A sea of apps getting in the way in K-12

If your users have to navigate a dozen or more apps, you’re impeding student learning

Ahoy there!

If your district or independent school has, like many, been commissioning new edtech apps for your various needs in K-12, your users might be adrift.

Because if users haven’t been given a single, official platform to use, they’re awash in a sea of educational apps. And K-12 leaders may not be aware of just how unhappy they are about it.

These are some of the findings of a new report called App Overload: How A Fragmented Digital Landscape Is Failing K-12 Education. The study surveyed hundreds of parents, teachers and administrators at K-12 school districts and private schools in North America that didn’t have a unified edtech platform.

Where a single, integrated system wasn’t in place, most respondents said they used between 10 and 15 educational apps with some student or parent-facing component, creating a fragmented digital experience for their students and families. Some organizations reported more than 16 official apps.

Parents especially unhappy
While school and district administrators surveyed were satisfied with their chosen approaches to edtech, 42% of parents rated their satisfaction at 5 out of 10 or lower, citing difficulties in navigating multiple platforms. “Responses clustered toward the lower end of the scale … suggesting a pervasive level of discontent,” according to the report.

“The amount of apps and the amount of time required to look at each one makes it impossible for parents with jobs. There has got to be an easier way to work with our children and their schools.”
-Jason C., Parent, Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland

Teachers crave streamlined access
Educators reported spending an average of 2-to-4 hours per week of busywork managing multiple educational apps, detracting them from teaching.

“We need a way to maintain our apps and communicate with students and parents without feeling like it is a second job.”
-Stephanie S., Teacher, Virginia Public Schools
“Our school uses an average of 19 apps in our high school and each one deploys differently. Talk about confusing!”
-Mary W., Private School Teacher
“There has to be a better way to achieve all of our goals with less stress.”
-Teresa M., Private School Teacher

Edsby’s single, integrated system
The Edsby learning platform is built specifically for K‑12 and does more, in one application, than anything else. Independent schools, districts and regional governments love Edsby for its modern, pedagogically sound K-12 assessment & reporting, family engagement, learning management and analytics.

It’s a true, seamless system, built by a single team. Not assembled from piece parts.

Edsby transforms organizations that adopts it. Teachers and administrators live in it all day. Students and parents make extensive use of it for all aspects of school life, all within a single, familiar, social-style user experience. It integrates closely with existing systems and extends the breadth of what a school district, regional government or independent school can achieve in K-12.

Edsby is used by K-12 learning organizations small and large across the world. It has been licensed for national use by the New Zealand Ministry of Education and the country of Georgia, and has received more than 80 industry awards and distinctions for an unusually wide set of capabilities in a single platform tailored for K-12.