Geoffrey Alphonso, CEO at Alef Education.
getty
Memories of school tend to be one of the best recollections for many people, with reminiscences like attending your favorite teacher’s class or lessons learned that have changed our lives for the better.
Recently, there has been tremendous technological progress in every sector over the years, and education is no exception. Educators play an integral role in inspiring and motivating students, and in the current setting, they have created and adopted exceptional innovation and transformational methods in the world of educational technology (EdTech).
The learning process has been in a continuous state of evolution and the classroom anatomy has drastically changed. In addition to impacting the education industry significantly, the Covid-19 pandemic sparked an urgent digital revolution in this sector. Today, the sector is ushering its way into the meta-world with VR and AR competing with physical reality by providing immersive experiences and real-life interactive ecosystems in which individuals and objects can interact from the comfort of their homes. So what’s next?
Let’s look at some of the EdTech trends that have the power to impact the face of education.
On The Cusp Of A Meta(verse) World
Imagine visiting a historical site from the comfort of your classroom or home. In a virtual recreation of the real world, students can travel around sites, discover, ask questions and learn through the metaverse and immersive technology. Metaverse schools, site visits and virtual sporting arenas are all potential opportunities.
The ability to impart valuable lessons while enhancing learning experiences and improving the perception of the environment around them is part of what makes the metaverse so unique. Moreover, it also serves as an excellent platform to better help children with special needs. Children suffering from disabilities like autism tend to get distracted and are uncomfortable with physical interaction, but through it, they can slowly interact and respond to diverse scenarios.
Metaverse technology is still under development, but the education sector is already exploring it in the form of virtual field trips and STEM classes. With its capability to offer connected and engaging learning experiences, there are many opportunities growing within the metaverse for the EdTech sector.
Virtual Reality And Augmented Reality
By applying your theories to practice right away, virtual reality and augmented reality (VR/AR) increase the efficacy of teaching and learning while helping to reduce time and money expenditure.
The introduction of AR and VR in education has helped transform learning models by making them more experiential. Traditional instruction and educational experiments have been made easier with enhanced lessons on mobile devices.
VR and AR trends have enhanced learning experiences by introducing newer dimensions of reality in the palm of learners’ hands. It has been making complex concepts simpler to understand as students became able to virtually visit, explore and experience a wide range of subjects and lesson content.
Artificial Intelligence And Data
The primary focus of AI in education is to improve systems in schools by freeing time spent in admin and other tasks and allowing educators ample time to teach. When AI is combined with predictive analytics, it offers an integrated data set that can be used to transform the way students learn and how they get assessed.
AI and big data help create machine learning models which improve learning and processes. It can provide a detailed profile of each student’s abilities, strengths, weaknesses, needs, progress and behavior that can help teachers tailor lessons as per their requirements.
Additionally, big data can help process bulk amounts of data and predict student behaviors, progress and patterns. This in return allows schools to make effective teaching decisions to further enhance learning outcomes. AI, data and machine learning play a pivotal role in the EdTech sector facilitating personalized learning experiences for students.
Gamification
For years, teachers have been rewarding students for academic excellence and productivity. This helps students maximize their talent and develop more interest in lessons; however, such incentives don’t necessarily make the learning experience more enjoyable.
Educators are now leveraging gamification to boost the imagination and add excitement for children—especially if they are mostly dealing with challenging lessons and hard-to-grasp concepts such as complex science theories or coding classes. Making these lessons more entertaining and interactive can help boost students’ concentration and comprehension levels.
As tablets and computers become increasingly prevalent in classrooms, gamification tools can help complement traditional learning methods and improve results.
Asynchronous Learning
Asynchronous learning is a new form of online learning that helps students set the pace as per their convenience and schedule. Asynchronous learning differs vastly from the traditional synchronous learning methods and has proved to be more effective for students across different time zones and locations.
Over the years, asynchronous learning has emerged as one of the top EdTech trends not just for students, but also professionals who aim at upskilling themselves through side courses.
Conclusion
The education sector has come a long way with technologies transforming the approaches and modes of teaching and learning. In the current scenario, education is not just only providing knowledge and hoping that students keep up the pace, but also offering them resources to learn smartly and develop indispensable skills. But ultimately, learning can only be successful when students are genuinely interested, and this is the common factor among the biggest trends in EdTech today.
Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
