Disruptive Tech Trends in Modern Learning
How EdTech May Usher in a Major Transformation in Modern Learning
How EdTech is Set to Transform Modern Learning Formats
Early humans invented weapons to aid them in hunting as well as defending themselves. Penicillin, the world’s first commercially distributed antibiotic, was developed as a reaction to the horrors of infection and sepsis soldiers acquired during World War I. The telephone was invented as a faster and more reliable means of communication than post.
Imagine a world without missile defense systems, mortality without modern medical science, and even an evening at home without a TV to binge on your favorite Spectrum TV channels. You must had heard this thing while using the online Spectrum bill pay service. Technological progress is not just linear. It can have an aggregate impact, snowballing into better and better iterations every time. However, education and learning methods, despite all the progress over the last century, have largely remained unchanged.
EdTech is The Face of Evolution in Learning
The schools and accumulated knowledge of today offer better and more learning-conducive environments than ever before. Yet, most learning systems didn’t evolve beyond students using the internet for research and emailing their assignments to a professor. For a very long time, advancements in education technology haven’t been keeping pace with other disciplines like FinTech or MarTech. But, historically, necessity has dictated invention for millennia. Some of the world’s most groundbreaking technological advancements were the result of a pressing need for change. Since the COVID-19 outbreak in 2019 that became a full-fledged pandemic by early 2020, the modern world has never faced a greater challenge.
Economies, sectors, organizations, businesses, and just about any other activity came to a grinding halt. If it wasn’t for the internet penetration levels built up over the last decade, most firms and organizations operating today would have likely suffered heavy losses. But businesses found it surprisingly easy to transition over into a remote working format. Education sectors, however, were far less agile and far more rigid during the crisis, leading to frustration and haphazard learning protocols. Luckily, with the emerging EdTech discipline, we may finally see transformation in learning, including:
Offer Better Access to Education Everywhere
One of the best things about EdTech is that the tools needed to use it already exist in most homes. A high-speed internet service is more or less a basic household utility now. Most homes have at least one smartphone, tablet, or computer in their home as well. EdTech systems and apps can easily be downloaded to these devices and used for learning. All without having to consider the expenses of food and accommodations when you relocate for a 4-year undergraduate degree. All a student or educator needs is a compatible device and an internet service.
Analytics Can Help Improve Digital Learning Systems
Like any digital system, EdTech software systems typically gather data on their users. This helps the company that makes the software identify key bottlenecks or service gaps. Once identified, all the software firm has to do is create an update patch and notify users to download it. There’s typically no technical knowledge required from either student users or educators. All they have to do is click a button and wait for the improved version to install. Data gathering and using it for improvement is a constant process. So, you can expect EdTech systems to continue to improve with each update.
Automating Tasks Can Help Teachers Offer Individual Attention
Many educators with a passion for teaching complain of the administrative workload. This can include stuff like grading papers, pushing paperwork, and bureaucratic protocols. Administrative work rarely has anything to do directly with learning. But it keeps teachers occupied, inhibiting their ability to personalize learning experiences in diverse classrooms. Luckily, EdTech systems can grade papers and issue assignments on their own. The automation takes on much of the administrative grunt work, leaving educators free to enrich the learning experience.
Automation Can Help Improve the Allocation of Learning Budgets
Automation helps free up an educator’s schedule so that they can focus more on education than administration. But that is just one aspect of a much larger benefit to the learning process. Educational institutes, typically the ones that rely on government funding, have limited budgets. That means they need to be able to prioritize where they spend it. Enriched education is usually a top priority for any learning institutes. But they also have many other expenses, like maintaining a faculty, running student support services, sports facilities, staff, labs, and much more. We have smart homes, so why not smart schools that maximize the utility of every dollar spent from a school budget?
