EdTech is short for educational technology: the computer hardware, software, and educational theories and practices used to facilitate learning and teaching. When written as “EdTech”, the word often refers specifically to the industry of companies that develop educational technology. The field draws on communication, education, psychology, sociology, artificial intelligence and computer science.
Origin
Cambridge Dictionary lists edtech as an uncountable noun meaning “educational technology”, and gives business-press examples such as accelerators themed around “health and education technology (edtech)”. The field itself is much older than the abbreviation. According to Wikipedia’s article on educational technology, its modern history runs through educational films in the 1900s and Sidney Pressey’s mechanical teaching machines in the 1920s.
Computers entered the picture in the 1960s. Online education originated at the University of Illinois in 1960, a decade before the internet, with students reaching class information through linked computer terminals. In the mid-1960s, Stanford psychology professors Patrick Suppes and Richard C. Atkinson used Teletypes to teach arithmetic and spelling to elementary school students in Palo Alto. Online learning emerged in 1982, when the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute in La Jolla, California opened a school using computer conferencing, and by 1994 the first online high school had been founded.
The learning management system was first introduced in the late 1990s. In 2008 Dave Cormier of Thompson Rivers University coined the term MOOC, and after Stanford University launched three free online courses in the fall of 2011, Sebastian Thrun started Udacity while Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng launched Coursera. In 2012 MIT created the not-for-profit MITx, which became edX when Harvard joined.
Meaning
The term covers more than gadgets. The Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) has defined educational technology as “the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources”. Wikipedia separates several senses of the phrase: a theory and practice of educational approaches, technological tools and media such as massive online courses, learning management systems, and back-office management. The second of these, the tools themselves, is usually what people mean when they say “edtech”.
Professionals in the field are called educational technologists; the term learning technologist is common in the United Kingdom. Related tags in the catalog include #MOOC, #DistanceLearning, #BlendedLearning and #Education.
EdTech Glossary
| Term | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Learning management system (LMS) | Software used for delivering, tracking and managing training and education; it records attendance, time on task and student progress | Wikipedia |
| MOOC | A massive open online course: an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the Web | Wikipedia |
| Adaptive learning | An educational method that uses computer algorithms and artificial intelligence to deliver customized resources and activities to each learner | Wikipedia |
| Synchronous e-learning | Learning in real time, with all participants interacting at the same time | Wikipedia |
| Asynchronous e-learning | Self-paced learning in which participants exchange ideas without needing others to be present at the same time | Wikipedia |
| Computer-based training (CBT) | Self-paced learning activities delivered on a computer or a handheld device such as a tablet or smartphone | Wikipedia |
Recent Developments
- 2020: During the COVID-19 pandemic, UNESCO estimated that at the height of closures in April 2020, national school shutdowns affected nearly 1.6 billion students in 200 countries (Wikipedia). The extended lockdowns attracted record-breaking amounts of venture capital to the ed-tech sector, and learning management systems saw massive growth in usage.
- July 26, 2023: UNESCO launched its 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report, Technology in education: A tool on whose terms?, alongside 200 country profiles on technology and education.
- After the pandemic: Wikipedia cites a 2024 longitudinal study finding that teachers use digital technologies less than during the pandemic but still more than they did before it.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_technology
- https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/edtech
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_open_online_course
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_management_system
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_learning
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_of_the_COVID-19_pandemic_on_education
- https://www.unesco.org/gem-report/en/technology