Introduction
Beyond the argument that technology has negatively impacted student learning schedules, EdTech has proven to be useful. Currently, the time students spend studying can be put to the best use, as their growth is completely under their control: they can either make an effort to stand out or miss out on opportunities.
Of course, the global COVID-19 pandemic, with its massive lockdowns, cannot be seen as the only factor boosting demand for EdTech application development services. However, it has had an impact on the industry to support its growth. According to a recent report, the global EdTech market was estimated at $88.82 billion in 2021. And that figure is expected to reach $101.64 billion in 2022. But how can we use technology to improve education, and what are the types and trends of EdTech applications? Let’s look into this in our article.
Ways Technology Improves Education
Digital Models and Simulations
In traditional teaching, it is sometimes difficult for students to grasp a certain concept. Digital models and simulations can help students not only gain a better understanding of various disciplines, but also experience the wonders of the modern world.
The technology has also proved to support teachers, who sometimes find it difficult to explain certain things within a physical classroom. Tech-savvy teachers can prepare their lessons more strategically, including different types of text, action models, and interactive controls for students.
Enhanced Communication
Communication is an integral part of any activity. And when it comes to education, ineffective communication is simply unacceptable. With the advent of technology, gaps in communication have been bridged and the flow of knowledge has been smoothed. Whether in a traditional or a virtual classroom, with online collaboration tools, anyone can simply create a community where teachers assign projects to their students in real time and students can ask for clarification, if they need any.
As a bonus, colleagues can also easily interact with each other on any subject matter.
Advanced Research
These days, cloud storage has made research much easier for students. Gone are the days when they had to look through piles of books to find a specific link to improve their assignments and projects. With the development of technology, research has become a fairly quick task.
Since a lot of time is saved during research, students can use a lot of information and knowledge in their projects. In addition, it is now possible to acquire various solutions and results from anywhere in the world, which is probably the most obvious benefit that a student can receive. And it’s all thanks to giant search engines.
Improved Assessments
With the help of digital simulations and models, teachers can not only prepare lessons efficiently, but also know about the progress of their students.
There is software with the help of which teachers can grade their students in real time. Such software is designed to help teachers keep abreast of all the student records, such as the number and volume of learning assignments, how long students need to solve a problem, etc. This is a way to help teachers know what their students are struggling with and what can be done to improve the situation.
Personal Learning Pace
Needless to say, self-directed digital learning is another big benefit that students are enjoying with the advent of technology in the education industry. When they decide to learn a particular concept and encounter a difficulty, there is no need to simply skip it. While there are some fast learners who can adapt quickly, there are others who take a considerable amount of time to absorb an idea. Such students can now easily keep up with their peers by taking their time to fully understand the lessons with an online curriculum designed exclusively for them.
Online Collaboration
The idea of group learning has been made possible in cyberspace. Now students don’t have to get together physically, because online collaboration platforms allow them to go above and beyond from the comfort of their homes. There, students can not only discuss and chat, but also exchange documents and notes. This practice has proven to be a great option for students that are assigned a group project.
Open Education
In our technologically revolutionised world, there are many free options available at various prestigious universities. No matter where you are, you can simply go online through your device and search for the options you need. Because the world of the Internet can provide you with better search results and help your educational needs, your grades don’t have to suffer anymore.
Trends in Educational Technology
eLearning
eLearning is education or training conducted electronically. These can be slide-based online classes, as well as online courses that help businesses train employees in the necessary skills.
In eLearning, educational content is delivered to students through their devices. This not only saves time, but also opens up many opportunities for interactive learning. Instead of being passive, students can quickly and easily choose what they need to learn from wherever they are. They also learn by interacting directly with the information on the screen, such as dragging content from one place to another.
With eLearning, students simply absorb knowledge by reading or viewing content, so it changes the way they receive education. In addition, many eLearning courses include animations, podcasts, and videos that create a multi-modal and hands-on learning experience.
Teachers are taking advantage of technology to improve learning effectiveness. This is why more and more online and blended learning courses are being created nowadays.
Diversity is an outstanding feature of digital learning platforms. You can teach your students in real time or use recorded methods with a wide range of multimedia and digital features available to enrich the lessons. A good online learning platform can also be combined with a Learning Management System (LMS) so you can track your students’ learning outcomes.
Video Assistance
In recent years, video-assisted learning has become increasingly popular as a classroom demonstration. Video Day is no longer a TV on a cart wheeled into a classroom. Thanks to the internet and digital devices, every day can be a “video day”.
This trend is also growing rapidly in a distance learning environment, where students learn through their computer screens. Videos, especially animated ones, are extremely useful for enriching lessons and making content easier to understand. This improves student outcomes and reduces the workload for teachers.
Blockchain
Distributed ledger technology (DLT) from blockchain brings many benefits to education, especially data storage. Every time new data is added, it adds another “block” to the system, so storage is technically limitless. At the same time, the data will be encrypted and distributed to multiple computers in the system. This makes data transactions decentralised and transparent.
Blockchain technology is used in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and portfolios to test skills and knowledge. DLT systems will solve the problems of authentication, scale and cost for eLearning agencies. In addition, it can help student applicants to publish their achievements at the job search stage.
Big Data
To meet the needs of students, the learning process must be personalised. And with the rise of COVID-19 and online learning, we now have more data than ever before. The curriculum developers now have access to relevant information about the learner experience to customise and present courses in the most appropriate format. Some of the information you should pay attention to is the topic of the course, student enrolment, student performance (course time, completion, test score), and student feedback (ranking, survey).
Artificial Intelligence
People predicted that by 2022, artificial intelligence could become the main trend and grow by more than 45%. So why is this trend thriving in one of the world’s largest EdTech marketplaces? First of all, AI can automate basic activities in education, such as grading. Teachers can now automate the evaluation of multiple-choice questions and fill-in-the-blank questions. Thus, automated assessment of student writing may not be far behind.
In addition, AI can benefit both students and educators. For example, students may seek help from AI teachers when the teachers are too busy to take care of everyone. In addition, AI-driven programs can provide useful feedback to both students and teachers. This is why some schools use artificial intelligence systems to monitor student progress and alert teachers to possible problems with student achievement. Thus, it is not an overstatement to say that artificial intelligence is a powerful learning aid in the classroom.
Gamification
If you are looking for a way to turn learning into a more fun and engaging process, gamification is the right choice in regards to educational technology. There is no reason for students not to actively participate in class games, as they can learn and practise by taking part in exciting game activities. Plus, game elements help create a fun and positive learning environment for students.
The adoption of gamification is popular in the education sector because children quickly engage in game videos and feel incentivised to get higher scores in a game. However, this does not mean that higher education or corporate training does not need fun elements to increase student engagement as well.
VR and AR
The learning process in the classroom has undergone huge changes since VR and AR came into education. The growing demand for experiential learning is pushing the development of education using virtual and augmented reality.
And VR and AR can now be much more interactive than traditional teaching methods. While VR provides a constructed reality, AR provides an enhanced representation of the real image. In this way, they help to explain complex concepts that simple pictures or even practical experiments in the lab would not be able to demonstrate. For example, virtual reality is very useful when you attend a medical training course. In particular, VR gives students the opportunity to experience real surgeries in a low-risk environment.
STEAM
STEAM-based programs are a new evolution of EdTech over STEM programs. This new branch of EdTech applies meaningful science, technology, engineering, art (the new element), and maths content to solve real world problems through hands-on practice and creative design.
As for the benefits of STEAM, firstly, it helps students to become more and more interested in the world around them. In addition, it also creates a safe environment for students to express and test their ideas while thinking outside the box. The convenience of hands-on learning also helps learners collaborate better with others.
Educational Technology Solutions
Immersive Technologies
Immersive technologies help create completely new experiences, breaking down the boundaries between real and simulated or virtual reality. Speaking of these technologies, we should mention AR, VR, and MR (mixed reality that combines elements of AR and VR).
The main advantages of immersive technologies in eLearning solutions are:
- More active student involvement;
- The opportunity to get acquainted with places that cannot be visited in reality;
- Development of problem solving and critical thinking skills in an unusual virtually created environment;
- Improving communication and cooperation skills in students;
- Immersive technologies can be effectively used in applications for different target groups: from software for preschool children to corporate eLearning solutions.
Coding and Technology
With the continuous digitalization of all areas of our lives, there is no doubt that the demand for software development services will grow in the near future. As a result, the job market will offer a wide range of jobs for developers and engineers, making programming one of the most in-demand skills.
Gamified courses help educate kids and give them the help they need to decide whether coding can be their future career or not.
It is interesting to note that while most of these solutions are aimed at younger students, adults can also benefit from them.
The main advantages of platforms for learning programming are:
- Exciting and attractive environment;
- Opportunity to master one’s skills from an early age;
- Learning through gamification;
- Communication with players who share one’s interests;
- Good performance tracking.
LMS
This type of EdTech software is intended for companies that provide educational services, organise courses, seminars, etc. Learning Management Systems (LMS) are platforms designed to collect all learning-related data and materials, as well as administer and track learning processes.
Such platforms can be thought of as a type of enterprise software, such as customer relationship management systems, HR, or content management systems. In the case of LMS, their functions are developed according to the specific needs of educational institutions of various types.
LMS advantages are:
- Organisation of eLearning content in one place;
- Easy access to all eLearning materials;
- Simple ways to monitor student progress and performance;
- Reducing paperwork and the risk of human error;
- New opportunities to reduce training costs;
- Employee engagement.
Today, there are many ready-to-use learning management systems that offer some room for customization to suit your requirements. Today, however, many educational centres and course providers choose to run their own LMS to ensure that the software is fully aligned with their business processes.
Early Learning
While the use of educational technology solutions in the classroom is becoming more common, software for preschoolers is still a relatively new phenomenon due to the requirements for such applications, given the age of the target group and their low technical skills. At the same time, the early integration of gadgets into the educational process provides an increase in digital literacy among the youngest students.
Such applications may not be designed to study any specific subjects, but to gain the most basic knowledge about various areas of daily life.
The main reasons for using educational technology solutions in preschool education are:
- A wide range of available learning materials;
- Promoting early digital literacy;
- Opportunity to have fun while learning.
SEL (Social-Emotional Learning)
Social learning software provides soft skills development with a focus on students’ mental well-being, emotional abilities, and social life.
There are five core SEL competencies. These include self-management, self-awareness, social awareness, responsible decision-making, and relationship skills. SEL helps children and teens become more compassionate and confident, and teaches them how to express themselves and communicate.
Benefits of SEL EdTech applications are:
- Personalised learning;
- Improved evaluation and tracking of performance;
- Better understanding of student needs;
- Convenient forms of communication.
Online Courses
Speaking about modern technology solutions for education, one cannot fail to mention online course platforms. This type of software is not something extremely new, but the wave of popularity that came to these platforms in 2020 amid the coronavirus lockdown has had everyone talking about them ever since.
It is important to note that today people are not only studying academic subjects or something necessary for their career, but also new things for fun, self-development, and mental growth. And online platforms offer more than enough resources for this.
Why are online courses gaining popularity?
- Convenient learning from anywhere;
- Flexibility and effective time management;
- Access to a wide range of materials;
- Opportunity to develop self-discipline and responsibility;
- Reduced academic pressure;
- Lower training costs and free options.
Conclusion
In the end, we know there’s a lot to digest when talking about EdTech trends. However, keep in mind that technology has infiltrated education and has revamped the entire teaching and learning process. Especially eLearning, an educational tool that not only increases the accessibility and convenience of learning, but also changes the structure of the learning process and increases the students’ desire to learn.
But the good news is that you don’t have to sail this EdTech ship alone, because you have us joining you in unlocking the true value of learning by making education more relevant and empowering. We are here to help you on your educational technology solutions journey, and we look forward to working with you. Just fill the contact form and our experienced team will contact you to discuss further interactions.
