with their peers there. Therefore, to effectively measure engagement, you must track meaningful interactions, such as completed challenges, posts in forums, and peer reviews, not just usage numbers.
Educator Experience
When measuring the impact of EdTech tools, people often focus on learners but forget about teachers. However, educators are essential for the success of any EdTech tool. If a platform makes teaching harder, adds extra work, or feels difficult to use, it won't succeed. Overall, for a tool to offer a great experience to educators, it should reduce their workload, encourage innovation, and make users feel satisfied and supported. What you should do first is gather teacher feedback through surveys and interviews. Then, compare workloads before and after using the tool, and check if it has become a regular part of lesson planning.
Inclusion
One important aspect of EdTech is inclusion. A tool may work well for some learners but not for others. So, true impact means improving access for everyone, not creating a bigger gap. Some things you should consider are whether the tool supports different learning preferences, like visual, auditory, and hands-on learning. You should also ensure that it's accessible for students with disabilities, such as those needing screen readers, captions, or different formats. If it needs expensive devices or fast internet, it can limit some users. The same applies if its interface is hard for people of certain ages and backgrounds to use. To measure inclusion, collect demographic data, and compare results between groups. Also, perform accessibility checks, asking learners who are often underrepresented about how easy and inclusive the tool is to use.
ROI
Finally, let's talk about money. Institutions often spend a lot on EdTech tools, but leaders need to understand if this spending is worth it. Return On Investment (ROI) in education is not just about saving money but also about the results achieved. When evaluating ROI, look for the direct savings first, such as if the tool lowers costs for other things, including materials. Then, see if it's efficient and frees up time for educators. The value of the results is equally important, as you should know if learners are better prepared for the job market and learn new skills after using the tool. The best way to measure all these is to simply compare the tool's costs with both its obvious and less obvious benefits. Don't just keep track of expenses; also look at the outcomes and time saved.
5 Telltale Signs Your EdTech Tools Are No Longer Relevant
1. Declining Engagement
Every tool has a natural adoption curve. At first, people use it a lot because it's new and interesting. But if you see a drop in usage and extra training sessions don't help, the problem is likely with the tool, not the users. If your tool needs constant reminders to be used, it's time to ask if it is really useful.
2. Content Irrelevant To Needs
Lessons change, and so do all the things we need to learn. Sometimes, tools that used to work well become outdated. For instance, while language apps were helpful with memorizing words and grammar, learners now want quick feedback, speaking practice, and fun experiences. If the app doesn't keep up, it can make learning harder. Staying relevant means that your tools should help with how you teach and what you want students to learn.
3. Poor Integration
If your EdTech tool can't connect to your LMS, HR platform, or analytics program, it becomes more of a problem than a help. This causes teachers to have to do the same tasks twice, administrators to manage several logins, and students to get confused switching between different platforms. Modern learning environments work best when tools can share information seamlessly. If your tool operates alone, it's probably not relevant anymore.
4. Using Tool Alternatives
A clear sign that a tool is not useful is when people start finding their own alternatives. For example, if teachers are using Google Forms for assessments instead of the expensive assessment platform you bought, or if students are choosing Slack for discussions instead of the official collaboration tool, it shows that the official tool isn't meeting their needs.
5. Rising Costs
Budgets are tight for everyone, including K-12 schools, higher education, and corporate training departments. If a tool's licensing fees or subscription costs keep rising without showing better results, it starts to lose its value. The key question to ask is, does the tool save you money, time, or effort? If it's not clear that it does, then it might not be worth keeping.
Conclusion
The real impact of an EdTech tool is not found in its features or the number of logins, but in the outcomes it offers, the inclusion it promotes, how it empowers teachers, and its ability to adapt to changing needs. A tool that meets the above is worth it. Again, ask yourself: if you stopped using the tool tomorrow, would your learners and teachers complain, or would they simply move on? Regularly asking this helps ensure your EdTech tools always remain fresh and useful.
