While approval of centrally supported EdTech tools, net new or requests for renewal, must meet defined criteria, the University's current financial environment may influence the final decision.
Our centrally coordinated approach to EdTech tool management provides an inclusive and transparent decision-making process that will help to reduce tool duplication, lead to a more efficient use of University resources, and improve the overall experience for instructors and students alike.
Submit an EdTech tool request
You can submit a request for a new EdTech tool to be centrally supported and funded, or to request help identifying a tool for a particular function.
Before you submit your request
Please complete the following steps:
- Review the list of centrally supported EdTech tools either alphabetically or by functional need to see if a tool exists that addresses your need.
- Review the up-to-date list of requests in the table below. This list describes the tools or functionality requests that have been received in the past and the status of each request.
- If there is no existing EdTech tool or similar tool in the list of prior requests, you may complete the EdTech tool request form. Procurement of EdTech tools must align with Policy 17 – Quotations and Tenders and will often require a request for proposal (RFP) process.
Process for review of EdTech tool requests
- Does request meet defined criteria?
- Centrally supported EdTech tools must meet defined criteria that ensures the tool is sound from pedagogical, technical, security, privacy, inclusivity, equity, and accessibility perspectives.
- Does request have budget approval?
- If the tool meets the criteria, funding approval is required prior to initiating the procurement process.
- Request timelines
- An initial response to your request will be within 2-3 business days. Please note, review processes take time due to availability of resources, budget, scope and impact of the request, and other reviews in progress.
While it’s not recommended, should you opt to use a non-centrally supported EdTech tool, please ensure its use meets our privacy and security requirements. You may submit the tool to us for review, or initiate an Information Risk Assessment on your own.
Planned, in progress, or completed EdTech tool intake reviews
When a tool enters the intake stage, its status may be Review pending (evaluation has not started), Review in progress (evaluation underway), Decision pending (evaluation complete but final decision pending), or Decision reached (decision to support tool or not has been made).
| Tool | Use | Date of review | Status | Result | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
peerScholar |
Peer review and group evaluation tool for student work |
2021-2023 |
Decision reached |
Centrally supported and funded |
The University of Waterloo will implement a new peer review and group evaluation tool, peerScholar, for student course work for the start of the spring 2024 term. Peer review and group evaluation is a critical process used in academic courses to deepen learning while improving performance and credibility of student grades. The current tool, PEAR, a University of Guelph home-grown solution that has been used extensively at Waterloo, is in its preliminary stages of planned retirement, hence the agreement for PEAR will end April 30, 2024. |
| Vevox | Digital polling tools | April - June 2023 | Decision reached | Centrally supported and funded |
After an extensive review of digital polling tools conducted by a focus group comprised of faculty and staff during the summer of 2023, a recommendation was made to proceed with a one-year campus-wide pilot of Vevox. This recommendation also included iClicker. |
| iClicker | Digital polling tools | Aug 2023 - April 2025 | Review in progress |
Due to new functionality that has been introduced in Vevox and iClicker, a review of the two polling tools will be conducted to determine if both tools are still required to meet academic and non-academic requirements, or if the University can proceed with only supporting one of these tools. During this review, iClicker is being offered free of charge for students. Participate in the polling tool comparison pilot. |
|
| Creator+ | Creation of interactive digital course content | Jan 2024 - April 2025 | Review in progress | D2L’s Creator+ add-on to LEARN would provide tools that enable the straightforward creation of interactive course content, such as practice exercises, interactive elements, and easy-to-capture video recordings, within LEARN workflows. A series of pilots will be conducted until Summer 2025 to determine if Creator+ will meet our needs for interactive course content and compare our requirements to other potential tools. | |
| Performance+ | LEARN data, analytics, and reporting | Jan 2024 – Aug 2025 | Review in progress | D2L’s Performance+ add-on to LEARN would provide tools and dashboards that unlock insights into course and learner data and effectiveness, performance, and key performance indicators (KPIs) that can be used towards informed teaching and learning decisioning within a class, department, program, faculty, and/or the University. A series of pilots will be conducted from Spring 2024 to Summer 2025 to determine if Performance+ will meet our needs and compare our requirements to other potential solutions. | |
| Padlet | Digital collaborative boards (padlets) | Review pending | Padlet is a digital board where padlets are created for collaboration within a class. Digital media such as pictures, videos, documents, links, text, etc. can be posted to a padlet where class participants can view and/or comment. | ||
| h5p.com | Creation of interactive digital course content | Jan 2024 - April 2025 | Review pending | h5p.com will be reviewed in parallel with Creator+. |
Questions and support
You are invited to contact learnhelp@uwaterloo.ca if you have an immediate need regarding central support for a new or currently unsupported learning technology.