What's next for EdTech?

In whichever educational context you work in, you have almost certainly be faced with significant disruption.

But COVID hasn’t just been a change agent - it’s been an accelerator and a sign of what’s to come. In fact, the tectonic shifts we’ve seen in education over the course of 2020 are signals of a much larger paradigm shift. If you want to see what the future of edtech looks like, just look around you. Far from George Orwell's dystopian future, we're seeing tools and technologies which amplify the potential of people.

Data & Assessment.

Technology is opening up opportunities for continued assessment both of and for learning, building a richer understanding of individual students’ learning journeys. Powerful formative assessment tools not only identify student weaknesses in real-time, they provide opportunities for intervention and personalised, targeted remediation. Beyond the growth in student learning, it can free up precious time in the classroom to focus on fostering higher-order thinking skills, class collaboration and powerful learning conversations. We’ve spent years refining our assessment tools within EP, and have seen enormous growth in usage over the last 9 months.

Personalised Learning

Improvements in interoperability will provide more coherent data to understand each student’s learning journey - both at a cross-curricular level and over time - across multiple learning platforms and apps. With a far deeper understanding of a student's needs, teachers will be better placed to cater for, and support individual needs. 

Beyond academic measurements, we’ll also continue to see tools like Clanbeat designed to understand and support student wellbeing. These tools will capture a richer understanding of student learning beyond core academic datapoints.

Online or offline, we’ll continue to see more project-based learning and collaboration amongst learners. At EP we’ve developed a Peer Review feature which allows students to provide feedback on their peer’s work. This fosters critical thinking as students learn through providing feedback. We’ll continue to seek ways to better represent and foster skills required outside of the classroom. 

The concept of lifelong learning will continue to materialise as online courses continue to make learning more accessible. Micro-learning and ongoing skill development will continue to grow in popularity as we seek to upskill in a rapidly changing world. Supported through credentialing, it’s conceivable schools will encourage students to take advantage of these courses to better prepare for the workforce.  

Professional Learning & Growth 

Online professional learning communities across the globe will continue to flourish as educators find new ways of developing their practice and exposed to new pedagogy. We’ll continue to see innovation of pedagogy as educators are forced to rethink existing practice to cater for the new normal. Concepts like flipped learning will become mainstream as the role of an educator continues to evolves towards facilitator and mentor.

Home Learning & Tutoring 

Many parents have found themselves as pseudo-teachers, increasing the appetite for tools to support their children. In a blended learning environment, the rise of B2B2C will continue to support the new trifecta - parent/student/teacher. Where school budgets may face cutbacks, conversely parents will seek out tools to maintain continuity of their child’s learning.  

Tools such as Snap Ask will continue to disrupt the traditional tutoring model, where students are able to access a concept broken down in detail, all in minutes, at a fraction of the cost. These tools provide students with far greater autonomy in their learning.   

We may well look back at COVID as the catalyst that starts to address growing inequality. As content and accessibility become increasingly commoditized, there is tremendous upwards mobility for individuals where access to learning tools was previously unattainable. Learning anywhere, anytime is now a reality for millions of students and the implications will be enormous. 

The Changing Face of Tertiary Education 

Students will continue to question the value of a tertiary degree if it means taking on student debt in the quest to achieve a qualification that may well lose value over time. We’re already seeing Google offer 6-month online courses which they will recognise as the same value as a 4-year bachelor's degree. This will continue to erode perceptions of the value of a Bachelor's degree in certain sectors, as private industry short-circuits traditional expectations.

In response, universities will continue to draw on industry knowledge and expertise to better align with market requirements. Organisations like Fourth Rev are providing practical ways for universities to develop courses in partnership with private organisations.   

Humanising Technology

EdTech Platforms and tools with quality integrations are resulting in gains in teacher and leader productivity and improved consistency of teaching and learning. We’ll continue to see functionality designed to improve the way content is delivered and consumed, and its impact on learning outcomes increased. To borrow a line from Steve Vamos’s 2016 Ted Talk -

"Technology is enabling and amplifying the potential of people".

EdTech products and services which understand this nuance, and focus on maximising the impact & value teachers can have on students, will continue to gain traction over the weeks, months and years to come.

So what does all of this mean? Perhaps 2020 will be education’s ‘before and after’ moment.  

The principles of change management provide some practical ways for leaders to navigate the new normal. We may find that bringing our organisations and communities back to the core of why we exist is the most effective way forward. Drawing out stories to connect with the deeper motivations of why we do what we do, can help shape the processes and operational elements downstream. 

What tools can we use to help us build a more holistic understanding of the stakeholders we serve? 

I’d recommend design thinking and service design tools are a good starting point.

What do our students really need from our school? What would learning done well look like in our organisation? How could I better connect functions of a role to our organisational purpose? What processes and workflows would be required to deliver this experience. How can I foster a culture that embraces continuous improvement?

Willingly or not, we have been appointed custodians of change amongst a tectonic shift in education. Let’s catch the tailwinds and rise to the challenge.