On average, American school districts use 1,436 distinct digital learning tools per month. The staggering number emphasizes the appetite and opportunity for educational publishers and edtechs. In the race to capture market share, edtech companies focus on launching tools based on the latest state-of-the-art tech ahead of the competition. While this offers a competitive advantage, they end up risking the quality of the tool.
Insufficient testing and validation of educational technology features for accuracy and scalability severely impacts teaching-learning experiences and the company’s reputation. Navigating the consequences of a substandard launch can be more harmful than investing time on adequate testing and validation. The right collaborations can support educational publishers and technology providers in maintaining their first-mover advantage while ensuring superior quality in the launched products.
The Risk of Unvalidated Features
Quality assurance encompasses testing the usability of all features at scale for the accuracy and efficacy of instructional materials, adequacy of assessments, and relevance of feedback. With so many facets and an impact scope ranging from young learners to adults, the stakes are high in the education industry. Synergies of all aspects of learning software foster an inclusive and informative learning environment. Lapses in even one aspect could adversely impact learning outcomes, widen learning gaps or limit students’ socioeconomic development. Plus, inaccuracies in analytics that drive decision-making could harm educational institutions, students, educational publishers and edtechs.
For instance, an unvalidated learner interface translates into reduced availability of resources, poor navigation on the LMS, slower loading speed on various devices, etc. Such friction in the learning interface significantly affects learning experiences. This translates into difficulties in knowledge and skill acquisition.
The Authorities Step In
Did you know that UNESCO says “good, impartial evidence on the impact of education technology is short in supply”? Education technology products change “every 36 months, on average.” This is enough to gauge that most educational publishers and institutions do not have the time to wait to collect and learn from the evidence. This holds especially true for those who develop digital learning tools from scratch.
Unfortunately, the problem is on both sides of the equation. Thanks to the ubiquity, complexity, and utility of learning tools, only 11% of teachers and administrators in the US emphasize adopting digital learning tools that supply peer-reviewed evidence.
The US Office of Education Technology (OET) is attending to the issue and developing policies to ensure that educational technology adoption decisions are based on evidence. It has also developed a toolkit to support informed edtech selection in schools. That’s not all, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has defined four tiers of evidence:
1. Demonstrates a rationale (tier-4)
2. Promising evidence (tier-3)
3. Moderate evidence (tier-2), and
4. Strong evidence (tier-1).
Therefore, edtechs need to buckle up and ensure that their products bring evidence of efficacy and effectiveness. This is a wake-up call for educational publishers and edtechs to strengthen their testing and validation processes as adoption criteria are set to become more stringent and evidence-based.
Validation and Testing Must Cover all Bases
The previous example highlights the importance of eliciting feedback from users with varying technical skill levels, language and cultural backgrounds, education levels, etc. However, this is only one aspect of learning technology evaluation. Educational publishers need to validate instruction materials and assessments while edtechs need to comprehensively test digital learning tools for several aspects, such as:
- Compatibility across devices and operating systems.
- Ease-of-use for teacher, admin, students and stakeholders.
- Accuracy and efficacy of learning materials and assessments.
- Adequacy of the educational metrics used in reports for decision-making.
- Compliance with interoperability, privacy, and other regulatory standards.
- Performance levels as users multiply and the solution scales across geographies and demographics.
In addition, the educational space has certain needs, such as adaptability, interactivity, and real-time feedback. These must be rigorously tested and validated by triggering all possible response routes to ensure smooth functioning.
MagicBox™: The Perfect Pilot and Testing Ground
MagicBox™ is a cloud-based, SaaS-enabled platform that enables edtechs to launch new features with confidence by enabling quick testing with minimal investments. The award-winning solution supports educational publishers and edtechs to reach higher levels of ESSA. With MagicBox™’s white-label, highly customizable online learning tools, digital education publishers and edtechs can start with a small target group for expedited feature testing and data collection. We share market-fit, efficiency, and effectiveness evidence with all our partners to enable them to win state adoptions.
Powerful analytics collect end-user data from live pilots to deliver real-time insights. Our experts leverage these insights to tailor the products to the target markets. By starting small and collecting evidence, you position yourself as a responsible edtech provider.
MagicBox™ ‘s tools are developed using cloud-based technologies that you can scale effortlessly after getting the necessary approvals with field evidence. This allows you to roll out new features and scale them without affecting performance or disrupting operations. Moreover, the auditors at MagicBox™ serve as third-party peer reviewers and ensure that only validated features are scaled. This reduces the risk of launching novel features and adopting emerging technologies.
Speak to experts NOW to learn how our award-winning educational publishing and digital learning tools can help you test and grow your platform quickly and with confidence.
