Educational Technology Will Never Be The Same After The Pandemic

When classrooms abruptly switched to online during the Covid-19 pandemic, educational technology went from a convenient support tool to the backbone of schooling overnight. This foundational shift transformed expectations around performance, usability, and customization, permanently reshaping how schools, teachers, and students interact with technology. It exposed longstanding weaknesses and highlighted opportunities for technology to enhance learning. It also set the stage for the rapid adoption of generative AI technologies. I explored these themes recently with Melissa Loble, chief academic officer at Instructure.

Educational Technology As Essential Infrastructure

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, educational technology often played a supplementary role as a helpful resource rather than serving as an essential foundation. Schools previously tolerated occasional downtime, slow response times, and other glitches as acceptable inconveniences. However, the pandemic fundamentally transformed these expectations, as the sudden transition to online learning made educational technology critical infrastructure overnight. “When the virtual space is your school,” Loble notes, “you cannot have it simply disappear during the school day.” Schools now expect these tools to function seamlessly, akin to utilities like electricity or water. These heightened expectations regarding reliability and performance have persisted post-pandemic. Educational technology must now provide continuous uptime, swift responsiveness, and scalability, without fanfare or excess excuses.

Educational Technology: Efficiency And Usability

Alongside these heightened expectations for reliability is a growing demand for intuitive usability. Loble emphasizes, “User interface design is suddenly very real in a way it had not been before Covid-19.” Teachers and students are no longer tolerant of complicated interfaces or unclear instructions. They expect minimal friction in achieving their objectives. Instead of navigating through cumbersome manuals or searching for information online, students and teachers increasingly prefer to describe their goals in natural language and have generative AI handle the response task.

Efficiency has also become paramount. Teacher shortages and increased workloads mean that any new technology introduced into the classroom must demonstrably enhance productivity. “One must consider whether the time spent learning to use a tool will ultimately lead to more effective learning,” she advises. If a tool complicates rather than simplifies the educational experience, its utility is quickly questioned, leading to it being set aside or even outright discarded.

This user-driven shift has profound implications for Learning Management Systems. Modern LMS platforms must thoughtfully integrate generative AI and other advanced tools to remain relevant. Today’s LMS must offer seamless interoperability, incorporating essential functionalities that teachers expect without overwhelming them. With shrinking educational budgets, institutions prioritize platforms that unify multiple tools, streamline processes, and reduce operational costs. “The LMS needs to be thoughtful about how we leverage these advanced toolsets,” Loble advises.

Educational Technology: Personalization And Active Learning

Personalization is another significant change accelerated by the pandemic. Loble highlights how the traditional classroom model, which typically involved broad compromises to accommodate diverse student needs, now seems outdated in an era where personalized learning paths are not only feasible but expected. Technology allows educators to tailor instruction more closely to individual student profiles, considering various learning styles, speeds, and interests in ways that were previously impractical. “This shift towards personalization is not just a matter of preference; it’s about equity.” Indeed, with an increased focus on student differences, including neurodiversity and varied learning preferences, educational technology tools have become essential in creating equitable learning environments. They enable educators to move beyond a one-size-fits-all model, offering pathways designed to maximize the potential of each student.

Personalization must be addressed not only in terms of consumption but also in terms of production. Today’s students embody a generation deeply engaged in digital creativity. “The creator generation wants to create their own content,” Loble explains. “Students increasingly view themselves not as passive consumers but as active producers. Educational tools must empower this transition, fostering creativity instead of hindering it with unnecessary complexity.”

One notable casualty of the pandemic-driven shift is the traditional lecture model. Video-based learning highlighted the weaknesses of passive instruction; students will not tolerate endless, static presentations. The reduced interaction in the online courses students experienced during the early days of the pandemic revealed how ineffective one-sided lectures can be at holding student attention. Teachers, too, found delivering repetitive video lessons exhausting. Effective instruction, Loble points out, requires engagement—whether driven by teacher-student interaction or supported by AI-driven interactivity. Educational technology must facilitate short, interactive, and impactful sessions rather than long, passive lectures.

The Changing Expectations For Educational Technology

As veteran teachers retire or leave the profession, a younger cohort of educators enters the field, bringing expectations shaped by their seamless interactions with technology. These new teachers, being digital natives themselves, expect technology to function intuitively and reliably. The new baseline for educational technology companies lies at the intersection of student expectations, influenced by their personal technology use, and teacher expectations. Falling short of these standards risks irrelevance, as educators and students will reject tools that do not meet their expectations for natural, frictionless, and reliable interaction.

Ultimately, the changes in educational technology expectations caused by the pandemic are here to stay. Institutions and technology providers that understand and adapt to these new realities—prioritizing reliability, usability, personalization, and creative engagement—will lead the next chapter of educational innovation. Those who fail to adapt will find that their only role in future classrooms will be as case studies in history textbooks.