The Education Week Research Center put education technology’s effectiveness to the test and found that, when it comes to teachers’ views about related innovations:

  • Less than 33% said they’ve changed their beliefs about what schools should look like.
  • Less than 50% said such advances have changed how to improve students’ academic outcomes.
  • Just 29% feel strongly that ed-tech supports innovations in their classrooms.

This despite the marketplace hype fueling the move from paper and pencil to the digital realm in our nation’s classrooms.

Promises, promises… and coming with such hefty price tags, a number of schools/districts now find themselves in debt.

This same 700-teacher survey further found that, when it comes to ed tech, “The most frequent responses involved using digital tools to spice up existing activities and assignments—gamifying lessons with quiz app Kahoot!, perhaps, or using Google slides to add a digital component to classroom presentations.”

Moreover, while less than 50% said they’ve changed how they use digital devices, learning apps, or instructional software over the past three years…

  • Just 16% said they’ve meaningfully changed how they use other tech hardware;
  • Just 28% said their schools/districts treat failed experiments as opportunities to learns;
  • Less than 39% said they’re encouraged to take risks with tech;
  • And less than 50% said they’re provided with training to support classroom ed tech innovation.

Reports Education Week’s Ed Herold: “For educators, the results include innovation fatigue and a mounting cynicism about tech’s long-term potential to improve schooling.”

Plus, the $19 billion, 2018 electronic hardware price tag alone begs the question: Are we taxpayers getting enough bang for our bucks?