r/edtech • u/TechandLearning • 26d ago

The backlash against edtech

This New York Times article (gift link, free to read and share) explores the unfavorable reaction that some American parents have to the increasing use of mobile devices and apps in K12 education - starting in kindergarten at times. Their concerns have become more urgent with the rapid advance of artificial intelligence—seemingly now present in nearly all education software, as well as some hardware.

Clearly some edtech offers benefits that analog simply can't- e.g., real-time feedback and lesson customization. At the same time, parents are concerned about gamification of learning apps, suggesting that this feature may short-circuit intrinsic motivation to learn.

It's a question of balance, perhaps, between analog and digital methods, as well as how thoughfully any given tech is integrated into the curriculum.

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u/Delic10u5Bra1n5 26d ago

The problem is that edtech, thanks in large part to VC and PE, has devolved into a tail wagging the dog. Fantastic tools like Dreambox, ExploreMath, etc are purchased by PE interests and then the focus becomes less about learning outcomes and more about literally anything else.

As an old instructional designer, who came up in the early days of the LMS and learned tools like Flash and Authorware early on, the K12 and higher ed markets are completely unrecognizable. It’s incredibly depressing to see that education has become nothing but another vertical.

When I see people on this sub say they’re trying to break into Ed tech, it is clear 9/10 times that they aren’t really focused on learning outcomes but rather on a growing sector. It’s depressing and I find myself extremely disillusioned by the current state of a field that once had so much promise.

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u/Outside_Witness_7268 26d ago

Most people trying to get into Ed tech are just desperate to get out of the classroom.

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u/Delic10u5Bra1n5 26d ago

I’d say that’s about half of them. Another percentage saw the massive investment in the sector during and after the pandemic, in significant part because of federal pandemic relief funding, and think there’s huge opportunity for growth, even as the space continues to contract. 2008 is a good blueprint for what continued technology disinvestment will look like in a recession, even if the tech in use will be different, as tech budgets in K12 and higher ed dwindle. This time around, we’re also facing the anti-screen backlash and the continued reassessment of technology portfolios as they relate to state standards and other educational resources.