CIDDL Office Hours: CIDDL Needs Assessment

During this CIDDL Office Hour session, Cheryl Lemke, President and CEO of The Metiri Group, shared early findings from CIDDL’s 2026 Needs Assessment, offering a timely look at how higher education faculty and preparation programs are thinking about educational technology, artificial intelligence, and assistive technology. As CIDDL begins a new five-year cycle, the needs assessment provides an important snapshot of the field’s current priorities and emerging concerns. A central message from the session was clear: faculty are no longer simply asking which tools to use, but are asking deeper questions about pedagogy, student learning, accessibility, ethics, and how to prepare future educators for increasingly AI-rich K–12 environments.

Why This Matters

Teacher preparation programs are working in a rapidly changing educational landscape. AI and educational technology are now shaping how educators plan instruction, create materials, support accessibility, personalize learning, and manage professional tasks (CIDDL, 2024). At the same time, faculty are navigating concerns about academic integrity, cognitive offload, misinformation, and the potential use of AI without a clear instructional purpose. CIDDL’s 2026 Needs Assessment directly identifies these needs from the field. It suggests that faculty want practical, research-informed, and instructionally grounded resources to help them prepare future teachers to use AI and technology responsibly.

What the Needs Assessment Shows

Cheryl explained that CIDDL conducts an annual needs assessment to guide product and service development. This year’s data collection is especially important because it marks the first year of CIDDL’s new five-year contract. So far, the needs assessment included 173 valid respondents after bot responses were removed. Of those respondents, 52% represented institutions of higher education, 44% represented K–12 settings, and 4% represented national or state organizations.

During the Office Hour, Cheryl focused on the higher education portion of the data, which included 90 respondents. Nearly 80% of respondents in higher education had responsibilities related to special education. This makes the findings especially relevant to CIDDL’s work in special education, teacher preparation, and assistive technology.

Key Findings

One major theme was the need for stronger connections between higher education preparation programs and current K–12 practice. Faculty preparing future teachers want to understand how AI, educational technology, and assistive technology are actually being used in schools. This connection is important because pre-service teachers need preparation that reflects the classrooms they will enter, especially as AI and technology become more visible in K–12 instruction, accessibility, and professional practice.

The strongest need identified was for practical examples. Respondents wanted to see how K–12 educators are using AI and educational technology in authentic instructional contexts. They were especially interested in examples that could support pre-service teacher preparation, including lesson planning, case studies, reading-level adaptation, rubrics, assessments, multimodal learning, and content creation. This suggests that many faculty may already understand the general importance of AI and educational technology, but they need concrete models they can bring into their courses.

Faculty also expressed interest in short learning segments on AI and educational technology that they could adapt and use directly in their own preparation programs. These resources could help faculty introduce AI, assistive technology, and educational technology without having to build everything from scratch. Respondents also showed interest in case studies, research briefs, videos, topic-based series, strategic planning support, and online community engagement. Together, these findings suggest that faculty need resources at different levels: quick examples for immediate classroom use, structured learning materials for courses, and deeper professional learning opportunities for sustained engagement.

Burning Issues in AI and EdTech

Cheryl also shared several “burning issues” that respondents raised about AI and educational technology. One concern was that educators might focus too much on catching students using AI rather than teaching them to use it effectively and responsibly. This points to a larger shift needed in education: AI should not be framed only as a cheating problem, but as a tool that students need to learn how to evaluate, question, and use strategically.

Another concern was the need to help students apply theoretical knowledge when using AI. AI can lighten students’ workload, but students still need enough background knowledge to judge whether AI output makes sense. They need to know when to accept, revise, question, or reject what AI provides. Faculty also raised concerns about cognitive overload and cognitive offloading, particularly the risk that students may lose opportunities to think deeply or apply their knowledge if AI is used without guidance.

Finally, respondents emphasized the challenge of preparing faculty. Questions about whether AI use is ethical, accessible, and instructionally sound remain central. Faculty need guidance, standards, and examples to make informed decisions about AI integration. These concerns show that AI integration is not only a technical issue but also a pedagogical, ethical, and professional-preparation issue.

Conclusion

CIDDL’s 2026 Needs Assessment shows a field in transition. AI and educational technology are becoming central to conversations about teacher preparation, special education, and student learning. At the same time, the findings make clear that faculty do not simply need more tools. They need practical examples, usable learning segments, research-informed guidance, and human-centered frameworks for responsible implementation.

The needs assessment offers a clear direction: support educators in using AI and educational technology in practical and deeply connected ways to learning.

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CIDDL is committed to providing high-quality resources to support the growing knowledge, adoption, and use of educational technologies by educators, related services, and leadership preparation programs. For more resources, including videos and blogs, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn. The most important part of our CIDDL community is YOU. Join our community and share the innovative ways you are using technology, ask a question about technology integration, or participate in our bi-weekly live AI Community Chats. We look forward to seeing you in our community!