Name That Tool! Digital Learning Tools Teachers Say They Use Most Often

By Tonika Cheek Clayton, Managing Partner & Justin Wedell, Associate Partner, NewSchools Venture Fund

Even before the COVID-19- pandemic forced an unplanned, immediate transition to full-time distance learning for most students, 65% of PreK-12 teachers were already using ed tech with students daily. With so many different needs and applications available, we wondered whether teachers were coalescing around the same ed tech tools. We also questioned whether the tools they mentioned most were ready to use right now.

To answer these questions, we dove into data from our 2019 Gallup Survey to explore which digital learning tools teachers named most often.* As part of this nationally representative survey of PreK-12 educators, teachers were asked to list up to three digital learning tools they use most often to teach their main subject(s). Responses from this survey offer a look at ed tech usage in schools before COVID-19. Below, we shared responses from the teacher portion of the sample, segmenting them by grade and subject. A few things stood out.

Teachers’ use of ed tech tools is highly fragmented. Except for Google Classroom in high school English Language Arts, not a single digital learning tool was named by more than 25% of teacher respondents as one of their most often used tools for their subject. In fact, the vast majority of digital learning tools within each subject were only named by 5% of teachers or less, meaning that for most teachers, their most often used digital learning tools were not the same. Such market fragmentation is not necessarily a bad thing. Education is a highly localized space and the unique needs of particular students, educators, schools, and communities may vary. It can be a good thing when entrepreneurs create tailored and innovative solutions for meeting the needs of such a diverse set of stakeholders. The proliferation of free and freemium digital learning tools has also enabled educators to select many tools without needing to navigate the bureaucracy of school- or district-wide procurement policies, which may contribute to the vast array of tools listed in the survey. Of course, all of this is not without its potential downsides. Such fragmentation can impair potential data sharing, cultivation of institutional best practices and expertise, and ease of use with regards to interoperability across classrooms and school sites.

Secondary teachers were less likely than elementary teachers to name subject-specific tools. Compared to K-5 teachers, teachers in grades 6–8 and 9–12 mentioned more content-agnostic tools that are designed to be used across subjects (e.g., Google Apps and quiz solutions) than subject-specific tools (e.g., Mystery Science and XtraMath). There is slightly more consolidation around particular digital learning tools in grades 6–8 and 9–12, which is consistent with our findings on how teachers choose digital learning tools. Compared to teachers in middle and high schools, more K-5 teachers prioritized factors such as alignment to specific standards and support of personalized learning as their most important criteria. This could be because they have fewer students and more flexibility over their curriculum and schedule that allows them to leverage more niche subject-specific digital learning tools. Secondary teachers, on the other hand, generally have many more students to teach in a given day and more standardized curricula. Not surprisingly, the digital learning tools they seek might reflect their need to prioritize efficiency and standardization with features that automate work distribution and collection, track student progress, administer quizzes, and generate reports. In the realm of distance learning, as well as for its implications for ed tech selection moving forward, NewSchools will be keen to track how these preferences do or do not change.

Ed tech tools appear ready for some version of distance learning. Across all subjects and grade levels, all but three of the digital learning tools named by 5% or more of teachers surveyed explicitly addressed adaptation for distance learning during the COVID-19 crisis on their website. Support ranged from written documentation on how teachers might best leverage the tool for at-home learning to providing temporary free access to premium features. While developers designed many of these tools to facilitate learning and engagement within the classroom, new guidelines for product changes can support educators in managing their new context. The effectiveness of this transition remains to be seen. Given the varied and subject-specific nature of the tools named by K-5 teachers, perhaps there will be more product consolidation spurred by distance learning.

As outlined above, the sudden (and hopefully temporary) transition to distance learning may accelerate consolidation of digital learning tools used in public schools. As educators may need to make contingency plans for future distance learning, their selection rubric for ed tech may shift. Questions of use in the home environment and heightened attention to interoperability between tools will become essential decision points for educators considering an investment of time and money in new tool adoption. One potential consequence of this may be stricter school- or district-wide ed tech procurement and implementation policies to ensure that all technology remains in-sync and ready for a smooth deployment to a distance learning context.

We’ll be monitoring changes and their implications. We look forward to sharing more as we learn it and to supporting all the educators and entrepreneurs seeking to leverage ed tech to support high-quality teaching and learning in public schools.

Notes on Results and Data Methodology
As part of our survey of ed tech uses and perceptions in U.S. PreK-12 public schools, we asked teachers to name the digital learning tools that they use most often for the subject(s) that they teach. A teacher’s subject area was determined by the teacher noting their main subject area(s) taught. These charts outline the breakdown for those teachers who listed Math, ELA, Reading, or Science as their primary or secondary subject. The percentages within the bar charts reflect the percentage of teacher respondents within that category who named that particular tool as one of their most often used. We highlighted any tools that were named by 5% or more of teacher respondents within that category. The percentages in donut charts reflect how many times a tool was named relative to others within that specific grade band. We highlighted any tools that accounted for two percent % or more of all named tools within that category.

• Note: readers should not interpret the results as an indicator of tool popularity or endorsement of particular tools. The survey — as well as this particular question — was not designed to rank tool preferences or quality within the educator population.