Some subjects and teaching styles require more technology than others. Across the United States, investments in educational technology (including hardware, applications, and learning management systems) are influenced in part by the teachers' perceptions of that technology and how they will use it in their classrooms.

Today we look more closely at the traits defining those teachers. What subjects or styles of teaching facilitate greater adoption of educational technology? Does this scale to the national level?​

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), enacted in 2016 by a bipartisan congress, has represented a substantial change in how American schools allocate resources, assess student learning, and improving learning standards across the Pre-K and K-12 environments. In addition, it has already begun drastically reshaping the ways that schools adopt new technologies and educational resources in their states and districts.

What does research tell us about how particular demographic traits (such as region, income, ethnicity, and more) affect technological adoption? What can we learn from recent political shifts in the United States? Let's dig into the specs to find out. 

According to Simba Information's 2015-2017 Surveys in Ed Tech, Tablet Deployment, and Resource Acquisition, we can observe the following:

Rural/Suburban Schools and Small Districts Provide More Devices for Students.

• The average Student-to-Computing Device ratio was 2.7:1 for Rural Schools, 2.8:1 for Suburban Schools, and 3.6:1 for Urban Schools.
• Districts with 5,000 of fewer students enrolled enjoyed a ratio of 2.6:1, while large districts (more than 25,000) had an average ratio of 3.7:1.​
  
  

High Schools are much more likely to have devices for students than Elementary Schools.

• Grades 9-12 enjoy a Student-to-Computing Device ratio of 2.6:1, while K-5 schools have a 3.8:1 ratio for devices.
• Companies forucsed on Higher Education received $368M in 2015.

Schools most likely to make swift changes to increase EduTech spending are suburban High Schools in mid-sized ditricts.

• Schools Grades 9-12 were significantly more likely to indicate intentions to "increase spending on edutech by 10-15%" than other schools.
• Schools in mid-sized districts (5,000-25,000 enrolled students) were more likely to predict increases in edutech spending.
• Of Schools reporting an expected large drop in edutech spending (-15% or more), most were clustered in Grades K-5, located in large districts, and in urban/inner city locations.

Simba Information's report on these trends can be accessed here by students of participating institutions, or for a fee.

Have any questions? Feel free to leave them below and I'll keep digging to find truths in EduTech and the future of learning!

Next Topic: Curricula: Trends in EduTech Spending by Subject Matter and Pedagogy

One of the ways to measure the growth of educational technology is to examine the new companies that are earning investments and developing new services for the field of edutech. Economics tells us that if you can find where money is being invested, then you will be able to better predict what the future will look like.

So, what are the main issues surrounding startup companies ​in educational technology?

According to Simba Information's 2015-2016 Ed Tech Startup Dashboard Study, we can observe the following:

Investors Continue To Pour Capital into Ed Tech Startup Companies.

• More than $540 Million in startup and venture capital investments were given to companies in 2015
• Companies with the highest 2015 investments included Udacity, Civitas Learning, and Coursera with $105M, $76M, and $50M respectively.​
  
  

Higher Education (Postsecondary) EduTech Leads Investments.

• Companies focused on K-12 Schools received $167M in 2015.
• Companies forucsed on Higher Education received $368M in 2015.

Simba Information's report on these trends can be found here. 

Have any questions? Feel free to leave them below and I'll keep digging to find truths in EduTech and the future of learning!

Next Topic: Demography: Trends in EduTech Spending by School Type, Income, and Region

Why do schools spend money? What informs their decision-making, and what do we know about about the patterns of U.S. schools and how they spend money on educational technology?

Since EduTech Specs is designed to be a research resource for those seeking greater insight into these topics, we will follow a template each week of identifying our Purpose, Scope and Research Questions before tackling those specific questions with data.

Welcome to EduTech Specs – an 8-part series in which I will be taking a research-based approach to understanding the technology adoption of schools and provide a detailed forecast of educational technology in the United States.

Today we'll discuss the Why, What, and How of this blog series. I'll also provide a Preview of what you can expect from my work.