Mapping the landscape in HEIs: a systematic review of factors influencing EdTech adoption

The technology used in educational contexts to improve teaching, learning and the overall educational experience is referred to as educational technology or “EdTech” (Stefaniak and Carey, 2019). It includes a broad range of electronic resources, software programs, hardware gadgets and Internet platforms created expressly for educational purposes focused on improving educational results (Hasan Al-kumaim et al., 2021), promoting personalized learning, increasing student engagement and offering students of various demographic profiles access to high-quality education (El-Sabagh, 2021). The world of education has undergone a paradigm shift (Singh et al., 2020) recently; with improvements in affordability and accessibility because of expanding usage of the Internet (Crick, 2021) and smartphone technologies, students even in the most remote areas of the world may now access instructional resources (Oliveira et al., 2021). Additionally, there has been an increase in household spending on education, underscoring the value that society places on this crucial industry (Williamson et al., 2021).

The cost of education has greatly decreased as a result of technological advancements (Alexander et al., 2019), which have also democratized access to education and given everyone more control over their education status (Cukurova et al., 2019). This pattern is anticipated to continue as technology will play a crucial role in promoting education and bridging access gaps (Joshi et al., 2020). EdTech has the potential to reduce the costs associated with conventional education methods of physical infrastructure (Rughoobur-Seetah and Hosanoo, 2021) and steeping towards leveraging online platforms, digital resources and virtual classrooms (Peng and Dutta, 2022). It has considerably increased educational access, especially in underserved communities and developing countries (Pollio and Cirolia, 2022). These technologies make it possible to adapt educational materials and teaching strategies to the unique needs of each student, resulting in more effective and efficient learning (Macgilchrist et al., 2019).

The previous contributions have often emphasized on the application of various advanced technologies in the educational sector with minimal focus on the educational financing through EdTech solutions (Komljenovic, 2021). Hence, the researchers focus on exploring the research gap towards the acceptance of EdTech tools, scope for digital infrastructure (Houlden and Veletsianos, 2023) and the adoption of cutting-edge instructional approaches (Johns, 2022) can all be aided by this infusion of funds, which will ultimately have an effect on how much is spent on education. Thus, the present study attempts to answer the below questions through a comprehensive systematic literature review (SLR).

Many EdTech platforms' courses and programs (Wargo et al., 2020) are focused on teaching students how to build in-demand skills like coding, data analysis and digital marketing. Government agencies, charity groups and venture capitalists have all made large investments in EdTech due to its growth. These investments have hastened the creation and development of EdTech companies and initiatives, providing new funding possibilities for educational institutions and students. HEIs have experienced a substantial impact from technology, which has revolutionized several aspects of instruction, learning, research and administration (Veletsianos et al., 2024). It has increased educational access by removing constraints associated with distance. The utilization of multimedia materials, online simulations, virtual labs and educational apps helps students comprehend challenging concepts and build practical skills (Osei-Bryson et al., 2022). Learning management systems (LMSs) and online collaboration technologies enable the seamless delivery of content, communication and collaboration between students and instructors (Williamson et al., 2020).

Intelligent tutoring systems and adaptive learning software use algorithms and data analysis to tailor training (Flavián et al., 2022), identify areas for development and provide students with targeted feedback (Williamson and Komljenovic, 2022). In HEIs, administrative procedures have been reduced by technology, increasing effectiveness and productivity. Student information systems automate the processes of enrollment and grading (Williamson, 2021a). Online learning platforms and video conferencing tools promote (Baig and Yadegaridehkordi, 2023) collaborative learning and build compelling virtual learning environments through synchronous and asynchronous interactions between students and instructors. Interactive and interesting learning opportunities are made possible by EdTech tools and platforms (Fouad, 2021) facilitated through digital transformation and open educational resources (OER). Additionally, EdTech enables organizations to provide massive open online courses and other online materials for no charge or at a discounted price, democratizing education for a larger audience (Abibo et al., 2022) using tools for learning analytics and data analytics provide details about students' engagement, performance and learning patterns (Pangrazio et al., 2022). Educational financing refers to the various mechanisms and processes involved in funding and financing education, from early childhood education to higher education.

The current qualitative study examines the critical factors that influence the uptake and application of educational technology (EdTech) in educational financing. The research follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) Model (Xiao and Watson, 2019) structured on four stages, namely, identification, screening, eligibility and inclusion. The model increases transparency and raises the standard of reporting. The PRISMA statement offers a standardized checklist of things that should be included in a systematic review report. It includes a flow diagram and a 27-item checklist that describe the various steps of a systematic review, from the selection of pertinent research to the inclusion and analysis of data (Kaur et al., 2023).

The SLR was defined based on the mathematically formulated PRISMA model adapted from Jahangir et al. (2023), which was used to obtain the eligible articles included for the final review. The formula is illustrated below to arrive at the total number of full-text articles to be included in the SLR.

where each component of the formula is indicated as below.

• $Inc(SLRn)$⁠: Indicates the total number of studies shortlisted and included for SLR;

• $∑I$ - Number of studies recorded after the Identification process;

• $∑S1{(dup)C1}$ - Number of studies recorded after removing duplicated ones from $∑I$ along with conditions (Screening Level 1);

• $∑S2{(title&abst)C2}$ - Number of studies recorded after removing studies from $∑S1{(dup)C1}$ considering the title and abstract along with conditions (Screening Level 2) and

• $∑E{(Fulltext)C3}$ - Number of studies recorded as eligible after removing studies from $∑S2{(title&abst)C2}$ based on specified conditions.

The popular academic databases often considered in SLR and bibliometric analysis comprise of EBSCO Host, Emerald Insight, Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus (Jevanesan et al., 2021). The primary methodology examined in the current review mechanism involved conducting a comprehensive search from EBSCO Host (Galleli et al., 2020) and Emerald Insight (Alvino et al., 2021), utilizing Boolean operators, as described by Ayatollahi and Zeraatkar (2020). The search was conducted using the following keywords: “EdTech” OR “educational technology” AND “higher educational institutions” AND “cost” OR “finance,” with a focus on the relevance of the search.

EBSCO frequently offers full-text article access directly, or at the very least, and links to the articles' online locations that can expedite the document retrieval process in SLR, covering a broad range of subjects of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary. It has excellent features like text-to-speech that lets the reader listen to the research articles aloud and free access to the articles for academicians with a user-friendly interface. Emerald Insight is a comprehensive collection of peer-reviewed business and management journals facilitating in integration of the objective of the study, thereby supporting the claim that high-quality articles can be found in EBSCO Host and Emerald Insight apart from other databases.

EBSCO Host can be accessed with registered login credentials of the affiliated institution and Emerald Insight offers complimentary token access for the users as an alternative to institutional subscription, unlike WoS or Scopus databases. EBSCO Host and Emerald Insight don’t mandatorily need the institution subscribing the access to the database to access the articles.

The SLR was grounded to examine the factors influencing the adoption or application of EdTech in educational financing among the HEIs. The timeframe of the research is between January 2013 and June 2023, where peer-reviewed academic journal articles including conference proceedings available in full text were considered. The articles containing the keywords finance, technology and education were published only in English and indexed in databases (EBSCO Host and Emerald Insight). The articles published before 2013, publications in the form of book chapters, case studies, working papers and short reviews, were excluded at the filtration level.

A variety of reputable worldwide publishers, including Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, Wiley, Emerald, Elsevier and Sage, have their publications available on EBSCO Host. On the other hand, Emerald Publishing House is the exclusive publisher of the articles in Emerald Insight. Data from popular databases like Scopus, WoS, Springer and others were not specifically extracted for systematic review due to access restrictions.

Table 1 describes the inclusion and exclusion criteria (Mengist et al., 2020) treated as filtration operations employed in the study.

India’s journey towards EdTech began in 2004 with the introduction of smart classrooms and satellite-based learning techniques. E-learning first became popular in 2008 when organizations like Extra Marks and Khan Academy started providing online education. However, the Ministry of Education introduced information and communication technology (ICT) to the Indian educational system at the school level in 2004. After 2010, ICT became more popular since it helped students develop their ICT skills. Customers of all ages are now served by the EdTech industry, which has grown rapidly over the last ten years (Aaradhi and Chakraborty, 2024). Consequently, the study’s timeframe from January 2013 to June 2023 is crucial. The articles were in their early stages and had little effect on the education sector before the study period.

For instance, if a particular shortlisted full-text article emphasizes “engaging transformed fundamentals to design global hybrid higher education” but doesn’t explicitly describe the reference to a financial ecosystem in EdTech among the HEIs, that particular article was excluded from further study.

The PRISMA model is a widely recognized guideline for conducting SLRs. It consists of several stages that researchers should follow to ensure a comprehensive and transparent review process (Abelha et al., 2020). The present research has deployed a scientific model, as depicted in Figure 1.

The identification stage is the first and crucial for systematically identifying relevant studies that will be further evaluated and synthesized in the subsequent stages of the PRISMA model, such as screening, data extraction and data synthesis. It ensures transparency and replicability by clearly documenting the search strategy and selection process, allowing others to assess the rigor of the review. There was a scientific method deployed in search criteria during the process of identification stage involving (a) basic search, (b) advanced search and (c) full-filtered search describing the search strategy.

The mathematical formula applied in the identification phase is illustrated:

The researchers have considered two databases (EBSCO and Emerald Insight) at the identification stage to perform a basic search $Ind(BscSn)$⁠, advanced search $Ind(AdvSn)$ and full-filtered search $Ind(FfiSn)$⁠, respectively. The “$∑I$” is the total number of studies included in the identification process across all the chosen individual databases. The basic search based on the search strategy from the EBSCO resulted in 1,098 articles and Emerald Insight resulted in 2,542 articles. The advanced search involved the time frame, type of document, publisher and PDF selection criteria, resulting in 229 articles from EBSCO and 565 articles from Emerald Insight. Lastly, the full-filtered search associated with the Boolean operators' search strategy resulted in 198 from EBCSO and 145 from Emerald Insight articles, respectively.

The basic research from both databases resulted in 3,640 articles, advanced search from both databases resulted in 794 articles and full-filtered search from both databases resulted in 343 articles.

The process of screening studies is an integral part of conducting an SLR within the PRISMA framework. The researchers evaluated the titles and abstracts of the studies to determine their potential relevance to the research question and inclusion criteria. This led to the removal of 848 articles using Mendeley Reference Manager due to their inclusion in both databases. The parameters considered during the elimination process were based on author names, year of publication, title, journal name, publisher, volume and issue number. The record of studies that were processed further in the screening resulted in 1,655 articles.

During the further process, there were 1,549 articles excluded from the study, which belonged to the category of books, case studies, book chapters, working papers and articles published before 2013. After critically reviewing the title, abstract and keywords of the articles, 106 articles were retained for the next stage.

A systematic and transparent approach was followed during the eligibility and inclusion stage to ensure that studies meeting the predetermined criteria are included while minimizing the risk of bias or undue influence on the final results of the systematic review. In this stage of review, 25 full-text articles published in non-English languages, falling outside the scope of EdTech, and articles without the financial components were removed. Therefore, 81 full-text articles were zeroed on to be included in the SLR for a rigorous study to investigate the factors influencing the adoption or application of EdTech in educational finance among HEIs.

In this section of the study, the schematic representations of the deep analysis of 81 articles about the “EdTech financial ecosystem” are presented. These findings are visually depicted in Figure 2.

The key search words on the broader domain comprising of “EdTech,” “HEIs” and “finance” facilitated in laying the fundamental base for the SLR by adopting the PRISMA model, leading to gathering the findings from the shortlisted articles in the form of research methods, themes, challenges and unique contributions during the study.

The PRISMA model in SLR resulted in significant dimensions, as described in Figure 3, after a rigorous process from the eligible 81 full-text articles listed as below:

1. Learning ecosystem – HEIs use of EdTech has encouraged evolution of the learning ecosystem to enhance teaching and learning, increase accessibility and provide students with flexible learning options. They typically employ LMS as the central location for managing online courses and educational resources (Dabbagh and Castaneda, 2020).

2. Technological innovations - HEIs are at the cutting edge of innovation in a field that is dynamic and undergoing rapid change because they are constantly experimenting with and utilizing new technology to enhance teaching and learning procedures (Chugh et al., 2023).

3. Investment - The biggest challenge is raising the funds for the infrastructure required for online or hybrid learning. Additionally, funding will be needed for software updating, employee training and development (Bharathi et al., 2021).

4. Quality - Inadequate financing and investments in universities and colleges impair the quality of education and educational resources. Higher engagement and better learning results from a user interface and user experience. Engaging faculty and students in the development and evaluation of EdTech tools allows for feedback for continual improvement (Momani, 2023).

Figure 4 describes the generated themes comprising innovation, EdTech, digital education, investment, online learning, virtual learning and learning ecosystem. The allocation of financial resources is increasingly directed towards the development and advancement of educational technologies (Williamson, 2022). The integration of EdTech has brought about advancements in the classroom, allowing for a blended learning environment (Asia’s Fintech et al., 2022). This has resulted in enhanced communication and improved teaching and learning experiences for students. The utilization of emerging technologies and digital services enables the creation of innovative educational experiences, fosters opportunities for growth and improvement, enhances operational efficiencies and optimizes the effectiveness of learning and teaching activities (Dospinescu et al., 2019).

The allocation of resources towards the implementation of EdTech aims at enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the learning process on a huge investment (Williamson, 2021b). The prospective trajectory of education is underpinned by the utilization of quantitative financial valuation methodologies, which enable the anticipation of monetary gains derived from the allocation of funds toward EdTech (Williamson and Komljenovic, 2023). The integration of EdTech, especially automation, is poised to have a significant impact on the educational domain, facilitating educators in providing tailored and efficient learning experiences. The implementation of technology has the potential to revolutionize the administration and consumption of education, ultimately democratizing and increasing its accessibility on a worldwide level, provided it is executed well (Yiu et al., 2023).

It is imperative for HEIs to thoroughly assess the efficacy and consequences of new technologies before their implementation. The dearth of implementation of EdTech among the HEIs aspects that exert an influence on the implementation process encompasses a scientific investigation, environment, acceptability, adoption rate, appropriateness, feasibility, cost and sustainability (Psomas, 2021). The current research was aimed at examining the fundamental factors that exert a substantial influence on the acceptance and integration of EdTech within the domain of educational funding. It specifically focused on anticipating future article publishing in this area.

It can also be inferred that the majority of the previous contributions to the literature have applied the conceptual method, SLR, survey method and mixed methods in their research methodologies, which are summarized in Table 2.

Financing for future receivables can help EdTech (subscription model) produce multi-year upfront income. EdTech has long-term benefits for academic institutions, teachers and students. It can improve students' employability by equipping them with useful skills and lowering the financial burden associated with prolonged periods of unemployment or underemployment. Individualized learning may make the need for remedial classes or other instructional support less pressing, which could save money for educational institutions. Students can pursue higher education no matter where they live thanks to online learning resources and distance learning courses (Blignaut et al., 2022).

The findings of this study indicate that academic journals (Psomas and Antony, 2019) published in the selected databases tend to exhibit greater consistency when it comes to the presence of detailed abstracts that effectively outline the study’s purpose, research methodology, findings and implications. The aspiring researchers could explore some applied EdTech tools and resources (An and Oliver, 2021) comprised of LMSs, online collaboration tools, digital content, OER, adaptive learning software, gamification and simulations, mobile learning, data analytics and learning analytics.

EdTech has the potential to transform traditional teaching strategies, broaden educational access and satisfy a variety of learning needs. It can promote collaboration and communication, improve individualized learning, provide engaging and dynamic learning possibilities and provide prompt feedback. However, effective integration requires careful planning, effective implementation strategies and ongoing evaluation to ensure its impact on teaching and learning outcomes.