Centering teachers in designing and implementing EdTech interventions using the High Touch High Tech approach

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mEducation Alliance

October 2025

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Education systems are outdated

• Many of today’s education systems were developed 200 years ago with little transformation over the centuries.
• The organizational structure of the education sector in most countries has been marked by standardization rather than customization, providing little space to adapt to students’ potential and needs
• Over the past 15 years, randomized evaluations have shown that Teaching at the Right Level i.e. reorienting teaching to the level of the student, consistently improves learning outcomes.

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Why is this important?

Over the past 15 years randomized evaluations have shown that Teaching at the Right Level, or reorienting teaching to the level of the student, consistently improves learning outcomes. There is promising evidence of using technology to do this, including a 2020 EdTech Hub evidence review by Major and Francis:

There has also been interest from governments for developing 'higher order' skills, yet teachers have very little time and often little training on how to do this when there is such variability of learning in the classroom 

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• Technology-supported personalized learning appears to offer significant promise to improve learning outcomes, including potentially for ‘out-of-class’ and ‘out-of-school’ learning.
• The adaptive nature of technology-supported personalized learning to ‘teach at the right level’ is key
• Technology-supported personalized learning may be most beneficial in closing educational gaps for lower attaining students
• Any introduction of personalized learning technology should be interpreted as enhancing the importance of the teacher
• Governments have highlighted the need to build teacher capacity– teachers aren’t always trained in the latest pedagogy and in digital skills
• However, the implications for cost, infrastructure, scale and cost-effectiveness are unclear 

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Major, L. & Francis, G. A. (2020). Technology-supported personalised learning: Rapid Evidence Review. EdTechHub. 10.5281/zenodo.3948175. Available at: https://edtechhub.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Rapid-Evidence-Review_-Technology-supported-personalised-learning.pdf

High Touch High Tech Approach

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Adaptive learning software can help students remember and understand knowledge.

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This is combined with personalized teaching where teachers provide individual support to each student, based on data from the adaptive software, as well as using active learning approaches to teach higher-order skills.

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The HTHT approach includes systemically building teacher capacity and digital skills.

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Integrating adaptive technologies 

with tailored support by teachers has potential to provide personalized learning at scale

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Cambodia

Personalized Learning in Low Resource Settings

Key Features:

• Schools have basic device access and internet connectivity
• Teacher training through Teach For Cambodia teacher development program with continuous coaching
• Students spend:
• 1-2 hours per week in the computer room using adaptive software (some students share device, using rotation model)
• 4 hours per week in the traditional math classroom for active learning instruction
• MoEYS district coordination initiated
• Before HTHT, 95% of students had no experience using computers

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Partners: Teach For Cambodia, Ministry of Education Youth and Sport (MoEYS)

EdTech: Maths Pathway - adaptive learning platform, enabling personalized math instruction (localized into Khmer, aligned to national curriculum)

Subjects: Math (Grades 7–8)

Size: 9 public schools in Kandal and Phnom Penh, 13 teachers, 2,321 students

Cambodia

Emerging Outcomes

HTHT has already led to significant shifts in teaching practices across schools. Teachers have moved from traditional lecture-based models towards facilitation and using real-time data from the platform to target support more effectively.

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Outcomes

• Teachers adapted instruction to better meet individual learning needs, using data from the platform to group students and provide mini-lessons or one-on-one support.
• Greater learner attendance, persistence and self-belief
• Increased comfort with technology and digital skills
• Endline data collection ongoing – impact evaluation results by the end of the year

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“Real-time data from the system has really changed the way I support my students. In my previous teaching experience, I honestly didn’t know how many of them were falling behind or exactly where they were struggling. Now, I can see clearly who needs help and in which areas.”�

Sokhao, a math teacher at Puk Russey High School

Kandal Province, Cambodia

Philippines

Bridging the Digital Learning Divide

Key Features:

• Teacher training, coaching, classroom observation by Ayala coaches
• Full package of one-on-one device (tablet) and connectivity (Starlink) support in low-resource settings.
• Community involvement was prioritized and communities pay for Starlink
• Students spend:
• 1 session (45 minutes) per week every Thursday using adaptive software
• 4 sessions per week in the traditional math classroom
• Close coordination with Department of Education provincial office.

Partners: Ayala Foundation, Department of Education

EdTech: Khan Academy (free tool in English adapted to local curriculum)

Subjects: Math (Grades 4–6)

Size: 9 public schools in Zambales, 27 teachers, 1,558 students

Philippines

Bridging the Digital Learning Divide

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Outcomes

• Teacher transformation - Teachers increasingly used real‑time dashboards to group students, design remediation and enrichment, and deliver data‑informed instruction.
• Learner shifts - Students showed stronger persistence, math identity, and motivation; disengaged learners began to thrive with personalized pacing and gamified progress tracking.
• Community buy‑in - Barangay leaders endorsed HTHT; schools integrated the model into improvement plans. Ayala Foundation secured funding to expand to additional schools.
• Preliminary findings indicate that students in the HTHT group achieved higher mathematic gains than those in the control group – equivalent to about four additional months of learning. Final results will be published later this year.

“I used to feel bad when I got things wrong, but now, I know mistakes are part of learning.”�John, Grade 5 student, Philippines

Previous Pilots

What Changed for Teachers

• Able to differentiate instruction, feel more confident using data
• Shifted from one-size-fits-all to student-centered instruction using real-time learning data
• Gained confidence in integrating technology into math instruction
• Learned to analyze student performance dashboards to target learning gaps
• Increased ability to facilitate peer collaboration and promote active learning
• Reported more productive classroom culture with increased students' engagement and agency

Teacher Esthefanie from a HTHT school in Zambales conducts a reteaching session for students who scored lower based on real-time data, while higher-scoring students work independently on more advanced activities.

“After integrating the HTHT model, I’ve seen a big difference. Students are building a stronger foundation through the high-tech component, which allows me to teach the content much more effectively and efficiently in the high-touch sessions.

Sreynith, a second-year math teacher at Hun Sen Ksach Kandal High School, Cambodia

Where We Go From Here

• In current countries, continue and expand
• Deepen teacher training and coaching, including collaborating with local universities
• Developing a scaling framework to help  think through national expansion and cost effectiveness
• Work with partners to pilot and adapt HTHT in new countries
• Create an HTHT toolkit to support knowledge sharing and institutionalization of HTHT approach

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HIGH TOUCH HIGH TECH FOR ALL

SCALING IMPACT, TOGETHER

HTHT Philippines �