The knowledge economy has undergone massive changes since the outbreak of COVID-19, which has affected about 1.38 billion learners.
With education becoming digital, what’s next in EdTech? How will it evolve and change in 2022, and what EdTech trends should we consider?
Here’s a look at what’s coming.
eLearning
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, eLearning has potentially been the most important trend. As per the Research Institute of America, eLearning raises retention rates from 25 to 60 percent. It is also highly scalable, enabling educators to reach large numbers of students in real-time. It is available at a lower cost compared to traditional in-person courses. eLearning is also expected to exceed $1 trillion by 2027. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that many institutions worldwide that have recently embraced eLearning will continue offering online learning following the pandemic.
Future-Ready Skills and Development
With the world and the economy expanding exponentially, schools worldwide are challenged to equip students with timely skills and knowledge. The way forward will be a skills economy, not an information economy. Skills here mean the ability to handle, process, and use information. This is where the education system needs to train and whet the skills in children. Besides these, it is essential to develop a growth mindset. Children’s ability and will to learn for the rest of their lives, read, seek knowledge and teach themselves repeatedly is crucial for their success.
Micro and Nano Learning
Focusing on self-driven exercise, the education industry has developed micro and nano learning approaches. With the wealth of digital resources and content available from various sources & platforms, bite-sized lessons and courses have become an essential element for effective K-12 and higher education.
Seeing the demand, it is not wrong to say that microlearning and nano learning will become more critical for education and skills development.
Digital Assessment
Evaluating students is a critical area for assessing success. Traditionally, student evaluation has focused on theoretical exams. Biased evaluation has also been observed in some cases.
However, in the coming years, there will be more emphasis on the practical aspects of studies. The proportion of theoretical examinations will reduce while the amount of experimental, field, and non-theoretical education will increase, and biased assessment will be eliminated.
Blockchain
Blockchain implementation is another EdTech trend. Blockchain provides a decentralized, secure and transparent learning ecosystem. Using blockchain, EdTech platforms can connect learners, practitioners, and teachers to relevant courses and resources.
Courses and lessons can be programmed and delivered automatically with blockchain when specific requirements are met and progress measured in real-time with innovative contractual capabilities. It assists institutions in securing various documents and records, including admission, attendance, payment, and grade records. Students can collect their diplomas and certificates safely, access them and have them verified when necessary. Since blockchain eliminates many manual tasks, it also decreases the cost of education.
Big data
Big data is just about everywhere. A 2019 report found that 90% of the world’s digital data had been created in the past two years alone. With each passing day, the quantity of available data increases exponentially, and more leverage is expected in 2022.
Higher education already uses data to track student progress and engagement, enabling instructors to provide personalized support to students and find out how to make learning more engaging. Successful e-course creators are twice as likely to track student engagement, proving that data analysis pays off and is here to stay.
Data on student learning behaviours helps draw inferences about each student’s knowledge, allowing them to take custom learning pathways at their pace. We’re already seeing this happen with self-paced online courses. Nearly 73% of higher education students prefer to take online courses post-pandemic and instructors will continue to offer online options.
Gamification
Edutainment is a term that has been making its way into the industry for some time now and plastering its presence. Learning while playing educational games brings an experiential approach to knowledge acquisition that keeps students hooked and encourages multisensory involvement.
As of now, teachers have been using gamification to teach concepts to children for years. It’s found to be great at keeping them engaged. There are many online learning game options and online courses with awards and certificates. BlueWeave Consulting’s study claims that the global education gamification market will grow by at least 29% by 2027 from its current $697.26 million worth in 2020. The gamification market is only bound to grow with new technologies on the horizon.
Flexibility
The COVID-19 pandemic forced learning institutions and course creators to get flexible in the knowledge delivery process. Thus, flexible online learning is here to stay and improve in 2022.
Many Higher education institutions have been experimenting with synchronous vs. asynchronous learning, i.e., letting students choose whether to attend online classes or watch recordings after class at their convenience. This gives students more access and autonomy to take courses while offering instructors the freedom to record lessons in their time. Asynchronous learning will undoubtedly continue, especially in higher education.
A mixture of VR, AR, and XR
Keeping learners engaged and focused has been a significant challenge in eLearning. However, more innovation is expected for 2022 to enhance interactive learning through the integration of new technologies like Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Extended Reality (XR). This will enable students to observe and experiment with concepts in an almost real-like environment. These technologies will also help build virtual labs for science and technology students, which will provide more practical approach to learning.
2022 is a crucial year for eLearning and the EdTech sector, as the year will see more innovations in the education industry.
Cloud computing
Cloud computing in the education market is expected to grow with a CAGR of 25.6%. Trends suggest that the cloud will be a key enabler for EdTech in K-12 learning. The main drivers of this trend are learning beyond the classroom boundaries, essential requirements to reduce management burden, and competition among educational institutions. Seamless, effortless connectivity, scalability, and cloud-based ERP systems are some of the noteworthy use cases in the Cloud Tech in the K-12 segment.
The latest developments in cloud computing and cloud services call for a review of security postures to protect against cyber-attacks and data thefts. Increased cloud services will also fuel cybersecurity trends as more educational institutions look for a secure ecosystem.
What more do you see coming? Share with us in the comments.
