The pandemic has caused a major shift in education. Even as students begin to return to the classroom, education technology remains a hot topic. Schools are continuing to look for effective and affordable ways to enhance classroom learning or better support remote learning, and the tech industry has been quick to deliver.
As leading experts in their field, the members of Forbes Technology Council are constantly looking for the most cutting-edge, innovative technologies, including those used for education. Below, 10 of them share the most compelling piece of edtech they’ve seen recently and why they’re impressed by it.
1. AspectO
AspectO is a great artificial intelligence/machine learning product that enhances both classroom and online learning. Through continuous evaluation of student participation, it triggers events to drive student engagement while in class. It also personalizes educational content and assignments based on the attentiveness of students during teacher-led class sessions, remote sessions and even online self-learning sessions on platforms such as Coursera. - Sujeeth Kanuganti, Aira Tech Corp.
2. ClassDojo
Students are learning both remotely and in person, which means that schools today are relying on tools such as Zoom to help teachers connect with remote learners. ClassDojo can help ensure equity for remote students by randomly calling on students and awarding points for participation. Kahoot is another great option for class participation, as it lets everyone contribute to Q&A discussions. - Amy Czuchlewski, Bottle Rocket
3. Kahoot
Kahoot is a compelling edtech platform that uses gamification to make the learning process more fun and engaging. The free portion of their platform helps school kids build and use and/or browse and use others’ online learning content, while corporate users can access the paid version of the platform to build their own and utilize others’ corporate training materials. - Robert Weissgraeber, AX Semantics
4. Khan Academy
Perhaps more than any other segment, education had unexpected scalability requirements, and the success of the virtual learning platforms that adapted with agility certainly caught my eye. Khan Academy faced these sudden changes and quickly took on 2.5 times their typical traffic levels within a week as a result of successfully leveraging edge computing technology. - Joshua Bixby, Fastly
5. LearnPlatform
I’m fascinated by the edtech effectiveness system created by LearnPlatform, which is used to analyze data from students and teachers participating in their program. Currently, there are data available from 4 million students, and that number is expected to grow. I believe that the evolution of this system will eventually lead to deeper personalization when it comes to how educators teach children. - Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster
6. Student Journey Mapping
Institutions are becoming more learner-centric in their design and operations, which is giving rise to student journey mapping technologies. A student’s journey map reveals multi-dimensional pathways that they navigate in their educational progression, highlighting courses, skills, learning outcomes and experiences. This equips learners with guidance and analytics to align their education with career and life goals. - Jim Milton, Anthology
7. Asynchronous Forums
One piece of edtech I find compelling in a remote learning environment, especially with students in different time zones, is asynchronous forums. Having recently completed a graduate school formation, I found it useful to receive feedback on my assignments from my fellow students and instructor within a matter of days. It allowed me to think more deeply about the subject and expand my knowledge. - Bob Fabien Zinga, Directly, Inc./U.S. Navy Reserve
8. Virtual Reality
Virtual reality needs to be designed into the new classroom. VR is arguably the most immersive learning tool available today—it turns the educational experience into something exciting and modern. More importantly, full immersion massively reduces distraction from other sources. Paired with high engagement, this leads to better comprehension and enhanced retention for students. - Kyle Rand, Rendever
9. Remote Browser Isolation
Remote browser isolation technology is having a big impact on many verticals, but it is especially helpful to educational organizations given the way they’ve been targeted by ransomware and data theft during the pandemic. Isolating students’ devices from the internet—which prevents them from being compromised by ransomware and other threats—has prevented many schools from showing up in the headlines. - David Canellos, Ericom Software
10. Remote Work Technologies
We’ve seen schools turn to the same solutions as enterprises to enable their remote environments. Technologies such as Microsoft Teams—developed for businesses—are enabling education scenarios and vice versa. Remote work technologies enable virtual classrooms and prepare students to enter a workforce that’s increasingly dependent on such tech to enable collaboration across both large and small businesses. - Bob Bruns, Avanade
