Key Trends in EdTech 2019
June 18th, 2019 marked the seventh edition of the EdTechX Thought Leadership Summit in London. As the largest EdTech event in Europe, many industry leaders, innovators, and influencers gathered to discuss leading trends, disruptions, and key concepts surrounding the growth of education technology that is transforming the future of learning and work.
Throughout London EdTech Week and EdTechXEurope, in conversation on and off stage, three key trends emerged. These included AI and personalised learning, accessibility, and inclusion, as well as the science of learning and behavioral traits.
AI in Education
The growing importance of artificial intelligence is no secret. AI in education (AI-ED) and deep learning, where machines use data to train themselves and make intelligent decisions, is creating the 3rd wave of tech disruption. Benjamin Vedrenne Cloquet, EdTechX Holdings and Charles McIntyre, IBIS Capital shared at EdTechX 2019 how AI is the fastest growing sector in education and is expected to grow tenfold from $900m in 2019 to $9bn by 2030.
Over 75 AI-ED startups launched since 2018 and are expected to continually grow. Oscar Ramos, a speaker at EdTechX, highlights that “AI and Machine Learning are changing dramatically not only the scalability of education but also the way it is managed”.
AI-ED has multiple different roles to play, Murray Morrison from Tassomai shares that AI’s role in automating administrative tasks. In doing so, “personalised learning technology can change the role of the teacher back […] to being a teacher.” This increased time allows for more meaningful, sustainable, and supportive teacher-to-student interactions. Rose Luckin emphasizes AI’s role in improving how students progress can be assessed, monitored, and evaluated. AI can be a diagnostic tool for discovering pupil strengths and challenges.
Furthermore, AI can ensure data-backed content customized for individuals’ needs. Both Penelope Tainton and Yehyada Mandeel highlight the importance of a data-driven approach to learning.
Overall, it became evident that AI-ED will play a big role in future learning and work.
Inclusion and Diversity
As the educational sector advances, it continues to provide an open resource for learning opportunities. Many discussed the need for increasing accessibility of quality education across the world. With the “availability of free content to supplement traditional learning resources, EdTech has the power to vastly enrich, improve, and democratize the learning experience across the world” states Aditya Narayan.
German Bencci, Founder of Code Your Future, mentioned the need to view education as a “holistic environment with the best of technology and the best of human connection and communities”. In his article with techworld, he shows how it is possible to open up the tech industry to all backgrounds, highlighting the need for more schools to do the same.
Furthermore, technology continues to become more widely accessible, it continues to provide a platform for EdTech Innovation. As Henry Motte-Muñoz shares, providing an online platform for education means you are “able to democratise access to information that inspires students to take control of their education and learning.”
Whether it be a school or mobile app, there is a continued drive to bring further diversity through EdTech and support EdTech for good.
Understanding Behavioural Traits
Developing effective educational content also requires a comprehensive understanding of human behavior and the way we learn. Jacksón Smith emphasized the need to invest in transformative understandings of the social, emotional, and intuitive contours of human intelligence.
The next step, as Meena Amlani states, is to create adaptive, immersive, and dynamic learning environments through the use of data. Adding on, during the EdTechXEurope Summit, Katrina Stevens from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative shared an eye-opening presentation on “the implementation of evidence-based practices that empower teachers to support each student according to their unique learning needs” where she discussed the need for creating EdTech with both the creator and learner in mind.
As advancements continue in technology, industry leaders must remember it’s ability not only to develop current educational tools but also to gain research on tailoring content and execution methods to optimize learning.
With continuous advances in AI, accessibility to diverse platforms and resources, and in-depth research on motivation and efficient learning, the potential for growth and development is limitless. As a result, it becomes increasingly important to connect global thought leaders annually to stimulate fruitful discussions, international connections, and ignite a common goal to transform the educational sector.
