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 $300 billion by the year 2025. 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 6th Annual 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 May 1, 2022 – July 31, 2022. 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 2022. Winners and finalists can access their award seals by clicking here.
Best Lesson Planning App or Tool
Winner: Gale In Context: For Educators
Finalists:
Best Assessment App or Tool
Winner: TAO Grader
Finalists:
Curriculum Associates – i-Ready
The Aperture System, home of the DESSA suite of SEL assessments
Acadience Reading K–6 with Acadience Learning Online
UWorld Physician Assistant Learning Platform
Star Assessments by Renaissance
Best Early Childhood Education App or Tool
Winner: MobyMax
Finalists:
Best Literacy App or Tool
Winner: Accelerated Reader
Finalists:
Reading Horizons Discovery Sound City™
Best Math App or Tool
Winner: SplashLearn
Finalists:
IM K–12 Math certified by Illustrative Mathematics
Best STEM/STEAM Education App or Tool
Winner: STEMscopes Science
Finalists:
LEGO Education SPIKE Essential
Hughes Network Systems and 4-H
Vernier Graphical Analysis™ Pro
Best Language Learning App or Tool
Winner: Rosetta Stone for Schools
Finalists:
Best Virtual or Augmented Reality App or Tool
Winner: Public Speaking VR
Finalists:
Best Personalized/Adaptive Learning App or Tool
Winner: IXL platform
Finalists:
Best Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning App or Tool
Winner: SoapBox Fluency
Finalists:
Best Coding App or Tool
Winner: Encode
Finalists:
Best Gamification App or Tool
Winner: MobyMax
Finalists:
Curriculum Associates – i-Ready
Best Learning Management System
Winner: Edsby
Finalists:
Best Blended/Flipped Learning App or Tool
Winner: Edmentum Courseware
Finalists:
UWorld Nursing – Learning Platform for Nursing
Best Assistive Technology App or Tool
Winner: Anthology
Finalists:
Best Parent-Teacher/School Communication App or Tool
Winner: MobyMax
Finalists:
Best Collaboration App or Tool
Winner: Wacom One
Finalists:
Harmonize: Online Collaboration for Today’s Modern Student
Best Tutoring/Test Prep App or Tool
Winner: UWorld Online Preparation for ACT and SAT Exams
Finalists:
Best Classroom/Behavior Management App or Tool
Winner: classroom.cloud
Finalists:
Best Classroom Audio-Visual App or Tool
Winner: Lifesize Icon 600 Video Conference System
Finalists:
Best Higher Education Solution
Winner: PeopleAdmin
Finalists:
Sentinel City® v.5 by Sentinel U
Best Learning Analytics/Data Mining App or Tool
Winner: Schoolzilla by Renaissance
Finalists:
Best Professional Development App or Tool
Winner: eSuite – The Smart Professional Learning Platform for Educators
Finalists:
Best Student Information System (SIS) App or Tool
Winner: DreamClass
Finalists:
Best Global EdTech Leader
Winner: Marc Oswald, Co-Founder & CEO of Open Assessment Technologies S.A
Finalists:
Glynn Willett and Wade Willett, Co-founders of MobyMax
Jamie Candee, President and Chief Executive Officer of Edmentum
Todd Brekhus, Chief Product Officer for Renaissance
Best Global EdTech Company
Winner: Renaissance
Finalists:
Best Global EdTech Startup
Winner: Open Assessment Technologies
Finalists:
Best K-12 School Leader
Winner: Dr. Usamah Rodgers, Assistant Superintendent at Dallas ISD
Finalists:
Elizabeth Shaw, Chief Executive Officer at Chicago International Charter School
Eduardo E. Lopez, Laredo Independent School District
Best Higher Education Leader
Winner: Janet Napolitano, President at University of California
Finalists:
Roslyn Clark Artis, JD, EdD, President at Benedict College
Elmira Mangum, Vice President at Cornell University
Dr. Robbie Melton, Associate Vice President at Tennessee State University
Best School District Technology Coordinator/Director
Finalists:
Adrian Cepero, District Technology Coordinator, Hackensack Public Schools, Hackensack, NJ
Best K-12 Teacher
Winner: Megan Jacobs, The Connecticut MakerSpace Teacher Consortium
Finalists:
Chloe Peterson, Teacher at Elevate K-12
Judy Williams, Teacher at Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind
Aileen Gendrano Adao, Los Angeles Unified School District
Best College/University Professor
Winner: Sangeeta Bhatia, Professor, MIT
Finalists:
Hope Rias, Assistant Professor at Bridgewater College
Derek D. Bardell, Professor of Business Administration at Delgado Community College
Best EdTech PR Firm
Winner: PRP Group
Finalists:
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 6th Annual Tech Edvocate Awards. We will be back, bigger and better in 2023.