Delivering better edtech
leading change
protecting children

Our story

Assessing edtech - leading change - protecting children

The EDDS Institute for Education (EDDS) brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars, researchers, educators, engineers and privacy advocates dedicated to protecting the sovereignty of education systems as they become increasingly dependent on Artificial Intelligence (AI): digital, data-intensive and algorithmic systems.

EDDS works with enlightened educators, education authorities and ethical education technology providers to pilot and put in place systems of education technology (edtech) evaluation and certification.

We work at the intersection of research, development and advocacy:

Multi-stakeholder collaboration and research.

As part of a multidisciplinary European consortium, TRUSTEE, our team members are developing privacy-enhanced methodology and instruments for the safe exchange and processing of data, funded by the EU’s Horizon and UKRI/Innovate UK.

Assessing educational technologies and AI systems.

With leading educational technology market Edtech Impact, we launched the Quality Evaluation Framework to ensure that edtech entering our schools is safe and lawful. This work is led with educational institutions’ needs and priorities in mind, while the EDDS Institute and Edtech Impact work with industry to develop and drive ethical standards, maturity and trust.

This work is grounded in pedagogic, well established national and international legal and socio-ethical frameworks contextualising unique educational environments, socio-cultural values and educational needs.

Gathering pedagogic evidence: As part of the EI Quality Evaluation Framework, our international consortium of partners including the Education Alliance Finland, and WhatWorked Education, gathers evidence, assesses and evaluates edtech products across pedagogic and impact assessment criteria. Our partners consider teachers’ and students’ voices in what edtech products provide value to the classroom.
Developing cybersecurity frameworks: With the collaboration of international organisations, school districts, and security experts from the US, Australia, UK, EU, and New Zealand, we work closely to provide evidence, develop necessary tools and address the needs for a unique cybersecurity framework (GESS) for the education sector, which is the basis of evaluating edtech products.
Advocating for policy change: Through continuous participation at policy level with international organisations, educators and policymakers, we have advocate for meaningful and strict governance of the digitisation of education and for the protection of educational institutions’ sovereignty and children’s rights to quality education.
Evolving policy and products in real time: As our partnerships and collaborations grow, we continuously update the EDDS framework. We are presently involved in developing a framework for the wellbeing of children and teachers in digital education, as well as conducting impact assessments on algorithmic fairness.

Stay tuned, more is coming!

Edtech evaluation by design

What we do

At EDDS, we believe that our solutions will soon become an intrinsic and transformative part of the global edtech industry.

We’ve only just started, but we already know that every product we evaluate and every education authority that we help will improve outcomes for our children and our school systems.

Our aim is to ensure that the introduction of edtech is channeled positively and meaningfully, that governments, schools and parents can act to spot and prevent potential societal harms, and that our children’s data is protected from misuse, resale and or other harmful outcomes.

We believe that the right understanding and technological edge can lead edtech companies towards a successful future.

Continue reading and learn about the smart systems behind our successful business.

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The challenge

In the 21st century an experiment in social selection is taking place all over the world, but it is not one led by governments. It is quietly getting underway in our nurseries, our primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities. Unregulated, the world’s education technology providers have entered our education systems. They are amassing our children’s data, processing it, packaging and selling it in a way that could allow global commercial concerns to polarise and segregate our children into silos – without the knowledge, consent or awareness of the teachers, parents or children concerned.

Our children’s fates could be determined by algorithms that pigeon-hole educational populations by socioeconomic group, speed of typing, concentration span, friendship circles and innumerable other meta-tagged data points that could, further down the road, influence whether they get a particular job or are granted a mortgage.

This is not tomorrow’s nightmare. The foundations are being put in place today.

At EDDS, our comprehensive evaluation and audit solutions will help education authorities to understand the scale of the issues and intervene and guide edtech's leading companies to take an ethical stance.

For a free consultation, contact us today.

Get in touch

Our manifesto

for education

and technology

Key principles for a healthy, vibrant and inclusive edtech sector that acts for the best outcomes for children and students

Digital Technologies for Children’s Good and Education (edtech) should, at the most fundamental level, observe children’s rights and freedoms and promote quality and diversity; benefit children by providing opportunities for their participation and agency; support sustainability and protect the independent and sacred nature of children’s ecosystems; and support their physical, social and emotional development as healthy, independent and resilient adults who can develop original thought, personhood and apply knowledge.

We call for the existence and safeguarding of Education Technologies for Children’s Good and Education based on the following five key principles for good edtech

Principle 1

Edtech’s primary purpose should be to enhance learning and improve educational outcomes. Edtech should only be deployed in the classroom if there is proven case for its enhancing role – the classroom should not be a testing ground for unproven products.

Principle 2

Edtech should, at a minimum, be tested and certified to abide by all legal, social, pedagogic, ethical and organisational norms, laws, regulations and standards. Without this proof, no edtech should be deployed in the classroom.

Principle 3

Edtech has a societal responsibility to children, it should therefore be held to higher ethical standards of trust, privacy and security of children than other technology products.

Principle 4

Edtech should be held accountable through transparency of its algorithmic and data processing. Children should be excluded from data collection where it is not needed for the immediate task and be allowed safe digital spaces to allow error and exploration without record.