The Australian edtech sector generates annual revenue of $3.6 billion as AI and learning technology take hold in classrooms. At the same time learning outcomes for Australian students are stagnant and equity gaps continue to grow. To drive change, edtech – including AI-enabled applications – need to be well designed and effectively used, but in a rapidly growing sea of applications, it is almost impossible to know when that’s the case.
A new report, released today by the Chair of the Australian Network for Quality Digital Education, calls for policymakers to urgently build a national quality assurance process for digitally enabled teaching and learning resources (‘edtech’), with clear criteria and a robust and transparent assessment process, to ensure Australian students can benefit from the highest quality learning tools and curriculum resources.
Authored by Network Chair Professor Leslie Loble AM and Director of Edtech and Education Policy Dr Kelly Stephens, the paper advocates for criteria that, at minimum, ensure edtech is backed by evidence and provides support for quality teacher use, is true to the curriculum, is inclusive of all students, and ensures safe and ethical use of data.
Professor Loble – who is former chair of the Australian Education Ministerial Council’s Schooling Policy Group, former Deputy Secretary in the NSW Department of Education and author of a report highlighting the potential for high-quality AI and edtech to help tackle Australia’s learning divide – said digital resources that support all students to access and succeed in curriculum-aligned learning should be the priority for quality assurance, with teachers playing a central role to help develop criteria and assess resources.
“Teachers and parents are overwhelmed for choice from a booming edtech market, with 500,000 learning apps available online and more marketed directly to schools, but there’s no independent, comprehensive source of information about the quality of these resources in Australia,” said Professor Loble.
“Edtech decision makers currently select and implement technologies with far too little information about what is likely to work in their schools. We are consequently spending untold amounts of money – in schools, and at home – on edtech that may be overused, underused, or ineffectively used. We know for certain it is inequitably used.
“The lack of clearly articulated quality expectations creates a significant risk that our students and schools may fail to benefit from the increased use of edtech. Additionally, we still lack system-wide regulatory standards and controls to prevent the tracking and scraping of children’s data from edtech platforms.
“Australia is falling behind other jurisdictions in implementing quality assurance processes in response to the growing reliance on edtech. Ensuring that Australian students are using the best evidence-backed digital resources, with strong safety and quality criteria in place, should be a priority for policymakers.”
Sarah Davies AM – CEO of the Alannah and Madeline Foundation and advocate for children’s rights online – said: "Children's data privacy and security must be the foundation of all quality edtech and cannot be left to individuals to assure. We know that the most vulnerable children in our community are also the most vulnerable online."
Danny Pikler – CEO and Co-founder of Stile, an online Science curriculum platform – said: "The timing is ripe for Australia to take a stand on quality, but the window is narrow. Cards played one way and Australia becomes an OECD leader in high quality instructional materials, in turn improving nationwide student outcomes and boosting teacher wellbeing. Cards played another, and Australian companies start investing into overseas markets where quality is defined, valued and funded."
John Bush – Head of Young People at the Paul Ramsay Foundation – said: “We know that many Australian children who experience disadvantage are excluded in the digital world too. Right now, there’s a real opportunity for AI-based edtech to be a bridge to greater digital inclusion but also a real risk that AI will exacerbate a digital divide. To seize the opportunity, it’s crucial that we have quality assurance system that embeds digital inclusion in the design and use of AI-based edtech.”
The Network brings together leaders from across education, industry, social purpose and philanthropic organisations, government and research, in the common purpose of ensuring that all Australian students benefit from the best educational technology (edtech), and the benefits of edtech are leveraged to tackle the persistent learning divide.
The Network is being convened with inaugural funding from the Paul Ramsay Foundation and sponsored by Amy Persson, Interim Pro Vice-Chancellor (Social Justice and Inclusion) at the University of Technology Sydney.
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