Technology Trends That Are Giving a New Meaning To Education | EdTech

With the start of a new school year, one of the gears that drive our society is set in motion: education. However, in recent years we are seeing a decrease in the number of students enrolled in schools. Together with the transformation of students and the great competition of institutions, this is making the sector evolve and begin to adapt to new profiles.

The Internet and new technologies have completely changed how we process information, and now a much more direct, attractive, and interactive type of learning is sought. Therefore, EdTech is a unique opportunity to give a new meaning to the current education system. Here are all the trends that are going to mark the sector!

What is EdTech?

EdTech is a technology designed to enhance or assist teaching and learning. It encompasses physical elements such as interactive whiteboards, tablets, laptops, translation devices, and extended reality software or online learning.

The goal of EdTech is to help teachers communicate information more effectively, and students learn in a more personalized way, tailored to their needs.

It is not only used in the classrooms of schools, colleges, and universities but is also effective in companies when it comes to training employees in different subjects.

Some of the advantages provided by EdTech are:

• Facilitates distance learning.
• Educators can be more effective as they can set aside more mundane tasks.
• Boosts personalized learning and flexibility on a case-by-case basis.
• Increases learner engagement by providing a more engaging education.
• Facilitates collaboration between all parties.
• Education becomes more accessible.

EdTech Industry

As education becomes more individualized, students expect technology to be tailored to their specific needs, and the pandemic has caused this trend to accelerate and gain even more market share.

According to TechX Media, global investment in EdTech will have grown from $500 million to $16.1 billion by 2022. And experts expect an annual growth rate of almost 18% over the next seven years.

This increase in investment in the sector is driven by the advent of smartphones and the reduction in the cost of online learning materials. This market’s key is automation, learning management, and administration tools.

EdTech Trends

The technological trends that will shape the future of the education sector are:

Immersive Learning

Extended reality (XR) is one of the most important trends in EdTech, thanks to its versatility, low cost, improved learning of skills, and preparation of students for the future.

The value of this technology in the education sector is expected to reach $5.3 billion by 2023. Designing 3D representations, helping students with special needs, or developing creative tasks are some of its most outstanding applications.

One example is the project we carried out for CEU University, in which we used mixed reality to give a new meaning to learning.

eLearning

It is probably one of the fastest-growing educational trends. In fact, according to the Research Institute of America, eLearning increases retention rates by 25-60%. Moreover, this industry is expected to exceed $1 trillion by 2027.

eLearning is highly scalable, allowing teachers to reach many students simultaneously and at a lower cost than traditional face-to-face classes.

AI-Based Adaptive Learning

Adaptive learning is a high-tech form of personalized education that, thanks to AI, allows digital learning interfaces to adapt to the specific needs of each student in real-time.

It provides the lessons and exercises needed to help them and reinforce the concepts they need most, according to their level, and with automated tutoring systems. Some examples are tools such as chatbots, language learning platforms like Duolingo, essay grading software, or administrative assistants to help with admissions and paperwork processes.

Gamification

According to BlueWeave Consulting, the global market for gamification in education will grow by at least 29% by 2027 and was already worth $697.26 million in 2020.

This is not new: teachers have been using gamification to teach concepts to their students for years. However, digital gamification takes this trend to another level, with many more options for online learning games, courses with prizes, certificates for passing them, etc. We can find websites to learn mathematics, reading, strategy… Also, popular games such as Minecraft have launched an educational edition designed for learning.

Metaverse

The metaverse has been the great revolution of the last year, and the technologies it brings with it, from immersive reality to new data science capabilities, will add value to education.

Different experiential learning scenarios will be accessible, from training in legal situations with programmed avatars to learning to resolve conflicts or handle physical hardware.

Big Data

Data-driven decision-making has become a big trend in any industry, and education is no exception. Cloud services and data science used at scale are perfect for improving the experience for all parties.

They will be very useful for making informed decisions and presenting key statistics or reports with a more detailed view. Also, with them, information during an inspection will be improved.