The COVID-19 pandemic has left a significant impact on how we teach and learn. Discovering innovative tools and educational software solutions amid the challenging year 2020 almost felt like Mission: Impossible at times for educational institutions. There’s no “wrong answer” when adopting digital technology to improve remote learning initiatives. However, certain initiatives need prioritization to improve outcomes for both the students and educators.
Big Data, Machine Learning, and the Internet of Things (IoT) were the most significant innovative technology trends in 2019. But, distance learning is the current trend that rules them all. Students currently need to become acclimated to distance learning through digital platforms due to social distancing. Even though some schools and universities have started opening, this trend is expected to continue through 2021. The latest EdTech trends for 2021 are being reshaped with a spotlight on collaboration, connectivity, and versatility.
Why Does Technology Matter in Education?
EdTech means facilitating learning and improving performance by utilizing, creating and managing the right technological processes and resources for most people. However, according to educators, EdTech is the concept of digitalization of traditional book learning. In EdTech, the main difference lies in how education is delivered with innovative technology to make learning more effective. To define EdTech more precisely, it is the process of integrating technology into education to build better teaching experiences that lead to higher learning outcomes. Let’s take a look at the top five tech trends in education for 2021.
1. eLearning-
Distance learning became the top educational technology trend in 2020 almost overnight in the new reality after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. The closure of schools and universities to check the virus’s spread led to a spike in online educational platforms’ demand. Delivery of education or training electronically is termed as eLearning. Hardware devices such as laptops, desktops, tablets, and smartphones are used as mediums to deliver educational content. eLearning opens many doorways for interactive learning as rather than offering just a passive experience. It allows learners to choose what they want to learn quickly in a virtual environment. eLearning revolutionizes how education is delivered as the content includes audio and visual mediums videos, animations, and podcasts. Although eLearning has been around for some time, it is fast evolving to become indispensable for the education industry. An eLearning solution built by an experienced educational software development company comes with outstanding features. It allows educators to teach their students in real-time (synchronous) through live streaming or group meetings on Skype or Zoom, or recorded (asynchronous). When combined with a Learning Management System (LMS), a well-built online learning platform can help deliver enriching learning experiences and track the students’ learning outcomes.
1. Blockchain
Blockchain’s distributed ledger technology is beneficial in education, especially for data storage. Another block is added to the system whenever the data is updated, making data storage technically unlimited. Information is also encrypted while being distributed across networks and systems. Blockchain makes transacting data decentralized and transparent. In the education field, blockchain is used in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and ePortfolios for skills and knowledge verification.
2. Big Data
Post COVID-19, online education has witnessed a boom. Due to growing learners’ needs, the size of data sets has increased. Instructional Designers have relevant data about students’ experiences to customize and present the course in a suitable format. It would help if you searched for the course topic, student enrolment, student performance (time per course, consummation, test result), and student input (rating, overview).
3. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
In the US EdTech market, Artificial Intelligence is presently the “in thing”. SMEs anticipate that in 2021, AI could evolve into a primary trend, growing by over 45%. But why is AI booming in the world’s largest EdTech market? The foremost reason is, AI can help automate essential processes in education, such as grading. Educational instructors can now automate the grading of multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions. Both educators and learners can benefit from AI. For instance, students can seek help from AI tutors whence the educators are busy catering to other students. Likewise, AI-driven projects can give both the students and educators positive feedback. That is why schools and universities leverage AI frameworks to monitor student progress and issue alerts if there is an issue with the students’ performances. Henceforth, it’s not a farfetched idea to leverage AI as a powerful assistant for in-class teaching.
4. AR/VR to Drive Immersive Learning
The student learning experience has undergone a sea of change ever since Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) came into the education sector. The rise in demand for experiential learning has accelerated the development of AR and VR technologies. Learning has become more interactive than conventional techniques. While VR gives a built reality, AR gives an enhanced perspective on a real picture. Consequently, they help decipher complex concepts that simple images or even a lab’s experiments couldn’t show students. For instance, VR is quite useful when you are attending a medical class. VR can help create opportunities for students to experience genuine medical procedures in a risk-free environment.
Conclusion
Eventually, we realize that there is no shortage of topics while discussing technology trends in education. Technology has indeed seeped deeply into education, completely reshaping the teaching and learning processes. eLearning, especially, is an instructive tool that builds the accessibility of training and changes the learning behaviours and enhances students’ interest in learning. There is an abundance of education software development companies offering educational software development services. Choose a reliable software vendor who can deliver the right solution for your educational institution.
