Educational technology (EdTech) is examined through different research traditions, each bringing distinct assumptions, methods and criteria for judging educational value. Economics, learning engineering, the sociology of EdTech and critical EdTech studies offer important but often separately considered perspectives. This disciplinary fragmentation makes it difficult to understand how their findings complement or challenge one another, despite the interconnected questions of learning, implementation, equity, ethics and sustainability involved in EdTech decisions.

This report examines the added value of bringing these four traditions into dialogue, exploring how their perspectives can deepen and qualify one another. The report makes the case for an interdisciplinary approach to EdTech evaluation, bringing together four research traditions: economics, learning engineering, the sociology of EdTech and critical EdTech studies. Drawing on a comparative analysis of 29 purposively selected texts, it examines how each tradition defines valuable outcomes, determines what constitutes credible evidence and accounts for the influence of context.