Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic brought the world to an abrupt standstill, technology has become even more crucial to the lives of millions of students globally. As per a report by Holon IQ, global EdTech venture capital funding in 2020 increased by more than 100% and reached $16.1 billion from $7 billion in 2019. To put things in perspective, this is the highest amount raised in that time frame for the past five years. The figures for the first half of 2021 show even stronger growth.
This growth comes at a time when the prevailing model of traditional education at all levels is ripe for change. By coming up with innovative and creative solutions to tackle the challenges caused by the pandemic, EdTech entrepreneurs are prompting stakeholders in the whole education ecosystem to think differently. And the fact that for many, “going digital” was the only option available, this caused the adoption curve of technology to accelerate tremendously in the last 18 months.
The global education landscape today
On a global scale, several governments, startups, and nonprofits have entered the arena and met the newly introduced opportunity head-on. EdTech investments are growing across the board: K-12, language training courses, technical skills courses, vocational courses, training and skills development courses, basic / comprehensive online courses, MOOCs, etc. In addition, “Accessibility” is a key theme that is being addressed on a larger scale and industry leaders around the world are constantly thinking about ways in which technology can address global digital divides.
Some other noteworthy facts:
- The US and Europe have already outperformed their respective 2020 EdTech investment levels in the first half of 2021, with key factors being, (1) the highly competitive standards for jobs, (2) growing unemployment rates, (3) desire for alternative learning/education, (4) large number of (highly) active users on the internet, (5) need for on-demand learning.
- Developing economies like India are demonstrating strong momentum and trying to make ends meet between urban and rural counterparts by improving infrastructure, addressing inequalities, and democratizing the delivery of education. Offering vernacular platforms for test prep, soft skills courses, corporate training courses and English language training etc. has been a big hit. The country has now become the third largest destination for investments in the EdTech sector.
- In addition, key markets such as Canada, Korea, Japan, France, Australia, and others are setting new records domestically, while China is facing substantial regulatory uncertainty, impacting the country’s EdTech sector at large.
The road ahead
Keeping in mind the above context, one can analyze the present-day global situation and arrive at the following key takeaways which businesses should consider while investing in the future of Education Technology:
- Growth of e-learning is highly dependent on infrastructure. According to a report by UNICEF, two-thirds of the world’s school-age children (or 1.3 billion children) still have no internet connection in their homes, raising serious doubts about the level of technological adoption in schools and universities. Therefore, the future of Education Technology does not only depend on companies but requires complex performance of both market participants and government stakeholders.
- Personalized & Adaptive Learning (PAL) and virtual classrooms going mainstream. Companies such as Mindspark and Pratham in India, Geekie in Brazil and Dreambox in the United States have shown the efficacy of PAL solutions, which allow students to learn at their own pace and in their own style, by ‘adapting’ to their learning level and preferences. Other than this, evidence from the US and India shows that media-rich classrooms, that provide high-quality teaching and learning material, a wide range of interactive content for learners, gamification experiences etc., will become the focus model for the education sector.
- Bite-sized learning to become the new norm. The digital age has brought a decline in attention spans and an increase in screen fatigue. To approach such a problem in the classroom, the answer lies in embracing bite-sized or nano learning, which provides information in smaller amounts, over shorter periods, similarly to the way in which users consume social media. Google’s Whisper courses for manager training, IBM using microlearning to develop cloud expertise, Unilever using “snackable” learning for employee training etc., are some of the examples in which companies, globally, are using bite-sized learning to induce greater productivity and better learning.
- In time, most education systems will integrate technology. While a less sexy topic, using technology to simply automate manual or repeated tasks in education will be an important trend, saving time and resources for educators to focus on activities with higher value for students. Test scoring, assigning homework, scheduling and parent communications are some of the areas already benefitting from this trend.
Conclusion
A silver lining of the current pandemic is the newfound openness of stakeholders in the education sectors to experiment with, and adopt, technology. However, technology can also increase the digital divide. Ideally, players in the EdTech sector will find the balance between, on one hand, creating the technologies and solution for the future, and, on the other, leveraging technology to close the gaps that exist in the present. If, for every new AI or VR EdTEch start-up, we also have another one using USB sticks and 3G networks to bring education to remote corners of the Earth, then this will truly be a transformational moment for EdTech.