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 $500 billion by the year 2030. 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 8th Annual Tech EdvocateAwards.
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, 2024 – August 9, 2024. 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 2024. Winners and finalists can access their award seals by clicking here.
Best Lesson Planning App or Tool
Winner: Gale In Context: For Educators
Finalist:
Best Assessment App or Tool
Winner: MobyMax
Finalist:
Best Early Childhood Education App or Tool
Winner: Lalilo
Finalist:
Best Literacy App or Tool
Winner: DreamBox Reading Plus by Discovery Education
Finalist:
Best Math App or Tool
Winner: IXL Math
Finalist:
DreamBox Math by Discovery Education
Best STEM/STEAM Education App or Tool
Winner: Edmentum Courseware
Finalist:
Science Techbook by Discovery Education
Best Language Learning App or Tool
Winner: Rosetta Stone
Finalist:
Best Virtual or Augmented Reality App or Tool
Winner: Sandbox AR by Discovery Education
Finalist:
Best Personalized/Adaptive Learning App or Tool
Winner: Freckle
Finalist:
Best Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning App or Tool
Winner: Learnosity’s Author Aide
Finalist:
Best Coding App or Tool
Winner: Tynker
Finalist:
Best Gamification App or Tool
Winner: MobyMax
Finalist:
Best Learning Management System
Winner: Edsby
Finalist:
Best Blended/Flipped Learning App or Tool
Winner: MobyMax
Finalist:
Gale Literature Resource Center
Teachers’ Curriculum Institute (TCI)
Best Assistive Technology App or Tool
Winner: Presence (formerly PresenceLearning)
Finalist:
Best Parent-Teacher/School Communication App or Tool
Winner: MobyMax
Finalist:
Best Collaboration App or Tool
Winner: Gale Digital Scholar Lab
Finalist:
Best Tutoring/Test Prep App or Tool
Winner: Edmentum Targeted Skills Instruction
Finalist:
UWorld’s Online Preparation for the Digital SAT® Exam
Best Classroom/Behavior Management App or Tool
Winner: NetSupport School
Finalist:
Best Classroom Audio-Visual App or Tool
Winner: Logitech Reach
Finalist:
Best Higher Education Solution
Winner: InStride
Finalist:
Gale Literature Resource Center
Best Learning Analytics/Data Mining App or Tool
Winner: Gale Digital Scholar Lab
Finalist:
Best Professional Development App or Tool
Winner: Renaissance Professional Development
Finalist:
Finders Solvers (Keningau Vocational College)
Stride Professional Development
Best Student Information System (SIS) App or Tool
Winner: Classes365
Finalist:
Best Global EdTech Leader
Winner: Todd Brekhus, Chief Product Officer at Renaissance and General Manager of Nearpod
Finalist:
Glynn Willett and Wade Willett, Founders and Owners of MobyMax
Salman Kahn, Founder and CEO of Khan Academy
Best Global EdTech Company
Winner: Discovery Education
Finalist:
Best Global EdTech Startup
Winner: Edukoya
Finalist:
Best K-12 School Leader
Winner: Elizabeth Shaw, Chief Executive Officer at Chicago International Charter School
Finalist:
Dr. Usamah Rodgers, Assistant Superintendent at Dallas ISD
Best Higher Education Leader
Winner:
Janet Napolitano, President at University of California
Finalist:
Roslyn Clark Artis, JD, EdD, President at Benedict College
Elmira Mangum, Vice President at Cornell University
Best School District Technology Coordinator/Director
Finalist:
Adrian Cepero, District Technology Coordinator, Hackensack Public Schools, Hackensack, NJ
Best K-12 Teacher
Winner: Judy Williams, Teacher at Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind
Finalist:
Chloe Peterson, Teacher at Elevate K-12
Aileen Gendrano Adao, Los Angeles Unified School District
Best Professor
Winner: Sangeeta Bhatia, Professor, MIT
Finalist:
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, A Hawke Media Company
Finalist: