Voices From the Industry:How EdTech Leaders Responded to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Purpose Educational technology(“EdTech”)served a pivotal role in keeping schools functioning during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.Little is known about EdTech leaders’roles in shaping this response.This study explores EdTech leaders’perspectives and backgrounds,their response to the pandemic,how they envision their roles as educators,and their perspectives about how technology facilitates educational innovation.Design/Approach/Methods This study uses a qualitative,phenomenological approach to understand how 11 EdTech leaders experienced the pandemic.Participants were recruited for interviews in summer 2021 via purposive sampling to include diverse backgrounds and perspectives.Data were analyzed inductively.Findings The findings show that a four-category typology can be used to describe EdTech leaders’diverse backgrounds and experiences.Leaders emphasized equity and open collaboration in their pandemic responses,by expanding access to their tools and adapting their products as users’needs evolved.EdTech leaders anticipate streamlined user experiences,improvements in online learning,and increased adoption of artificial intelligence and simulated learning environments.Originality/Value This study addresses a gap in the research concerning EdTech leaders’perspectives on their efforts to support educators and their experiences during the pandemic.We hope this study sparks additional research on EdTech leaders’experiences and roles in education.

A New Era in EdTech:Emerging Challenges and Opportunities

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically expanded the increasingly important role of educational technology(“EdTech”)in K-16 education.EdTech is“the introduction of information and technology tools in teaching and learning”(Ganimian et al.,2020,p.5).Examples of EdTech include audio-visual aids,computer-assisted learning,mobile devices,smart technologies,and virtual reality(Huang et al.,2019).One sign of the growing importance of technology in schools is the rapid increase in EdTech investments,which tripled between 2019(pre-COVID)and 2021(during COVID;HolonIQ,2022).Nonetheless,inequality in access to technology remains a barrier for students in underserved schools(Chapman et al.,2010;Dorn et al.,2020).