What is Digital Disruption in Education?
The EdTech industry is one of the fastest growing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. As schools and other educational institutions suddenly closed, all focus shifted to digital solutions to education, bringing the term ‘digital disruption’ into the spotlight. Although it can sound slightly ambiguous, this term covers a wide-ranging set of technological developments that have been changing the face of traditional education for many years, introducing digital and technological tools that allow for a more hybrid and “blended” system of learning. Given the great range of functional areas in which Tech can and has disrupted traditional education models, EdTech companies such as Waffle are also just as diverse in operations. What they all have in common, however, is digital disruption — and in a rapidly evolving sector, it is of paramount importance we understand what this term refers to.
At its core, disruption in any field refers to a fundamental change in the way things are traditionally done. By transforming business processes and user experiences in an industry, digital disruption can create new value and synergy. In the Education sector, this can refer to changes in a range of different methodologies, from something as basic as how lessons are delivered to something as overarching as curriculum design and pedagogy. While certain sectors — such as Finance, for instance — are characterized by frequent disruptions and technological innovation, the Education sector has been slow to evolve with both the changing needs of the workplace and the new opportunities technology has to offer.
The challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic have catalyzed long overdue disruptions in Education by shaking the foundations of a typically inflexible and traditional sector. According to projections by HolonIQ, expenditures in Advanced Education Technology are expected to grow exponentially in the next five years, particularly in the area of Augmented and Virtual Reality.
Initially, digital solutions in Education were limited to a supplementary role in face-to-face and in-person instruction. Most higher education institutes and many schools rely on some form of a learning management system that allows for online submissions of coursework, access to recorded lectures and online readings. Whilst this creates some flexibility in the day-to-day operation of lesson delivery, these basic learning management systems do not make any fundamental changes to how lessons are delivered and assessed and therefore cannot be considered truly disruptive.
Today, digital disruption spans key areas such as methods in lesson delivery, curriculum design and objectives, and data analytics for overall well-being. Below, we will cover each of these in brief detail.
Digital disruption in lesson delivery
One of the most obvious areas of much-needed, positive digital disruption is that of lesson delivery. Through technological innovation, we have been able to introduce unprecedented levels of seamlessness and efficiency in how lessons are delivered to students. For instance, virtual classrooms not only allow for remote learning but also create the possibility of hyperspaces, which are open to large groups of students and flexible enough to allow for different variations of group work. Examples of this include breakout rooms, which are not constrained by the physical limits of traditional classrooms.
Online learning management systems also allow for a combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning, meaning students and teachers can adapt at least a portion of their work to their schedules through recorded lectures and interactive tools. Through the recognition that not all instruction needs to be live, greater flexibility in scheduling also caters to a larger and more diverse student base, ensuring any unique obstacles to a full-time physical presence at school are accounted for. The new challenge, however, is to regulate working time in a flexible environment to prevent burnout, both for students and teachers.
Further developments in artificial intelligence and machine learning also promise a shift in the traditional teacher-learner structure as technology is leveraged directly to deliver parts of the learning experience. After the pandemic, it appears digital-first approaches will take more and more precedence in the learning experience, with face-to-face instruction moving to a more supplementary role, as opposed to the other way around. While this shift was initially need-based, it has been highly beneficial and promises revolutionary innovation in lesson delivery, and is therefore likely to stick around. Increased digital disruption in lesson delivery will mean an increased focus on the overall Student Experience (SX) as they directly interact with technological tools, changing traditional and rigid structures of knowledge transfer (from one teacher to a set of pupils).
Finally, digital disruption in lesson delivery can also take the form of gamified lessons to strengthen student engagement. Given the tradeoffs between in-person learning and the passive intake of lessons remotely, innovative methodologies for retaining student attention and engagement has been one of the key challenges in online learning during the COVID-19 outbreak. However, by adopting methodologies used in online gaming, EdTech companies such as Waffle are disrupting the ways in which we understand and achieve student engagement with learning materials. Coupled with analytics on individual performance, this form of digital disruption can create opportunities for better learning outcomes among a greater proportion of students in any given classroom.
Digital disruption in curriculum design and objectives
Digital disruption in Education also creates opportunities for curriculum redesign, highlighting the need for a renewed focus on skills that are most relevant to learners today. For instance, the inclusion of tech in education ensures a commitment to an early training of digital natives, who will increasingly rely on digital forms of communication and work in the future. The reinforcement of digital skills is therefore front and center in digitally disrupted education systems, creating closer linkages between school curricula and the needs of the evolving market.
Moreover, digitally connected lesson plans and curricula allow for collaboration with organizations that can pair lessons with practical experience, adding value to traditional education and further reducing the gap between the academy and the market. Integrated lesson plans bring organizations closer to students, their potential employees, and bring students closer to their potential employers, adding a great deal of efficiency to the talent acquisition process. According to a report by Accenture, offering these differentiated experiences as we move towards the age of open-access knowledge is essential if educational institutions are to maintain their value.
Finally, perhaps one of the most promising benefits of digital disruption in education is that of personalized, lifelong learning. Leveraging AI and analytics, EdTech platforms can cater specifically to the learning needs of each individual, blending their learning trajectory over the course of their lifespan. In a rapidly evolving workplace, being a lifelong learner is deemed one of the most essential skills to have, and this can be facilitated at the intersection of Education and technological progression. As such, with more personalized learning objectives focused on larger periods of time, digital disruption may evoke a kind of dynamism and personalization in school curricula previously unheard of.
Digital disruption in overall well-being
Digital disruption in education can also be promising in areas that lie at the outskirts of education itself: mental and emotional wellbeing, social responsibility, community work and cognitive development are all areas that can be individually traced with precision through data analytics. EdTech solutions can couple learning and performance analytics with a more holistic record of children’s participation, ensuring greater monitoring and evaluation of overall wellbeing.
EdTech solutions such as Waffle provide direct, one-on-one communication channels between individual students and teachers, making it easier for instructors to gauge their students’ overall well-being through qualitative and informal metrics. While the reduction and/or elimination of in-person instruction can be a cause for concern with regards to human connection, digital solutions can actually enhance personalized communication and trust, improving students’ overall experience.
Conclusion
As with any new transformation, digitally disrupting the Education sector has come with its own unique set of challenges. In its initial stages, the trade-offs between the status quo and novel methodologies in teaching and learning have resulted, in some instances, in higher workload for educators, lower performance indicators for students and lower engagement levels. In trying to replicate the in-person classroom in the digital space, EdTech ventures have started inching towards positive disruption in the industry. In order to achieve a truly beneficial digital transformation, however, these disruptions must progress further to create synergies and build new solutions to age-old challenges in Education. According to Forrester Research, we are currently in the Age of the Customer, where buyers are empowered with new levels of engagement and personalization through technology. Applying this model to the Education sector, it is evident that the possibilities for personalized and catered learning through digital disruption are limitless.
