Dive Brief:
Over the 2021-22 school year, educators on average used 148 different ed tech tools while students accessed 143, according to a report by LearnPlatform, an ed tech company that helps districts research and choose digital learning products.
Meanwhile, an average of 1,417 different ed tech tools are accessed each month per district, the report found. The most commonly used type of ed tech tools by students and educators focus on classroom engagement and instruction (22.5%), LearnPlatform found.
“These numbers should prompt district leaders to ask not just what ed tech is being used in their schools or how often it’s getting used, but also whether it is safe, equitable, and positively impacting learning,” said Karl Rectanus, CEO and co-founder of LearnPlatform, in a statement.
Dive Insight:
The report findings are drawn from 56 billion data points by education organizations using LearnPlatform’s browser integration, including 3,267,499 individuals (339,287 educators and 2,928,212 students), according to the company.
Concerns surrounding ed tech’s efficiency and safety have emerged as ransomware attacks affected 56% of schools worldwide in the past year.
Additionally, the nonprofit K12 Security Information Exchange has tracked 1,331 cyber incidents in K-12 public schools since 2016. Between 2016 and 2021, school district vendors were “responsible” as the entry point for 55% of K-12 data breaches, according to a report released by the nonprofit earlier this year.
The increase of ed tech tools often adds to ongoing concerns in protecting students’ personal data, too.
Major data breaches have exposed thousands of students’ information this year, as the nation’s three largest school districts — Chicago, New York City and Los Angeles — have notably been impacted by vendor-related data breaches.
As district leaders decide on ed tech tools to purchase for the new school year, experts suggest they take inventory of their current apps, understand state and federal laws, and read an ed tech company’s terms of use before signing a contract.
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