The authors surveyed more than 2,000 educators, spoke with education and technology experts, and examined other factors to compile a list of learning strategies and technology features most pivotal in social and emotional learning’s success.
Their research led to three key opportunities to use technology in promoting social and emotional learning:
Capitalize on what works: Parents, educators and caregivers can benefit from ed-tech products with featuring that already promote social and emotional learning.
Embed social and emotional learning into foundational ed-tech products: Finding innovative ways to embed social and emotional learning features into products that support foundational academic skills can help spread social and emotional learning to areas where there are already investments.
Expand the realm of the possible: New technologies such as wearable devices and virtual reality can help students master social and emotional skills. They also offer potential for new learning strategies.
Barriers to spreading social and emotional learning through technology do exist, as noted by the authors, and they include limited awareness, insufficient prioritization, lack of consensus about measurements, low levels of funding and resources, and an inadequate supply of programs and products.
Stakeholders have key roles to play when it comes to promoting social and emotional learning through technology, according to the authors.
Policy makers, educators, parents, researchers, and technology developers will have to combine their efforts to prioritize efforts that make social and emotional learning a top goal.
Developing standards and ratings processes should be a key stakeholder priority, according to the report, along with creating social and emotional learning pilots or programs and focusing on funding and other resources to support such programs.
- Children learn best on paper: We need better technology, not less of it - July 13, 2026
- In districts, reaching readiness, retention, and success - March 5, 2026
- AI use is on the rise, but is guidance keeping pace? - January 2, 2026