Educational Technology (EdTech) Tool request process

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. 

Goals and objectives of this process

Overall objectives of the EdTech tool request process include:

  1. Enhance transparency with respect to how tool request decisions are made and why. 

  1. Provide clarity, consistency, and cross functional agreement of the process and approvals. 

  1. Ensure efficiency in moving forward with decisions. 

  1. Align tools with teaching and learning strategies, goals, and directions. 
     

The EdTech tool request process aims to:

  • reduce frustrations associated with the frequent need to learn new tools;
  • reduce or eliminate subscription costs for students;
  • provide better integrations with existing tools;
  • improve tool support and training;
  • identify barriers to inclusive and equitable EdTech access for all members of our campus community;
  • reduce licensing costs for the University; and, among others,
  • ensure accessibility, privacy, and security requirements are met and adhered to.

This approach supports a more inclusive and transparent decision-making model for current and future centrally support EdTech tools. 

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:

  1. Review the list of centrally supported EdTech tools either alphabetically or by functional need to see if a tool exists that addresses your need.
  2. 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.
  3. 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. 

Submit the EdTech tool request form.

Process for review of EdTech tool requests

  1. 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.
  2. Does request have budget approval? 
    • If the tool meets the criteria, funding approval is required prior to initiating the procurement process. 
  3. 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. 

View details of review.

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. 

View details of review.

iClicker Digital polling tools April - June 2023 Decision pending  

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 centrally support and fund iClicker for academic classrooms, moving away from the current student pay model.  This recommendation also included Vevox. 

View details of review.

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.