Technology Essentials in Education Episode 10:
EdTech Trends 2026: Jotform’s Latest Research

Hello there. My name is Monica Burns and welcome to Technology Essentials and Education. Today's episode is titled "What's Working, What's Not, and Where AI is Heading" with Heather Turbeville, and I'm so excited for you to hear this conversation.

We're pulling back the curtain on the current state of classroom technology. Heather is from Jotform and shares all of the survey results from Jotform's 2026 Edtech trends data that they've collected. We talk about why the novelty era of AI is over and the integration era has begun.

Heather and I discuss specific ways educators are leveraging AI to reclaim their time and the dangers of having too many fragmented tools. We also explore what her research shares about what teachers really want from their digital platforms. Let's get into the conversation.

This episode is brought to you by Jotform. Jotform provides an all-in-one solution to streamline administrative tasks, enhance community engagement, and foster innovation. Using their no-code drag-and-drop forms and workflows, your teams can securely collect and store data, automate tasks, and collaborate on team resources.

Educational institutions are also eligible for a 30% discount on Jotform Enterprise. Head to their website to learn more: jotform.com/enterprise/education.

Welcome to the podcast, Heather. I am so excited to chat with you today about edtech trends for this year. What's working? What's not working? Where AI is headed? But before we get into all of that, can you share with listeners a bit about your role in education? What does your day-to-day look like?

Well, my day-to-day is never the same every day, but in terms of education, I work at Jotform, which creates software that anyone in any industry can use—but one of our largest user bases is education. The goal is to create digital tools that help educators.

I know I'm a Jotform user and a super fan of all things Jotform. I'm just pumped to chat with you today and hear about things that you're seeing and hearing from others who you're talking to about this. Jotform recently published a survey on edtech trends, and I'm curious what prompted this research and what stood out to you immediately as you started reviewing the responses.

We wanted to get to know our audience a little better, so we asked questions like: What are educators' pain points with edtech? What do they think of their tech tools? Are they using AI? We were surprised that respondents liked their tech tools as much as they did. 77% said their tools work well or very well.

Another thing that stood out was AI. 65% are already using AI, often in multiple ways. That's wild, especially from the edtech side where we're often concerned about tool overwhelm or things not working well. Surveying your user base to get those great numbers and the AI usage is impressive.

I sometimes think about what I see in my conversations. Often I come into schools or districts or work with them virtually to talk about edtech or AI uses for instructional planning. My observational data might be skewed because those folks are ready to jump into the conversation and show curiosity. So it's great you got a larger sample size with different perspectives.

From a content and research perspective, why does it feel important to center educator voices in conversations, particularly around AI right now?

Educators have unique challenges related to AI, like how to teach students to use it without taking away the learning experience. How do they ensure students think critically while using AI and prevent cheating? These factors make this area rich for research.

Those are concerns I hear in conversations with educators. I'm in the midst of a multi-part series with New York educators, and one thing front of mind is how to bring AI to students without really bringing it to them, or if we're ready to have conversations where kids press all the buttons in AI tools or if we're simply modeling guidelines.

It's definitely an important time to hear educator voices, gather information, and listen to pain points around these topics that are not just trends but are being widely adopted. Schools, districts, and teachers are exploring these tools with or without their students.

The report shows most educators feel their digital tools work well overall, which is a great high number. What do you think is working better now than even a few years ago?

In general, these tools have gotten easier to use, but there is still room for improvement. The biggest trouble respondents mentioned was wanting their tools to work better with each other. Other things were more automation, AI functionality, better usability, and the ability to access tools offsite, which makes sense given how much work is done on mobile devices now.

Students often work in Google Docs on phones when we assume it would be on computers. It's interesting to hear what they want tools to do for individual experiences and how tools talk to each other. Educators also mention friction, like difficulty jumping between places or incompatible sign-ons across platforms. Mobile user interface is important too, especially for teachers who move between devices.

I have three devices in view right now and probably a fourth in the room. If you're moving between devices, you want everything to talk to each other from the same tool, let alone different tools.

I'm curious about the AI connection since a majority of respondents already use AI. For those curious about this data, we'll have links so they can explore it. A majority use AI often for productivity tasks, which is a big part of when I talk to teachers about AI.

What does that tell us about how educators are approaching AI?

They're being pragmatic. AI is here and available, so they're trying to use it to do their work better, more easily, with less effort.

Especially for someone with a long to-do list, productivity is key. I sometimes share a silly but time-saving example: putting vocabulary words in alphabetical order and adding an emoji alongside each one for a visual cue. It sounds silly, but saving 5 to 15 minutes a day adds up over a week.

Observationally, productivity tasks are often where teachers start and stay when using AI.

The findings suggest educators are generally open to AI but have clear concerns around ethics, accuracy, and data security. How do you interpret that balance of optimism and caution?

I think they're realistic. Generative AI is ubiquitous and can't be ignored. Most teachers find it useful, but LLMs hallucinate, so you can't just trust what they produce. Students can use it to cheat, which needs addressing. Data security is a concern for anyone online, and US education must abide by FERPA.

A quick note from the presenter, Jotform lets you build forms in minutes: student surveys, homework submissions, quizzes, and more. You can start from scratch or use free templates designed for teachers, schools, and districts. Educational institutions can get a 30% discount on Jotform Enterprise at jotform.com/enterprise/education.

Educators interacting with generative AI content are balancing what they feel comfortable doing, what they have permission to do, and considerations like FERPA. These decisions are similar to choosing whether to bring a smart home device into your living space and how to use it. These choices happen consciously and unconsciously throughout the week, and it's true for AI tools too.

I'm not surprised to hear this in the data because I hear it casually from folks, and I'm sure you do too.

Looking ahead, now that you've reviewed the survey and results, and seeing AI evolve from a productivity helper to something more embedded in educational workflows, how do you see this evolving over the next year or two?

Instead of just using AI for lesson planning or paperwork, teachers will likely integrate it more into the classroom. One interesting use from the survey was teachers using AI to review course materials to ensure coverage of concepts and standards mandated by districts or universities. This is a task teachers have to do but would rather not, and until recently, there wasn't a good way to offload it. I see uses like this becoming part of regular workflows.

That task takes a lot of time and brain capital. Offloading low-lift tasks that don't take much energy but add up can help teachers preserve brain capital. I've had moments where I said, 'I can't do this now; it's a tomorrow thing. I'm at capacity.' Doing it later is more efficient. It's interesting that the survey shows a shift from productivity helper to embedded workflow support might be the next step.

In administration, AI agents for customer service functions will become more widespread, like agents on admissions web pages answering questions 24/7.

That's important because educational workflows often focus on individual experience, not community support. Someone might visit an admissions website or look for a calendar on a district homepage. A chatbot providing quick 24/7 answers saves manpower and supports the community by providing first-pass support before human interaction.

The report highlights interest in AI features like automation, assistance, and smarter workflows. Which of these do you think will become expectations rather than 'nice to have'?

Honestly, all of them. They're all related to helping teachers get work done more quickly with less effort. The 'what' will be more important to teachers than the 'how'.

It's important teachers understand what's available and their options. These features becoming expectations is definitely the direction we're headed.

For someone reviewing the report, they can dive into granular details and bring data back to district planning meetings when discussing resource allocation or trends. There's lots of ways to use this rich research and survey data.

For someone who hasn't opened the report yet, if you had to summarize its message in one sentence for educators, what would it be?

Educators don't need better digital tools; they need digital tools that work better with each other.

I love that. It really paints the picture of what someone might try to say or what they're getting at. That pain point might be what a frustrated teacher is trying to articulate, even if not clearly in the moment. Teachers share this casually and formally in the data you've collected.

This is super useful for many stakeholders in education curious about what educators outside their community think and for applying this to their work. We'll put plenty of links in the show notes where people can learn more.

For someone on the move listening in, where can people connect with you and learn more about your work?

You can email me at heather@jotform.com. We have lots of educational resources on our website. The report is free to download after filling out a brief form.

Perfect. We'll make sure everyone can access the report and dive into all the information you shared today. Thank you so much, Heather, for sharing all of this with listeners.

Thank you so much. It was great to be here.

It was so much fun chatting with Heather for today's episode. Let's finish up like we always do with some key points to help make this edtech easy:

Use AI first to save time on planning, paperwork, and routine productivity tasks.

Choose tools that integrate well with each other to reduce friction and overwhelm.

Set clear guidelines for ethical, secure, and accurate AI use in schools.

Look beyond productivity and explore AI for workflow support and community-facing tasks.

Remember, you can find the show notes and full list of resources wherever you are watching this video to stay connected with Heather and the team at Jotform. A big thank you to Jotform, the presenter of today's episode.

To learn more about Jotform and how educational institutions can get a 30% discount on Jotform Enterprise, head to jotform.com/enterprise/education.