The education sector is experiencing a digital transformation that started a few years back but has been greatly accelerated by the last two years’ events. The shift to online learning and cloud-based delivery platforms cut across different stages of education, from primary education to tertiary education. Beyond this, the constant change in the workforce’s needs in this industry has led to changes in the relationship between education providers such as universities and colleges and adult learners.
The educational technology sector is fast-growing, and it’s projected to be worth up to $680M by 2027. This is mostly due to cloud services, virtual reality and mobile technology bringing about new possibilities to make learning more accessible and immersive. This means that certain trendy technologies drive educational technology.
These are some of the top trends driving education technology in 2022
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (VR and AR)
VR and AR provide students with exciting learning opportunities. Rather than being restricted to reading texts or watching videos about a topic, they can experience the topic concept in 3D through VR and AR technologies. These technologies have an endless list of applications in education. Some students can use them to travel virtually to landmarks and museums, while medical students can learn the basics of their interaction with patients during emergencies and provide accurate diagnoses. Although these technologies were introduced into the education sector out of necessity due to the pandemic, there are many possibilities with these technologies that we’re only starting to explore.
Cloud computing
Cloud computing is another rising technology trend defining the education sector. It is like the infrastructure that keeps the trillions of data that are the traces humans leave in the digital world. It is also how various services are delivered through the internet. With cloud-based storage, people get to save files in remote databases rather than keeping them on local storage devices or proprietary hard drives. This technology has influenced several industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, financial services and retail industry. The education sector has not been left behind too.
There are now several cloud-based LMSs (Learning Management Systems) used to ensure online learning for students in the education sector. These systems are convenient to use and can provide an efficient learning environment for the students across different stages of education. Teachers can use it to create teaching plans, observe the students’ digital behaviours, contact the students and receive feedback from them.
Remote learning
During the pandemic, the remote learning teaching model was enforced for schools and colleges to avoid brain drain and ensure students could continue learning while on lockdown in their homes. However, like others, this model has been on for a while and was only accelerated by the pandemic. It has become mainstream now, and the e-learning service is now predicted to reach $50 billion with a yearly growth of 15% between 2020 and 2025.
With e-learning, school-age students can learn skills and subjects that aren’t taught locally. While higher institution students can enjoy the benefit of having to learn while being able to face other commitments such as work and family responsibilities.
This learning model is also increasingly popular for workplace training, and it helps organizations save funds. Additionally, many people take advantage of this technology to take on recreational learning and other forms of learning driven by their interests outside of the academic or professional sphere. For example, the Duolingo app allows people to learn new languages remotely, while other apps like Flowkey allow people to learn how to play musical instruments.
Artificial Intelligence and Automation
Artificial intelligence (AI) has had a huge impact on almost every part of human life, and the education sector is also a part of this. This sector is currently experiencing the deployment of software-driven self-learning algorithms, with the ability to get better at the tasks it’s assigned to fulfil. The benefit of this is that educators can automate their work’s repetitive aspects, such as grading exam papers. This technology also helps to provide remote learning and other personalized forms of education.
An example of this is the Altitude Learning System, which uses artificial intelligence to suggest a personalized learning pathway for school-age children. Adaptive learning is another similar concept in which the course is adapted to the learner’s needs as they continue to progress through it. There are also reports of schools in china implementing an artificial intelligence system using facial recognition to determine if students are attentive in class. This technology scans the students’ faces with computers powered by computer vision algorithms.
Schools have also started to deploy AI-powered personal assistants like Amazon’s Alexa. A device called Merlyn has been created to help teachers present their lessons in class and manage the classroom.
Gamification
Teachers have long adopted the concept of gamification for children. It’s effective for getting the students engaged in subjects, habits, and activities that they otherwise would not be interested in. elements of games in education, including competitions and prizes, make learning more fun and rewarding.
Education technology takes gamification to another level. There are now numerous online games that students play to learn, with online courses offering certificates and awards upon completion. This is particularly important to help retain children’s interest in learning. Several websites thrive on gamification in education. An example of this is abcya.com which provides school-age kids with online games for learning subjects and concepts such as reading, math, strategy, and other skills. There are many websites like this, and while some are free, others have paid premium options.
Conclusion
The education sector has not been left out of the technological advancement the world is experiencing. While there are still several opportunities for technology to grow in this sector, the current growth is driven by certain educational trends, some of which this article discusses.
Author Bio
Dennis Lodge is a freelance journalist, blogger and copywriter who writes unique and research-based content on business, careers, education and job search strategies. He’s also a constant contributor to writing websites like collegessaywriter.com and essay-reviewer.com.
Photo Credit: Pixabay
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