EdTech and Digital Learning, The Beginning of a Revolution

For almost 3 generations, all of us have been getting educated in a similar sort of way. Going to school, most commonly 5 days a week, getting there earlier in the morning than most students want to, sitting through lectures for hours on different subjects, and then cheering when the final bell rings. Things had not really started to change until the last decade or so when technology has fully infiltrated our lives.

However, we have not seen the full extent to which edtech, or digital learning can be utilized inside and outside of the classroom.

EdTech overview

Beginning with in the classroom, currently in the United States 88% of school districts meet the minimum connectivity goal set by the FCC for broadband internet, up from 30% in 2013, and with a pledge from former president Barack Obama, this number will be up to 99% by 2018, according to EducationSuperHighway.

This trend upwards is just the beginning, the groundwork, for integrating educational technology into the classrooms in not only the U.S, but inevitably worldwide. This growth stems from a goal to make internet connectivity more reliable, not just about helping schools acquire access, but trying to create more efficient and worthwhile use. There is a movement towards throwing away the costly, dull, and bulky textbooks and beginning to heavily utilize online classroom activities and materials. For the average student of any age, it is a no brainer they would prefer the dynamic experience and countless possibilities of using any sort of technology as opposed to sifting through an ancient textbook with crinkled and missing pages and the thought of the countless students who fell asleep from boredom and buried their heads inside.

“Robust classroom technology gives students the opportunity to shift from passive observers of knowledge to active stewards of their own personal learning paths,”

EducationSuperHighway explains on its website, and the industry is very much agreeing with that statement.

50% of students ages 10 to 18 go online for homework help at least once a week and 75% of students ages 5 to 7 regularly use technology to play educational games, and these numbers can only grow with the number of homes enjoying internet connectivity steadily growing over the past few years in addition to the price of home tablets and computers also diminishing as technology becomes more accessible globally.

New Doors to be Opened

The EdTech industry gives teachers and overall educational students alike the unique ability to create their own content and directly monitor individual students on assignments instead of the teacher growing twenty eyes to watch each student during class at all times and spending countless hours grading assignments.

The new content will be much more entertaining than black text on a white page, it can be dynamic and exciting. While it may be still not possible to make every student be fully engaged at all times, it is very easy to see how, for example, using an interactive app with videos and activities to help a 3rd grader reinforce a unit on the solar system is much more beneficial and enjoyable to the student than looking at planets on a sheet of paper with scribbles and doodles of the students before.

Narrowing the Focus

Now obviously the Edtech and digital learning buzz phrases are beginning to catch on globally, but how has it caught on in Europe and more specifically Spain. In recent years, there has been a large growth in number of Edtech startups in Europe, which according to the EdTech Funding Report for Europe in 2016 by EDUKWEST EU, reports over 227€ billion invested throughout the year, a steady growth. It most definitely should be higher, and indications show that it will be. The U.S which has 80 million students has already begun to start moving forward spending more than 10 times as much as Europe. It is time for Europe to follow in its footsteps, with even more opportunities with upwards of about 100 million students. The European investors may be a bit more conservative, but as positive results continue from larger U.S examples and some from the UK, the money will begin flowing.

What is happening in Spain?

In Spain, there has been a lagging in overall EdTech when compared to other industries. However, this is good news as that means there is much more opportunity to grow and thrive in the country which is just taking its first steps. As previously mentioned regarding Europe, there is a huge gap between its overall EdTech investment and that of the U.S. Spain has also fallen behind in advancing its own education system because of political problems over the past few decades.

The 2016 Education and Training Monitor for Spain presents some promising statistics regarding education in Spain, with an above average % of Students in Early Childhood Education and care, surpassing the EU benchmark, but falling behind with a higher percentage of Early Leavers from Education and Training than the EU average. As Spain is one of the lowest spenders on education in the EU in 2014, there has been constant pressure to begin spending and the government has responded with two years straight of increased expenditures.

The problem still remains that Spaniards are not gaining higher up degrees and positions directly out of school, an obvious struggle for the younger generations. Some of this may be due to fewer jobs to go around in Spain, but it is also possible that the Spanish people may just be unprepared and suffering from a weak education system, not fulfilling the potential of gifted students. Being one of the big movers in EdTech for the country could be a huge bump for their overall problem. The new spending could be put into gauging the previous antiquated technology of Spanish schools the government has neglected to upgrade.

The first move should be made to try and start from the youngest generation and work on trying to implement new technology into the lower levels of schooling. The greatest opportunity for growth can most notably be found in the preschool education which is non-compulsory. The majority of parents decide to send their children to most if not all three years of this first portion of the five possible levels of Spain’s education system.

The material is simplest at this stage for obvious reasons and these first formative years are extremely important to ensure that students come in on a level playing field for later years and that they can continue to improve as they get older. The most effective strategy EdTech can take is to give the younger students a more personalized learning experience. The more the students are allowed to choose their own content that the curriculum, the more enjoyable their experience will be and the overall more successful impact EdTech will have on education overall.