Every day, technology innovations transform the way people learn and how educators teach. In the last few years, the edtech field has attracted a lot of talented people, all with excellent knowledge bases and ideas. Though the edtech industry has been around for a few decades now, the last few years, in particular, have seen a surge in investment from both school districts and investors.

The education market is currently worth around $5 trillion globally, and it is forecasted that edtech investment alone will reach $252 billion by the year 2020. This growing investment into edtech start-ups has created some exciting changes in the world of education. Naturally, with increasing capital, the number of edtech companies, products, and thought leaders is also growing. In that spirit of change and innovation, we present the Tech Edvocate Awards.

After 4 months of hard work, we’ve narrowed down the year’s top edtech companies, products, people and more. We solicited nominees from readers in August and held online voting from August 1, 2017 – September 30, 2017. The nominee’s performance during the online voting period was used to gauge their popularity, but in no way signaled that they would become a finalist or walk away with an award. The finalists and winners were ultimately selected by a panel comprised of two edtech thought leaders, two PreK-12 teachers, one college professor, two K-12 administrators, one college administrator and two PreK-12 parents.  Here are our winners and finalists for 2017. Winners can access their award seals by clicking here.

Best Lesson Planning App or Tool

Winner:

Ogment

Finalists:

ClassFlow Family of Software

Unit Planner by Eduplanet21

Best Assessment App or Tool

Winner:

Renaissance Star 360

Finalists:

Istation

Proctorio

Turnitin Feedback Studio

Best Early Childhood Education App or Tool

Winner:

StoryBots Classroom

Finalists:

Nuiteq (SnowFlake MultiTeach)

Alive Studios

Origo

Kinder Lab’s Kibo Robotic Kit

Best Literacy App or Tool

Winner:

Turnitin Revision Assistant

Finalists:

Speare Hybrid Word Processor

myON

ThinkCERCA

Best Math App or Tool

Winner:

Renaissance Accelerated Math

Finalists:

Origo

CanFigureIt Geomety

Best STEM/STEAM Education App or Tool

Winner:

Defined STEM

Finalists:

Nepris

Collisions by PlayMada Games

STEM Gauge by Measured Progress

Best Language Learning App or Tool

Winner:

Rosetta Stone

Finalist:

Verbling

Best Virtual or Augmented Reality App or Tool

Winner:

Learning Alive Plus by Alive Studios

Finalist:

DiscoveryVR

Best Personalized/Adaptive Learning App or Tool

Winner:

myON

Finalists:

Renaissance Flow 360

Claned Group

ThinkCERCA

Best Coding App or Tool

Winner:

Tynker

Finalist:

Code.org

Best Gamification App or Tool

Winner:

Mindcraft: Education Edition

Finalist:

Classcraft

Best Learning Management System

Winner:

NEO LMS

Finalist:

Ogment

Best Blended/Flipped Learning App or Tool

Winner:

Defined STEM

Finalists:

Istation

ClassFlow Family of Software

Turnitin Revision Assistant

Best Assistive Technology App or Tool

Winner:

Fast Forword

Finalist:

MyChoicePad

Best Parent-Teacher/School Communication App or Tool

Winner:

Bloomz App

Finalists:

Parent PaperWork

LivingTree

Apptegy

Best Collaboration App or Tool

Winner:

Nepris

Finalists:

Google Classroom

Insight Advance

intelliVOL

Best Tutoring/Test Prep App or Tool

Winner:

GradeSlam

Finalist:

HelpHub

Best Classroom/Behavior Management App or Tool

Winner:

NetSupportSchool

Finalists:

Google Classroom

Hero K12

Best Classroom Audio-Visual App or Tool

Winner:

ActivPanel

Finalist:

BoardShare

Best Higher Education Solution

Winner:

ClassLink

Finalists:

iGrad

EssayJack Inc.

Student Connections Success Center

Best Learning Analytics/Data Mining App or Tool

Winner:

Claned Group

Finalist:

EDIS.io

Best Professional Development App or Tool

Winner:

PD Planner – Eduplanet21

Finalists:

Insight Advance

Ogment

edWeb.net

Best Student Information System (SIS) App or Tool

Winner:

eSchoolPLUS by PowerSchool

Finalist:

SynergySIS

Best Global EdTech Leader

Winner:

Harry van der Veen

Finalist:

Anant Agarwal

Best Global EdTech Company

Winner:

NetSupport

Finalists:

ClassLink

Promethean

Claned Group

Turnitin

Best Global EdTech Startup

Winner:

GradeSlam

Finalist:

Upswing

Best K-12 School Leader

Winner:

Christina Bice, Haleyville Elementary School, Haleyville, AL

Finalist:

Rachel Hesprich, Slinger School District, WI

Best Higher Education Leader

Winner:

Ray Lefebvre, Bridgewater State University, MA

Finalist:            

Anant Agarwal, edx, Cambridge, MA

Best School District Technology Coordinator/Director

Winner:

Dan Phillips, Marin County Office of Education, CA

Finalist:

Rafranz Davis, Arlington School District, TX

Best K-12 Teacher

Winner:

Francis Jim Tuscano, Xavier School; Luzon, The Philippines

Finalist:

Anthony Stirpe, New Rochelle High School; New Rochelle, New York

Best College/University Professor

Winner:

Nicole Kraft, Ohio State University

Finalist:

David J. Malan, Harvard University

Best EdTech PR Firm

Winner:

PR With Panache

Finalist:

J Harrison Public Relations Group

Conclusion

As you can see, there is no shortage of award winners in edtech. With these innovative edtech companies, products and people in mind, it becomes clear that the landscape of education is vast and technology is carving a new path for present and future educators. Well, that does it for the inaugural Tech Edvocate Awards. We will be back, bigger and better in 2018.