Education, as we know it today, is taking a fluid shape and size. It is now not just limited to thick textbooks and a bag full of study material. The conventional model of education is witnessing a transformation. This transformation is being driven and directed keeping technology at the helm. We see seminars, educational meet-ups, conferences, parent-teacher meets, and classes taking place over the internet. This said revolution has not occurred overnight and is definitely not the final frontier of what we today refer to as “Education Technology” or “EdTech”.
To put it simply, EdTech or Education Technology is the incorporation of technology into education. Varied mediums and channels are utilized to share information, keeping the learning aspect in the center. Lesson plans are no longer lengthy process maps on papers, students’ inventory management is not only limited to stocky record books and classes no longer require the tangible presence, neither of the teacher nor the student.
The world struggled (and it still is) to grapple with the outbreak of the virus in the earlier half of 2020. The pandemic changed the face and functioning of everything “normal”. At such a volatile conjecture, continuing with the customary means of education was off the cards. The collective uncertainty of such times have compelled institutions to resort to online modes of teaching. Be it Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom, a considerable chunk of students & teachers are observed trying to embrace the technological shift. Since the most primary condition of the pandemic is to avoid social meets and promote distancing, EdTech as a term has now begun to take rounds all over the world.
As humankind prepares to make the shift from offline to online, there still are a few underlying challenges that need to be addressed & shed light on. In order to have a standardized approach towards online learning, we need to first figure out the feasibility of tech tools being made available for every learner. Provided proper addressal of the said concern, EdTech has the potential to overtake the entire model of learning as we have known, seen, and accepted it ourselves, during our times.
Globally, the education and training industries combined account for disbursing more than $4 trillion, showing an immense increase since 2000 by a whopping 84 percent. Now these are some big figures, aren’t they? We will try to see the impact EdTech is projected to have if it is adopted as a globally standardized mode of learning.
- EdTech’s impact on Cost
We have seen that the traditional system of learning consumes great deals of resources. Material like paper, pen, ink, leather, and a multitude of other raw materials is expended in this mode. This deems the traditional mode of learning inefficient, considering the total cost of resources being spent.
An American survey highlighted that despite the huge spending on resources, reading and maths scores have remained stagnant and it is estimated that nearly 85% of every dollar spent on education is spent on delivering it.
However, cost-effectiveness is not the exclusive driving force in EdTech’s rise but it is an indispensably important factor in considering high educational expenditure and educational performance.
- Revamped user engagement and scope for a bigger learning impact
Students have been responding well to newer methods of learning. A number of factors have played a role in generating and maintaining student engagement throughout the last couple of years, as far as EdTech as a separate branch is concerned. Gamification, multi-media-based learning, casual mobile learning apps, and interactive learning platforms are creating a major transition in the way content is presented & received; it is getting immersive and seamless.
Given the above factors, EdTech is not only significant in shaping the way our future gen will be looking at education but also for being ready for a constantly evolving, changing, and uncertain world.
