EdTech

Research shows well-designed video games support children's well-being through identity exploration, creativity, and social connections. The study of 20 UK families found games with solo play options protect safety while allowing children to develop digital literacy, master challenges, and maintain friendships during isolation periods.

The ability of games to provide safe spaces for identity experimentation stands out. Children can explore new interests and self-expression without fear of peer judgment. The customisation features and controlled environments let them trial aspects of identity before taking them into real-world interactions.

"For nine-year-old Penny, Bloxburg (a role-play and life simulation game within the Roblox platform) was an important avenue for exploring aspects of her identity. She was able to play at changing her physical appearance and exploring her developing interest in cooking before trying these changes out in interactions with friends and family."

The article discusses new guidance from the U.S. Department of Education on digital accessibility in schools, emphasising the need for educational technology to accommodate all students, including those with disabilities and multilingual learners. The guidance follows updated ADA regulations requiring schools to ensure online content is accessible.

The collaborative approach advocated in the article stands out - the emphasis on breaking down departmental silos and bringing together special educators, IT staff, procurement teams, and school leadership to create comprehensive accessibility solutions. This systemic view of accessibility as a shared responsibility marks a shift from treating it as solely a special education concern.

"When we talk about creating things that are accessible, it's not just a special education department's job. The school leadership needs to be on board with it. The IT department needs to be on board with it, as well as procurement. We need to make sure that we are communicating with each other, sharing ideas and thoughts around what we think about accessibility and how we approach it," says Desmond Rudd.

A media studies teacher at Macleans College advocates for mandatory media literacy education in schools, warning that students lack tools to navigate online dangers like toxic masculinity and misinformation. Currently, media studies remains an elective subject despite growing concerns about digital literacy gaps.

The absence of media studies from New Zealand's core curriculum documents since 2007 reflects a systemic undervaluation of digital literacy education. While some progress has been made with teaching guides, the subject's exclusion from official curriculum booklets hampers its recognition as fundamental to modern education.

"When we had our curriculum written in 2007 media studies was left out of that. We are not in the paper booklet of our national curriculum," says Jerome Cargill, head of media at Macleans College in Auckland.

Trump's first five weeks in office saw sweeping changes to education policy, including major cuts to teacher training and research programs, reversal of diversity initiatives, restrictions on transgender students, and threats to withhold funding from institutions with race-conscious policies. He reiterated his desire to eliminate the Department of Education entirely.

The administration's focus on dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programs extends beyond direct education policy into areas like military academies, government websites, and research funding - suggesting a comprehensive effort to reshape how identity and equity are addressed across all federally-connected educational institutions.

Educational institutions are grappling with ethical use of student data in AI and analytics, balancing the need for insights with privacy concerns. Guidelines focus on protecting data sovereignty, maintaining transparency with students, and ensuring AI tools don't reinforce biases while recognising data as more than just numbers.

The Māori perspective of data as 'taonga' (treasure) adds cultural depth to data ethics discussions. The emphasis on New Zealand-based cloud providers for data sovereignty, combined with machine-learning initiatives like UC's Analytics for Course Engagement, demonstrates practical applications of ethical AI principles.

"When the context of identity is taken away from a person to anonymise their data, it takes away what makes them, them. Additionally, in a Māori context, data is seen as a taonga (treasure) and when used, there must be mindful context."

rivate equity investment in K-12 edtech has seen dramatic fluctuations, dropping from $17.1 billion in 2021 to just $1.5 billion by May 2024. PE firms often misapply traditional growth strategies to edtech, overlooking the sector's unique characteristics of school-year budget cycles, complex decision-making processes, and trust-based relationships.

The disconnect between PE approaches and edtech success stems from fundamental misunderstandings of the education market. School purchasing decisions involve multiple stakeholders and depend on government funding cycles. Growth requires building trust over time rather than aggressive customer acquisition. When PE firms prioritise rapid returns, they often cut essential support services and development.

Global edtech funding increased from $5.6B to $6.3B between 2023-2024, with deal count rising from 915 to 1153. While European funding fell from $1.2B to $0.8B, Q4 showed strong recovery. Sweden and Italy joined the top 5 European markets, with 9 countries represented in the top 10 most active cities.

The emergence of 'Edtech 2.0' represents a significant shift, combining traditional education technology with workplace productivity tools. This expanded sector secured $15.4B globally in 2024 - 2.4 times more than traditional edtech. The integration of training, job placement and productivity platforms reflects evolving workplace demands.

"As the pace of innovation increased in a tight labor market, platforms have extended across training, job placement, and productivity to augment talent on a 'just-in-time' basis."

Instead of being used to replace old ways of completing tasks, the learning management systems were simply another thing on teachers’ plates.

A telling example was seen in lesson planning. Before the pandemic, teachers typically submitted hard copies of lesson plans to administrators. However, once school systems introduced learning management systems, some teachers were expected to not only continue submitting paper plans but to also upload digital versions to the learning management system using a completely different format.