2020 taught us valuable lessons about every facet of learning and the institutions responsible for delivering it: the importance of social-emotional-behavioral learning and prioritizing students’ well-being; the need to supplement remote learning with direct instruction; the roles user experience, asynchronous design and data-driven, personalized learning play in digital environments; a confirmation of the need for human connection for learning and well-being. As many students return to physical classrooms, education technology is at an inflection point. Can teachers, administrators, institutions and technology providers act on these lessons to create more effective systems and modes of learning?
Early signs show they can and are, if for no other reason than students (especially college students) are increasingly demanding them. Funding for edtech companies, meanwhile, grew from $1.3 billion in 2017 to $8.3 billion by 2021, creating heightened market competition and broadening the use cases for solutions adoption across a wider set of educational needs and challenges.
Artificial intelligence and the implementation of data-driven insights are poised to be at the heart of education’s evolution and will create value for every major stakeholder. Artificial intelligence will drastically improve personalized learning opportunities to identify and reduce knowledge gaps, adjust learning speed, recommend courses and programs, and otherwise adapt to each individual student’s evolving needs and goals. It will improve accessibility, promote asynchronous or learn-at-your-own-pace models, reduce response times for student questions and customize after-school tutoring programs. It will enhance task automation for teachers so they can spend more time teaching and give them more tools than ever to support students on their academic journeys.
