Educational technology in the 21st-century
“If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow.”
– John Dewey
The extensive thought process in the given lines explains in so many ways that education in the 21st century has to be entirely different from the ways of the past. The future is uncertain and we have to constantly change our methodologies to deal with the growing technological world.
In that case, educating using old methods will only tamper the growth of students in the future. The scenario of adult education is no different . In the fast paced world where technology is expanding through globalisation, adults constantly need to learn, unlearn and relearn in order to survive in the market. Therefore, educational technology is a one-step life changing solution for all. Ed-tech or Edu-tech is another name used for it.
DIGITAL REVOLUTION- PAST TO PRESENT
The first ever Industrial revolution which began in the late eighteenth century, used water and steam power for production. In the second Industrial revolution, it used electric power for mass production. All of this demanded for yet another revolution that could bring a massive change in the way things were. And then came the third Industrial Revolution , that is the Digital Revolution which records a shift from mechanical to digital electronics. Educational technology is a small fragment of it. However, this technology has the potential to raise global income levels. Infact, it has also been regarded as the fourth Industrial revolution.
This technology is not just about online availability of textbooks, but is about audio and video content, gamification, virtual technology and so much more. For instance, learning physics,chemistry and biology using 3D Virtual labs that mimics a real life setting. Do you remember learning calculations using Abacus? It’s one of the ancient types of educational technology that helped make mathematics interesting and we loved it, didn’t we? But can you think of any instrument other than that? Did we not deserve to have more instruments like that to make learning fun and easy? A lot of questions like these bring us to the conclusion that we don’t just need help during primary education, we need help during our secondary education as well. Infact, we need help all our lives to keep ourselves updated. Edu-tech is bridging the gap between classroom learning and its students.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is making its way into classrooms as humanoid robots to teach students and interact with them at a school in Bengaluru. They don’t actually replace teachers but compliment them by assisting and answering the FAQs of the students. Another example of AI is Chatbots which basically means a robot that chats, not quite literally though. A chatbot will answer to your queries serving as a first level customer support and will eliminate wastage of time and manpower. Therefore, Educational technology has a sparkling future ahead of it.
Old School Classroom Learning
If one is to talk about Global education, we are drawn to the fact that the quality of teaching is going from bad to worse . According to the 2018 World Development Report of the World bank, around 60% of students fail to achieve minimum standards of reading and mathematical problem solving ability. As a student of the Old school classroom learning, I believe that there were a lot of loopholes in the earlier education system. Learning English for the first time in our lives, we were not given any audios for listening and were not made to watch any fun videos or games that could have possibly made us quick and better learners. All of this led to delay in learning and it took some time for all of us to learn this second language whereas nowadays students are pretty good at it compared to the last generation.
The millennials did their primary and secondary education without technology and this subsequently affected their growth as well. For instance- A lot of students faced problems with interactive learning and some couldn’t cope in the environment where there are forty to fifty students in a class. Edu-tech eliminates the possibility of it by giving personalised tutoring to a student with the comfort of sitting at home.
COVID-19 PANDEMIC AFFECTING EDUCATION
Somewhere in the midst of March, the novel coronavirus made its way to India. The state and the central government started to shut down schools and universities across the country as a preventative measure. Currently, we are in the phase of lockdown 3.0 and there’s still no idea when things will get back to normal. Therefore, it became important for the education sector to lead smooth functioning of the schools and universities so that no child’s future is at stake.
Both schools and universities started organising online lectures for students using certain web conferencing applications, which has so far made classroom learning possible. From assignments to examinations, everything is made possible using digital technology. Without it, we would be clueless in a situation like this.
AN EDU-TECH COMPANY
All thanks to E-learning, people are living abnormal yet normal lives with the use of it. This tells us in so many ways that no matter what happens, education will and should never be deferred.
A few days ago I came across a website https://edukitapp.com/ that runs with the idea to create a one stop solution to cater all the needs of the Education Industry. A SAAS Company which deals from LMS to ERP to Growth tools, can be the best example to give for an Edu-tech Company. With LMS, you create and sell your online courses, accessorize it with quizzes and assignments, take online classes, conduct test series and upload daily current affairs . ERP is an all in one institute management software that manages your website, admissions, fees and accounting. You can also generate ID cards. Also with the help of Growth Tools, one can create sales and catalog pages for courses, create landing pages and is integrated with Google Analytics and other tools.
This app is user friendly and you can view the content online or offline on any device.
CONCLUSION
Schools are struggling to run their day-to-day operations, but are able to cope up with it using the changing technology. Covid-19 has enabled the education sector to realise the potential of digital learning and accept it wholeheartedly. Post Covid-19, the education industry is likely to be driven by ed-tech programmes and one can expect Educational Technology to reach new heights. In fact, India’s Ed-Tech industry is the second biggest in the world after the US. Primary and Secondary education will take a new course with flying colors. With growing usage of digital media where laptops and mobile phones are becoming a necessity, Edu-tech will always be a boon.
