What’s happening in Edtech?

6 min readDec 7, 2017

How do you get a flavour of what’s changing in education? And how do you figure out what technology’s role is in education in a global context?

Since I wrote this short newsletter on Box of Amazing giving my high-level thoughts on the reinvention of education and edtech, I’ve been approached a number of times by various parties on how to get an overview of the industry and how to figure out what’s going on. Despite the seasonal and cyclical nature of education and, to a large degree, edtech, my view is that the industry is moving at pace and will continue to do so, driven by the pace of change in the technology industry as a whole but also by some innovative thinking by a plethora of companies all over the world and especially China .

Which are the best Edtech Conferences?

Of course, it’s important to go to some of the good conferences, for networking, to get a flavour of the what’s changing and to learn from peers. I particularly like EdtechX from which gives a good overall feel to what’s going on and what is on the cusp of change. You’ll also get exposure and data from companies such as The Parthenon Group. I also think there is also some use in going to exhibitions like BETT not just to meet with peers but to also compare the different products that are available. I haven’t been (I’d love to one day!) but SXSW EDU comes highly recommended as do INTED in Valencia and some of the Educause ones.

What should you read?

I read quite widely outside of edtech, usually within technology, but I do try and keep up with what’s generally going on in the sphere of education so that I can stay up to speed on industry trends. This is a list I put together for those who asked what to read. I don’t read all of these all of the time, but I do read some of these some of the time. I’d love to hear of anymore (paid or unpaid) sources reports. Are there any that I am missing from the below?

Edsurge is a probably the most insightful of the media sources that there are and covers education and edtech from various angles. It can seem overwhelming at first but in order to keep your finger on the edtech pulse this is topical, covers the news trends in detail and is a good base as an initial research hub. Similarly, The Tech Edvocate is one of the must-reads for the edtech industry.

For those entering or reviewing the edtech industry for the first time, I’d recommend signing up to a few newsletters that curate some of the best articles:

I wish I had this list when starting etonx!

The Hack Education Weekly Newsletter (HEWN) from Audrey Watters gives more of an opinion on some areas that are changing. And if you are audio inclined, the Edtech Podcast from Sophie Bailey is probably the only podcast worth listening. Based on recommendations, Out of School from Fraser Speirs is worth your audio time and covers the intersection between technology and education. Similarly, Nik Peachey’s Technogogy is a summary of some practical tools within edtech. For some important developments in educational technology for K12, you could thumb through the report from NMC.

Which trends and technologies will drive educational change? What are the challenges that we consider as solvable or difficult to overcome, and how can we strategize effective solutions?

If you’re really focused on higher education, then Inside Higher Ed and the Chronicle of Higher Education have good coverage, predominantly of the US market. I also recommend the Future trends report from Brian Alexander for a good monthly summary again with recommended reading.

Looking at the market more on a global macro level I found a great research piece called the Global Edunomic Index put together by the relentless Todd Maurer. If you supplement this with the Yidan Prize Forecast 2030 from the EIU, you’ll have a good idea of what’s going on at a high level. I have also recommended in the past the Global EdTech Landscape from Navitas which will keep you occupied for hours.

CBInsights do a smaller more focused list of the edtech companies that are shaping the future of education.

And Eduventures have one focused on the Higher Ed Technology Landscape

If international startups in the edtech space are your thing, then check out Global Edtech Startup and Global Edtech Startup Awards for the latest and most interesting startups and scaleups. All of these companies should give you a flavour of what types of companies are playing in the edtech markets. To really get to some of the micro level companies, I check both exhibitors and delegates at the local conferences. 1 in 10 of these will probably make the big time!

Edtech Accelerators & Incubators

Another way to see what the industry thinks is interesting is to look at what might be happening right at the early stage. I find that those companies that are being accelerated (and to a degree incubated and later spun off) are a good indicator of where the industry might be going because startups invariably look at problems and try to solve them. If you look at specific education or edtech accelerators, you will get a good feel for what previous cohorts of things that didn’t work as well as successes and potential successes. Check out the following:

Industry Overviews

Below is an excellent outlook summary of the K12 edtech market from Reach Capital:

Reach Capital Report on Edtech

If you are really interested in the UK market from an investment perspective, then the Assignment Report is what you need and there are also some older paid reports on EduKwest from Kirsten Winkler. BESA always have some interesting insight and always highlight some of their launchpad companies. And EdtechUK publishes a map/snapshot of companies as an annual report. Deloitte do a great digital education survey that’s worth reading.

NESTA focusses on edtech and innovation in the UK and personally, I find that Learn Capital do a great job of highlighting key trends in their blog, notebook, on a global basis.There are also some excellent reports on China (Jmdedu, Deloitte) and India (KPMG) as well as places like Brazil. For those looking more strategically and education and edtech, the World Bank covers the area in significant detail and are involved in some detailed on the ground projects. The Global Lead is Michael Trucano who pens an excellent (but infrequent) blog. The World Economic Forum is an excellent resource as are OECD and UNESCO but more about reform and innovation in education than strictly for edtech.

For those of you who have thirty minutes, I highly recommend the edtechX opening keynote from this year just gone — it is always an excellent consolidator of what’s happened, what’s happening and what’s to come.

I hope you found this useful in your research around the industry — I’m interested in what others recommend. Should I be reading something else? Are there any other primers on the education/edtech industry that I have missed? Have you got any recommendation that we should read? Please add them in the comments below.

If you enjoyed this post, you will love Box of Amazing(my free digest of the best technology and trends). Or feel free to reach out if you want to connect or discuss etonx.