Teaser Image

Research

Audrey Watters

"Top Ed-Tech Trends" (Or, The Stories We Were Told About Education Technology)


At the end of every year since I founded Hack Education, I have reviewed what I think are the most important and influential trends in education technology. This is not just list of ten products or a quick dash through popular technologies that marketers are the most active pushing. Rather, it is an in-depth exploration of the events of the year and an analysis of how these events in education and in technology shape the way in which we imagine the future of teaching and learning.

2019: The stories that were told this year included anti-school shooting software, surveillance, and the collapse of certain startup darlings.

Previous Years


2018: The stories that were told this year included personalization, social emotional surveillance, and school security.

2017: The stories included "fake news," "the innovation gospel," and "robots are coming for your jobs."

2016: Trends included for-profit higher education, personalization, and discrimination by design

2015: Trends included privacy, for-profit education, and activism via social media

2014: Trends included outsourcing, social justice, and privacy

2013: Trends included MOOCs, the Common Core State Standards, and privacy

2012: Trends included MOOCs, learning-to-code, and the flipped classroom

2011: Trends included Khan Academy, the iPad, and social media

2010: Trends included the resurgence of ed-tech startups and ed-tech investment