A majority (86 percent) of educators believe that technology needs in schools will increase over the next three years, according to a recent survey by the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education and Human Development and the EdTech Evidence Exchange, a nonprofit affiliated with the university.

With the sudden shift to remote learning due to COVID-19, achievement gaps among students in U.S. schools widened. But technology may be a key resource for addressing that challenge and its lasting impact on student learning, educators said.

“The results of this research underscore the critical role that technology must play in helping schools provide individualized — and equitable — instruction in the coming months,” Dr. Robert Pianta, dean of the Curry School of Education and board chair of the EdTech Evidence Exchange, said in a press release. “In the wake of the pandemic, it’s become more urgent than ever that we work to better understand what technologies work in what contexts — so that schools and districts can select and implement edtech in ways that can improve learning outcomes and mitigate persistent racial and socioeconomic disparities.”