Sandboxing EdTech

The edtech market is exploding: It is estimated that by 2020, approximately $252 billion will be spent on education technology, as more institutions turn to technology to sustain and scale their programs. Nonetheless, as new products flood the market, institutional stakeholders are often left feeling ill-equipped or under-equipped to make informed decisions about adopting new products. What was once the dedicated work of CIOs/CTOs now falls on academic leaders, faculty, staff, andother networks of decision-makers tasked with the product selection process but who themselvesmay have little experience dealing with vendors and may lack optics into their institution’s productneeds and capacity for innovation.   Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) conducts hundreds of educational technology product demos each year. Almost daily, our leadership encounters a dizzying array of new products, many of which upend conventional pedagogical practices and traverse product verticals with a complex number of applications and potential use cases.    Sandbox ColLABorative, SNHU's lab of strategy and innovation, facilitates an EdTech Vetting Committee for the SNHU academic community that provides leadership for the sourcing and strategic exploration of new technology products. Our methodology applies a structured process to vetting companies and products, from sourcing to strategy, exploration, and hand-off to one of our academic units.    In this presentation, we provide an overview of our process and transparency into the vision behind this practice. We also communicate findings from our research into key edtech market dynamics, share insights into the role of a strategy lab in supporting an institution's approach to technology sourcing and product selection, and share best practices for vendor engagement.