Written by: Tori Lutz, Author
Education technology, or EdTech for short, is a rapidly expanding field that has had massive potential implications ever since computers first started showing up in schools. In 2019, there are more EdTech jobs than ever before, and the market will only continue to grow.
The EdTech “field” covers pretty much any use of modern technology to aid and assist in education of any kind. Within such a broad scope, there are many niches to be explored.
EdTech is most often used to refer to education as it pertains to schools: using computers or tablets (or even kids’ smartphones) to teach students skills like coding, math, and even art. However, the field has expanded into teaching and training of many other kinds. These include job training, supplemental tutoring, corporate education, and much more.
Given the ubiquity of EdTech in today’s economy, what are the best careers to work towards in the field? We’ve compiled some of the top candidates below:
Course Designer
Course designers combine knowledge of what makes a good user experience with what makes a good educational experience to create teaching materials or full courses for specific topics.
A good course designer will be able to create an appealing video/audio interface and workflow path to make learning material as engaging, effective, and fun as possible. This career path synthesizes specific concepts of how the brain learns best with broader knowledge of how to create a pleasant and fun journey through that learning process.
Course designers can find work both within educational institutions or nonprofits, or for private education-focused companies that may make tutoring materials or learning games.
Education Software Engineer
Software engineers can make good money in EdTech—about $92,000 a year on average—while programming varied software that is specific to the subject being taught.
Depending on the age level that the software or interface is geared towards, EdTech software programmers need to be able to blend complexity with ease of use. Different subjects will require different interfaces as well; a digital anatomy course must be more visually dynamic and interactive, while an essay-writing course will need built-in spelling and grammar databases.
A career as an educational software engineer can be much more engaging than other types of programming and is a good option for skilled coders and programmers who are looking to be a part of EdTech.
Educational Technologist
Think of an educational technologist like a matchmaker: connecting teachers and educational systems with the right programs and tools or developing those very tools when they don’t yet exist.
Educational technologists will often get hired by existing educational institutions or places of learning that want to catch up to the EdTech wave and incorporate more learning technologies into their classrooms/offices/etc. A job in this field requires broad knowledge of what learning systems are on the market or in production, and how those could best be used to achieve the goals of the client institution.
It’s not uncommon for an educational technologist to identify a need, oversee product development to fill that need, and then work both to implement the new software and to train teachers in using it. This career path has a distinctive person-to-person element and involves teaching people how to teach more effectively.
Teacher
Lastly, we have the good old-fashioned teaching career. For those who love to teach, their career is likely becoming a career in EdTech already. Since educational technology is expanding to nearly all niches of teaching and learning, the entire education field is constantly interacting with EdTech.
EdTech enables teachers to use new tools in their classrooms to facilitate a more modern learning environment. It makes programs possible like Student Tutor, where students can tutor and mentor younger students from home laptops and tutoring interfaces. In this way, EdTech is creating new flexible jobs and expanding the possibilities for existing professions.
Instead of competing with educational technology, teachers are integrating it in their own personalized ways, and ultimately benefitting their students.
In Summary
Careers in EdTech are extremely numerous and varied. EdTech jobs span all parts of the teacher, technology, and institution relationship.
With career options like course designer, education software engineer, educational technologist, and teacher, EdTech is proving to be an extremely versatile and lucrative field.
Whether you enjoy working directly with people and focusing on big picture solutions, there’s a career in education technology out there for you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Tori Lutz is freelance writer, editor, and social media manager based in Brooklyn, New York. She got her Bachelor’s Degree in English at Florida State University where she worked at her student publication and published over 150 articles while editing many others. She also is a lover of literature and poetry, allowing her passions in life to be completely enveloped by the English language.
