EdTech Top 40: Familiar tools remain the most popular in schools

Teachers and students are engaging with fewer edtech tools but the diversity of options is forcing CIOs and other educators to manage even more applications than last year, according to the latest EdTech Top 40 list from LearnPlatform by Instructure. Still, many familiar products—including Google Classroom, i-Ready and YouTube—continue to dominate the rankings that identify the most-used edtech products.

Overall, the EdTech Top 40 report finds a slight spike of 1.7% more unique digital tools accessed by students and teachers.

“Organizations are now expected to proactively provide an ecosystem of interoperable, safe and equitable solutions for students and teachers to personalize learning,” said Karl Rectanus, senior vice president of K-12 strategy at Instructure. “Based on these trends, evidence-based edtech and platforms will likely drive purchasing, decision-making, and effective teaching and learning.”

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School districts used an average of 2,591 distinct edtech tools last year, and about 1,379 tools each month. This means that districts are not using the same set of programs throughout the school year but are regularly trying out new tools. Students accessed an average of 42 tools each during the last school year, which is 10 less than in 2021-22.

The same programs have dominated the EdTech Top 40 over the last several years. New to the list this year are GoGuardian, Securly and Study.com, two of which are data security tools. Learner-focused programs aimed at increasing student engagement and enhancing the learning experience remain highly popular. Nearly 60% of the EdTech Top 40 tools were learner-focused.

Here is the EdTech Top 40 (in alphabetical order):

1. ABCya!
2. Blooket (No. 1 classroom response and assessment tool)
3. BrainPop
4. Canva
5. Canvas LMS
6. ClassLink
7. Clever
8. Code.Org
9. CoolMathGames
10. Desmos
11. EdPuzzle
12. Encyclopedia
13. Epic!
14. Gimkit
15. GoGuardian
16. Google Classroom (No. 1 learning management system)
17. Google Workspace
18. History.com
19. i-Ready (No. 1 courseware platform)
20. IXL Learning
21. Kahoot!
22. Kami
23. Khan Academy
24. Math Playground
25. MIT App Inventor
26. Nearpod (No. 1 supplemental platform)
27. NYTimes.com
28. PearDeck
29. PhET Interactive
30. Prodigy
31. Quizizz
32. Quizlet (No. 1 study tool)
33. Scholastic
34. Schoology
35. Securly
36. Study.com
37. Weebly
38. Wikipedia
39. Youtube (No. 1 website or resource)
40. Zoom