EdTech Hub is a global research partnership led by R4D that provides evidence needed to make informed decisions about using technology in education.
The Challenge: A Global Learning Crisis
We are in the midst of a global learning crisis; one that has only been exacerbated by the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Learning loss has disproportionately impacted students from lower-income families, exacerbating existing inequities. Leaders and communities must work quickly to address this — ensuring children have equal access to learning opportunities and providing remote or blended learning solutions for distance learning or out-of-school children, while also ensuring access for learners with disabilities.
As the education sector continues to weather current challenges, it is also necessary to plan and adapt for potential future school closures, interruptions, and student movement caused by public health concerns, climate disasters or conflict. Innovations are vital to provide multiple pathways to enable children to learn key foundational skills. To tackle the global learning crisis, there must be strategic and committed efforts to improve how technology is used in education.
What is EdTech?
EdTech (or education technology) is the use of technology to enhance learning, improve access to education, provide teacher professional development and increase parental engagement in children's learning.
Examples of education technology include:
The Opportunity: EdTech and an Evidence-Driven Future
Education technology (EdTech) has the potential to help address the global learning crisis by transforming teaching and accelerating learning, but that potential is not yet being realized at scale. It is imperative that specific, strategic action is taken to build a future where the promise of leveraging technology in education is matched by significant improvements in learning outcomes.
Education policymakers and other decision-makers face an overwhelming array of choices when it comes to EdTech solutions and how to implement them. Decision-makers are often unclear about what works and what doesn’t, and they need advice and support on how to adopt and scale solutions. There are significant gaps in the evidence on how to use technology in education in a high-impact and cost-effective way at scale.
EdTech Hub — a global initiative led by Results for Development (R4D) in collaboration with BRINK, Open Development and Education, Jigsaw, and the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education — exists to support education decision-makers by giving them the evidence they need to use technology to make transformative changes in education in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs).
EdTech Hub utilizes the combined strength of its consortium members, expert staff, and partners to close evidence gaps and improve learning outcomes for all children. EdTech Hub’s goal is to expand the global evidence base and influence policy and practice on the use of EdTech in LMICs.
The Hub focuses on high-priority technical challenges and uses an integrated approach to address them. The Hub undertakes and commissions rigorous research, provides targeted technical assistance and hands-on support, and engages in innovative processes — all focused on ensuring technology is used effectively to improve education.
The Hub collaborates with and influences a wide range of education stakeholders: government ministries, tech developers, implementers, researchers, donors, teachers and school leaders.
Our Work Supporting Education Decision-Makers
EdTech Hub represents the single largest research investment to date focused on EdTech evidence in LMICs. EdTech Hub’s research portfolio addresses high-potential evidence gaps that decision-makers grapple with when choosing EdTech implementations to support children, teachers and school communities.
To provide the robust support needed for decision-makers, EdTech Hub conducts rigorous research, iterative “sandbox” testing of solutions, provides just-in-time and on-demand technical assistance and support, and always seeks to work in close collaboration with long-term partners and governments.
Generating leading-edge academic evidence and packaging it for decision-makers
A key aspect of EdTech Hub’s integrated approach is to generate high-quality academic research on EdTech, addressing evidence gaps on important topics that can provide a better foundation for decision-making.
In partnership with researchers around the world, including many in LMICs, the Hub has published 25 academic articles to date; each one targeting high-priority issues on how technology is used in education — for example, technology in girls’ education, digital personalized learning, and the use of technology in teacher professional development and parent engagement. EdTech Hub continues to expand with an emerging focus on education in emergencies, climate change, Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), and artificial intelligence (AI) in education.
While EdTech Hub’s academic articles make a major contribution to knowledge, these alone are not enough. Alongside the ongoing research associated with these publications, EdTech Hub is focused on synthesizing evidence from its portfolio and beyond into concise and practical Learning Briefs that can be easily used.
Innovation at EdTech Hub
EdTech Hub also supports policymakers and practitioners as they adapt and test evidence-based approaches through “sandboxes”— a rapid experimentation approach that generates evidence about what’s working and what’s not so that interventions can be iteratively refined to maximize potential impact.
The EdTech Hub team has provided essential support for the sandboxes in the form of innovation coaching, open-source experimentation tools, and access to experts and funding to conduct real-world testing.
The sandboxes have had a catalytic impact; for example, in Pakistan, EdTech Hub provided Deaf Reach with an investment to pivot from in-person schools to video content for deaf learners during COVID-19-related school closures. A one-month A/B test with 200 learners showed those who watched the videos performed 68% better than those who did not. To ensure the sustainability of this new offering, Deaf Reach tested a “franchising” model with grassroots organizations in Nigeria and Palestine.
Helpdesk at EdTech Hub
Another challenge decision-makers grapple with relates to speed: how can they quickly identify and tap relevant expertise to help them collate, digest and apply evidence? To address this, EdTech Hub launched a dedicated Helpdesk in April 2020.
The EdTech Helpdesk provides discrete, just-in-time, tailored support to United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Education Advisers, World Bank staff and UNICEF staff who work with ministries of education in LMICs. The Helpdesk supports these advisers in their work with government officials and program implementers.
The Helpdesk leverages the deep technical expertise of Hub staff and partners, as well as a roster of the Hub’s on-call global specialist network to develop topic briefs, rapid evidence reviews, curated resource lists and expert consultations on an array of pressing EdTech topics. The Helpdesk’s agile structure means it can support partners, and in turn, host-country governments with expert support on complex EdTech issues within very short time frames.
EdTech Hub’s Vision for Impact
Building a culture of evidence-based decision-making among all those involved in EdTech is the single most significant thing that can be done to ensure that technology is used in ways that help address the global learning crisis. For EdTech to play its role in helping to transform education, all stakeholders need to align and find unity of purpose through committing to an evidence-driven future. EdTech Hub believes this is a bold but achievable ambition that requires a radical shift from current practices.
To learn more about EdTech Hub’s approach, rigorous research and impact, please visit edtechhub.org. For a full list of EdTech Hub staff, visit the Hub’s team page.
