A FEW THOUGHTS ON IMPACT AND EFFICACY IN EDTECH BUYING DECISIONS

Ah, the beauty of the social media news feed. Dropping into Facebook or LinkedIn ensures a never ending source of content for all of us. Thankfully, if we choose our friends well, we can still get a few thought provoking pieces that pop up around all the sponsored posts and links to your buddy’s latest vacation photos. This is how I came across episode #82 of the EdTech Podcast and an interview with Bart Epstein, CEO of the Jefferson Education Accelerator at the University of Virginia. Host Sophie Bailey (the founder of The Edtech Podcast) talked to Epstein on the important — yet often emotionally charged — topic of the efficacy and impact that edtech products yield in classrooms today. In their discussion, Bailey and Epstein also touched on some related ideas of how efficacy and impact can more broadly frame the difficult buying decisions that educators and consumers face when considering edtech purchases. [Note: For those that want to jump right to Bailey’s interview of Epstein, it starts at the 6:00 mark].