Seth Reynolds , Partner at The Parthenon Group , offered these ideas as to what the next “big thing” in education is. He referred to the personalization in education, by this he doesn’t exactly mean the existence or nonexistence of the idea of a talking
head but as to finding ways to making every moment you are engaged in learning productive. What basically is meant by this is that there is a difference between being productive and spending long hours. One may spend 10 hours on a driving seat of a driving school car and yet learn nothing because the actual controls may be with the man beside you driving the car with those controls and maybe one might learn so much more in half an hour in his own car. So the major challenge with the new edtech companies is to come up with ways to engage the student to have an enthusiasm to learn, to create an environment where there is complete content as well as skill acquisition.
So what does the Edtech future holds for us? Is it the classroom based education or the new innovative online learning system which is much speedy and hassle free or are we coming up with something new altogether?
The education system is constantly evolving to cater to modern needs, new research findings and society. We have come a long way from the guru disciple system of education to classrooms and finally the new online education system. This new education trend started off recently is influencing lots of students as you do not have the hassle of reaching out to different classrooms venues and locations, with just the click of a few buttons and as the youth of today believes in speedy access, this suits their needs better than the classic classroom approach. So in this way you get a vast pool of information at your feet within seconds. The only choice is yours whether how much you choose to grab. That is where the idea of productive learning comes into picture.
The online education does not mean that you will be ripped off with the cultural and social aspect to education. It is not a shift of the schooling of a child, just a shift in the focus, as the focus is not only on imparting education but creating new learning experiences for the student to grow as an individual with lots of interaction with peers and make a mix of all the four aspects of time, space, people and technology to bring out much better and productive outcomes. The major aim of all Edtech companies is to constantly develop strategies that create an environment where growth is a very probable outcome.
Personalization is the key, how much can you connect with each and every student out there, because sometimes teaching through a computer screen can be quite mundane and detached. In such cases the idea of online education will fail to create the desired impact. So there is a need of continuous improvements in the quality of education that is imparted. And that can happen only when the goals are directed to create a schooling environment which has all the needs being covered from the intellectual to the cultural to the social needs of imparting education.
As the Edtech future move towards personalized learning experiences, we hope to look forward towards this exciting future. Who knows we might just end up having 3D holographic projection as the next big thing.
