Beyond the Hype

Investment in educational technology is rising at breakneck speed. Last year, global investments in the sector jumped over 70%. Across the world, in school classrooms and university lecture halls, many have reported on the benefits it can bring to enhance, simplify, support and scale teaching and learning. But just making technology available is not enough. To achieve successful outcomes, technology must be carefully deployed alongside the best pedagogical practices and discipline content knowledge.

This evidence-based paper brings together what the education community has to say on the value of digital education, offers practical guidance for educators and leaders on where to begin the journey to delivering better outcomes using technology, and what to be mindful of along the way.

About the author

Dan Belenky, Director of Research on the Science of Teaching and Learning, is part of the Efficacy & Learning Research team at Pearson, which focuses on the science behind how we help people make progress in their lives through learning. Prior to joining Pearson in 2014, he was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Dan earned his PhD in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, where he studied how student motivation interacts with (and is impacted by) innovative instructional methods. His current research projects explore how insights from cognitive psychology and behavioral science can be used to improve learner outcomes, at scale.