What Is Educational Technology?
Written by:
Wilson College
• Sep 11, 2026
In 2025, about a quarter of American students aged 13 to 17 reported using ChatGPT for their schoolwork, up from 13% in 2023, according to a Pew Research Center survey. While the report shows that the majority (73%) still haven’t used the OpenAI chatbot for homework, the data points to how quickly educational technology is affecting academic life.
Educational technology, also known as edtech, is the use of digital devices and software to enhance teaching and learning. Educators have a wide range of perspectives on educational technology. Some see it as a way to personalize education and boost student success. Others appreciate it as a helpful tool that can lighten their workloads and make lesson planning easier.
Enrolling in a Master of Education (MEd) program can help educators increase their expertise in educational technology and shape the future of its role in their schools and districts.
Types of Educational Technology
Ever since computers began appearing in schools in the 1960s, the use of educational technology across grade levels has expanded. These tools offer different kinds of learning experiences and help equip students with skills suited to a technology-driven economy.
In discussing what educational technology is, it’s important to identify different types. From solutions built for whole-class instruction to tools designed for individual practice, educators may encounter the types of educational technology below in the modern classroom.
Learning Management Systems
Learning management systems (LMSs) offer communication tools and academic course management. They’re designed with different user interfaces for students, educators, and administrators in K-12 schools and higher education institutions. They allow educators to design and share critical course content while tracking student participation and performance.
Interactive Whiteboards
Interactive whiteboards, also called smart boards or digital whiteboards, are large, wall-mounted touch screen displays. Unlike traditional whiteboards, interactive whiteboards allow teachers to display images, videos, and web pages to local and remote viewers; run apps; and write directly on the screen to interact with the content. They’re increasingly used for real-time interactivity or to teach multiple classrooms at once.
Digital Learning Tools and Apps
For specific teaching purposes, digital learning tools and apps, including formative assessment tools, practice tools, and reflection tools, can help teachers and students in various ways. These tools can help teachers adjust their instruction and help students practice, explain their thinking, and demonstrate their understanding.
Artificial intelligence-powered tools are increasingly present in today’s classrooms. They can answer students’ work immediately and change the difficulty of practice questions or give feedback on written responses in seconds. Some can analyze class responses, helping teachers identify concepts students struggle with.
Popular digital tools and apps include the following:
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Mentimeter: A formative assessment tool that works across devices and lets students respond through live polls, word clouds, and other interactive activities. Teachers see results as they come in.
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Kahoot: A practice and reinforcement tool that turns review into game-based quizzes that students answer on their own devices. Teachers can build their own question sets or pull from an open library.
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Crowdsignal: A survey and response collection tool that gathers student answers from smartphones, tablets, and computers, then compiles results into reports that teachers can review.
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Microsoft Teams for Education: A tool with a video-recording feature that lets students answer prompts with short videos of up to five minutes. Teachers can respond with feedback.
Benefits and Challenges of Educational Technology in the Classroom
The features that make educational technology useful also create new demands on schools. Weighing the two sides helps administrators decide which tools justify the budget and staff time.
Educational Technology Benefits
Educational technology can improve access, efficiency, and pacing. These benefits are often most noticeable in systems that handle coursework and assessments at scale and include the following:
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Centralized access: Students can find coursework and resources for all their classes in a secure spot.
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Time savings: Automated tasks enable instructors to spend more time connecting with students and enhancing their learning experiences.
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Adaptive pacing: Educational technology can adjust content to fit individual students’ skills and progress, making learning more personalized.
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Improved outcomes: Analytics that track student progress can help teachers identify their strengths and weaknesses. This helps students advance in some subjects and get extra help where needed.
Educational Technology Challenges
Educational technology can also introduce new issues, both during implementation and throughout the equipment’s lifespan. Challenges include the following:
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Implementation demands: Setting up new technology to fit with existing systems and databases can require considerable time and effort from information technology (IT) staff and teachers.
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Maintenance and upgrades: As equipment ages, it may slow down, stop working properly, or no longer support security updates.
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Screen time and access: Parents and educators are increasingly concerned with issues including too much screen time, educational technology’s effect on students’ communication skills, and differences in access to technology at home.
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AI safeguards: AI tools require strong protections, helpful feedback, the right amount of personalization, and ongoing involvement from teachers.
Future Trends in Educational Technology
The rapidly increasing use of AI in classrooms indicates the direction that educational technology is heading. As new tools become available to schools, the applications of educational technology become broader. The main issues revolve around the role of teachers, the potential risk to their employment, and how AI should be implemented.
Educators can equip students for an AI-oriented workforce while also preventing excessive screen time, guarding against data misuse, and teaching students to think for themselves.
AI Becomes the Top Priority
The 2025 State EdTech Trends report from SETDA, in collaboration with Whiteboard Advisors, indicates that AI has become the primary concern for state education technology initiatives. According to a 2026 report by the Consortium for School Networking, 79% of school districts now have AI guidelines, up from 57% the previous year, and 96% of educational technology leaders believe AI can have a positive effect on education.
Teachers Shift Toward Facilitation
When schools introduce AI tools without input from teachers or consideration of student learning outcomes, they tend to fail. AI can’t replace teachers, who provide the necessary human touch that students need to thrive. Rather, AI can reduce administrative work, provide personalized learning, and assist with lesson planning, so teachers can guide students to engage critically with new tools.
Wider Use of AI Tutoring Systems
Tutoring platforms based on generative AI can dynamically create questions based on what students write and say and allow students to pose questions in natural language; traditional tutoring systems lack these capabilities. According to Brookings, these platforms can offer several benefits to students—provided they’re designed responsibly, with positive effects for both teachers and the education systems as a whole. The extent to which schools adopt them will depend on how effectively those safeguards function.
Growth in Adaptive Learning Technologies
Adaptive learning technologies used in elementary and secondary schools include automation features, such as real-time data insights, which aid teachers in understanding students and meeting their learning needs. Research presented at the Interaction Design and Children Conference in 2025 indicates that these tools affect teachers’ psychological needs, including autonomy and competence, which are known to influence both teacher motivation and student outcomes. Therefore, future developments should focus on features that enhance, rather than replace, teacher expertise.
Prepare to Lead Change in the Classroom
The modern classroom includes more than technology and teaching methods; it’s centered on the students who are affected by every educational technology decision that educators and administrators make. Digital tools can strengthen students’ experience through personalized learning, interactive lessons, and easy access to information. Balancing people and technology depends on educators who understand both instruction and technology and can develop the guidance, professional learning, and policy frameworks that help new tools succeed.
Knowing where to start can be difficult. Technology integration in the classroom requires specific skills. Developing these skills through a program such as the MEd from Wilson College Online can help educators successfully introduce technology to daily lessons and create long-term benefits for students.
Learn how an MEd from Wilson can prepare you to lead in the classrooms of the future.
Recommended Readings
5 Differentiated Instruction Strategies for Teachers
General Education vs. Special Education: Key Differences
A Day in the Life of a Teacher
Sources:
Blackbaud, What Are Learning Management Systems (LMSs)?
Brookings, “What the Research Shows About Generative AI in Tutoring”
Consortium for School Networking, State of EdTech Leadership
EBSCO, “Tablets and Laptops in Schools: Overview”
EdSurge, “K–12 Edtech in 2026: Five Trends Shaping the Year Ahead”
EdTech, “K–12 Schools Have More Interactive Whiteboard Options Than They Think”
EdTech Hub, AI Tutors and Teaching: How Might the Role of the Teacher Change in an Age of AI?
Investopedia, “Exploring EdTech: Enhanced Learning Through Technology”
