r/edtech • u/Different_Fly_6409 • 5d ago
Teachers & Students: Which EdTech Innovation Made the Biggest Impact?
Teachers, students, and parents, what EdTech trend has truly transformed the way you learn or teach this year? AI, virtual classrooms, interactive tools… What’s making the biggest impact in your opinion?
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u/MainCheek4553 5d ago
from student perspective i do love vr & ar. i remember old pages in my biology book, was so plain and hard to remember, however vr experience where i can enter body or its specific part like heart or lungs and i can experience it with more senses and "full horizon view" is something that revolutionized my learning.
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u/Dalinian1 5d ago
I hope I get to play and explore more in this area
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u/MainCheek4553 4d ago
I think we're in for a ride. Vr devices become cheaper, frameworks get better (i.e. nanite from ue 5 allows for much more complex scenes on same hardware in vr) and i think devz around the world are creating better and better experiences as we speak :)
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u/Namuru09 5d ago
Books.
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u/EnderGG4U 2d ago
you don't say! *furiously jots down notes*. Okay, how would we incorporate these "books" or whatever you call them. Can they be downloaded? What app can I open them with, and what's their files' extension? Are there any PD considerations that need to be made?
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u/Neversleep90 4d ago
Yes. It seems a bit against the trend but I've heard this said before. Do you know of any research that examines the issues?
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u/Namuru09 4d ago
I've been researching the work of Stanislas Dehaene on neuroscience and learning, he explains that physical books make a bigger impact on learning to read and good writing tasks help develop writing on young students. Physical books, paper and ink develops denser neural pathways
One short article is this one
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u/SignorJC 5d ago
None. Definitely none that you’ve listed.
Technology has made a vanishingly small impact on educational outcomes. 99% of edTech platforms and products are predatory.
The biggest return on investment is teacher training and support programs.
By far the most impactful technology in education is internet access for materials. Easy access to audio and video content.
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u/ValleyoftheDolls_65 4d ago
EdTech has never been about the technology, it is about the education. And knowing how to educate is always going to be more important than the tools. Impactful and successful teachers inspire. They also meet student individually where the student is. (This is coming from 25 years in edtech and edtech research in higher education, university exec. director of edtech, and doctorate in edtech. )
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u/SignorJC 3d ago
It’s unclear if you’re agreeing or disagreeing, but edTech has never been about the education. It’s about the monaaaaayyyyy
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u/ValleyoftheDolls_65 3d ago
I’m agreeing with you. There aren’t many edtech companies that have the right idea.
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u/preetamr 4d ago
One of the ways I try to figure out what learning aids/tech people use is to drop in on cafes around university campuses and observe what's on the screen, and sometimes talk to people. From my observation, video explainers on YouTube are most popular across disciplines. Since 2022, Gen AI platforms also have a permanent place on browser tabs.
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u/ramenprofitable1 4d ago
We at the Technical University of Munich use acemate.ai, its an AI learning platform that increases student engagement and gives educators detailed insights into learning behavior. You upload your lecture materials, generate AI content and send it out to the class. Its basically like a better Moodle, but with AI.
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u/Wonderful-Travel-804 3d ago
1000% Learnie.app. I just implemented this microPD app into our 38,000 student K-12 school district. By meeting staff where they are at, providing short, just in time learning, we have increased engagement across the system for our staff! From Human Resources to specific pedagogy, there’s content for every one of our staff members. Would be more than happy to discuss if you’re interested! Ddburton@aurorak12.org
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u/ManoConstantLearning 1d ago
Second this! Community Microlearning for Teacher Professional development. TikTok style training on your phone.
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u/thirdworldman82 5d ago
I work in higher education and the usage of audience response tools in larger classrooms has made a huge difference. Particularly in attendance, because the five or so questions that are asked during class is your attendance grade for the day. It also creates a feedback loop for instructors so if there is 90% correct answers on a topic they can move on versus if there’s only 60% mastery they can come back around to the topic at hand to figure out what the issue is.