Announcing the Winners of the 2018 Tech Edvocate Awards
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 June/July and held online voting from June 1, 2018 – August 21, 2018. 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 2018. Winners and finalists can access their award seals by clicking here.
Best Lesson Planning App or Tool
Winner: ClassFlow
Finalists:
Best Assessment App or Tool
Winner: MobyMax
Finalists:
Evo Social/Emotional by Aperture Education
Best Early Childhood Education App or Tool
Winner: HeadSprout
Finalists:
KIBO – The STEAM Robot Kit for Children 4 – 7
Canticos Los Pollitos (Little Chickies) App
Best Literacy App or Tool
Winner: Lexia Core5 Reading
Finalists:
Best Math App or Tool
Winner: MATHia
Finalists:
ExploreLearning Reflex
Best STEM/STEAM Education App or Tool
Winner: Vernier Go Direct® Sensors with Graphical Analysis™ 4 @VernierST
Finalists:
FlinnSTEM Powered by IMSA Fusion
Best Language Learning App or Tool
Winner: Sprig Learning
Finalists:
Best Virtual or Augmented Reality App or Tool
Winner: HoloLAB Champions
Finalists:
Best Personalized/Adaptive Learning App or Tool
Winner: Nearpod
Finalists:
AVer CP3Series Interactive Flat Panel
Curriculum Associates i-Ready Mathematics and Reading
Best Coding App or Tool
Winner: CoderZ by Intelitek
Finalists:
Best Gamification App or Tool
Winner: Kahoot!
Finalists:
Best Learning Management System
Winner: NEO LMS
Finalists:
Best Blended/Flipped Learning App or Tool
Winner: FlinnPREP
Finalists:
Best Assistive Technology App or Tool
Winner: Robots4Autism
Finalists:
Best Parent-Teacher/School Communication App or Tool
Winner: Bloomz
Finalists:
Best Collaboration App or Tool
Winner: Boxlight MimioSpace
Finalists:
ADVANCEfeedback by Insight ADVANCE
Snowflake MultiTeach® (NUITEQ®)
Best Tutoring/Test Prep App or Tool
Winner: GradeSlam
Finalists:
Best Classroom/Behavior Management App or Tool
Winner: NetSupport School
Finalists:
Best Classroom Audio-Visual App or Tool
Winner: ActivPanel
Finalists:
Epson BrightLink 710Ui Interactive Laser Display
Best Higher Education Solution
Winner: Study.com
Finalists:
Best Learning Analytics/Data Mining App or Tool
Winner: Otus
Finalists:
Best Professional Development App or Tool
Winner: ADVANCEfeedback by Insight ADVANCE
Finalists:
Best Student Information System (SIS) App or Tool
Winner: Alma
Finalists:
Best Global EdTech Leader
Winner: Dr. Edward Tse
Finalists:
Best Global EdTech Company
Winner: MobyMax
Finalists:
Best Global EdTech Startup
Winner: Learnamic
Finalists:
Best K-12 School Leader
Winner: Dr. Adam Hartley, Fenton Area Public Schools, Genesee County, Michigan
Finalists:
Yvonne Mackey-Boyd, River Roads Lutheran School, St. Louis, MO
Shawn Wigg, Director of Mathematics, Duval County Public Schools
Best Higher Education Leader
Winner: Nichole Pinkard, Professor, Depaul University, Chicago, IL
Finalists:
Anant Agarwal, edx, Cambridge, MA
Best School District Technology Coordinator/Director
Finalists:
John Martin, Inter-Lakes School District, Meredith, NH
Best K-12 Teacher
Winner: Crystal Avila, Socorro High School, El Paso Texas
Finalists:
Cathy Haskett Morrison, Peel District School Board, Canada
Best College/University Professor
Winner: David J. Malan, Harvard University
Finalists:
Nicole Kraft, Ohio State University
Best EdTech PR Firm
Winner: PR With Pananche
Finalists:
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 2nd Annual Tech Edvocate Awards. We will be back, bigger and better in 2019.
The Insight ADVANCE team is honored to be recognized as a finalist and award winner. Shoutout to all the finalists and winners. Thank you.