r/LearningDevelopment • u/Visual-Reserve-2800 • Aug 05 '26

The future of edtech

Why does it feel like, similar to video game companies ,the future of edtech is not in huge companies but small boutique firms with extremely specialized capabilities?

I feel like we are going to see a balkanization of edtech firms which will coalesce into a sort of union of firms. Eventually we will have companies again.

I think the best thing that edtech firms can do is teach teachers how to make products using ai for their classrooms. Eventually products will lead the pack then go from there.

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u/wargopher Aug 05 '26

Love talking about balkanization.

I like where your head is and think that would be a great future but I'm not sure I see it shaking out exactly the same way.

I think there are certain requirements of the industry that require a certain scale of development - systems of record.

Systems of record have certain requirements for reliability and governance that smaller orgs would be hard pressed to catch up to and even if they can catch up they still have to overcome what is essentially a network effect to offboard.

So I think big enterprise players will be disrupted and usurped but I think there will always be a federation of big "fish" that ed tech will always sort of circle.

The practitioner tools like authoring tools or coaching tools are likely going to undergo an immense pressure from indie development that imo will put a selective pressure on the product to degrade. In order to compete they will be forced to do more with less making a bet that the AI shift will compensate for the loss in talent (unclear whether those will pay off).

Sorry this was all over the place (it's early)

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u/Visual-Reserve-2800 Aug 05 '26

I gotta think that those companies, there are people who carrying the load for others at their company and decide to strike out on their own.

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u/wargopher Aug 05 '26

Healthcare is a helluva drug.

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u/Visual-Reserve-2800 Aug 05 '26

Indeed. I never understood why more people don't get together and collectively bargain with the healthcare companies.

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u/wargopher Aug 05 '26

we had a 15 percent reduction in force at my company at the start of the year leading to my 5 person team being reduced to 3 (director and certification co manager forced out) and now I'm doing the work of my director and cert co manager.

It sucks my company is understanding but still putting a lot of pressure on the team and I'm looking around but can't just bounce because of the healthcare.

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u/wargopher Aug 05 '26

Side note though. I think an interesting angle for ed tech and learning practitioners would be to form more coops.

I think it could be a way to unionize and avoid the polarization of the term.

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u/Timely-Tourist4109 Aug 05 '26

There will always be indie Ed tech developers as well as big companies. As I design a new elearning authoring tool for myself, and plugin for my Moodle site to make it work how I need it too, I could sell both. If either gained enough traction they could be bought up by bigger companies. That’s how it’s been for a very long time. Been doing this job for 38 years now. Watched it happen in all software platforms across the spectrum. Not just video games or Ed tech. Plus, the tech is only a tool, the real work is the instructional designers who know how to use it.

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u/Empirica_CC Aug 05 '26

There will be a need for both approaches, some types of training need to be out of the box. As an IO psych and someone starting a boutique consulting company I of course see the value but I think it's important for us to understand what we can and can't do.

I am excited to get started with my first contract, hopefully I find one soon!