Education Technology
Article | July 15, 2022
Salsa steps to the side. Quick hip turns. Smile through the sweat. That’s Teacher Dashia’s routine as she leads another one of her high energy Zumba classes in Las Vegas. Naturally, Latin dance-inspired fitness was a great fit for Dashia as it tapped into her passion for health, dance, and her Dominican heritage. Being a mother of two young kids requires a lot of attention and many trips to the park. Helping others shake it up and slim down gave Teacher Dashia the creative outlet she needed for 8 years.
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Continuing Education
Article | November 15, 2022
Due to the increased exposures and positive COVID-19 cases, the educational industry is adapting to the fourth industrial revolution more swiftly than intended. Both students and educational institutions are realizing the requirement of technology to support the learning process. It has also led to the development of digital badges and the adoption of blockchain in this sector.
But, why should we adopt blockchain? Blockchain which is originally known as being the support of digital currencies like bitcoin is not new to the academe. Blockchain can be used as a validation tool for learning. With blockchain as the backbone of the educational system, institutions will become able to list courses, manage training badges, and issue certificates to the students. It will in return reduce the chances of issuing fraudulent certificates. Moreover, having high-end encryption, even the most experienced hackers will not be able to tamper the credentials.
And, what’s a digital badge? A digital badge validates the accomplishment, skills, and certifications of students. It can also be offered to the student after completing internships.
In the educational sector, a digital badge can be acquired by a student after learning a skill or completing a course. It should be considered by every institution to help students in showcasing their skills in the job market as well. The digital badges are multipurpose. It can be used for certifications to show the acquired skills, transparency for other universities or schools to collect key details of the student, and validation to show that the individual has participated in a workshop or training program.
Besides the basic reasons discussed, how these digital badges can help and why should institutions opt for digital badges?
Why Should Educational Institutions Opt For Digital Badges?
Among numerous reasons why an educational institution should go for digital badges, let’s check some of the most important reasons.
Personalized Learning
Micro-credentials help in dividing the part of the subjects into certain skills that enables students and educational institutions to design plans according to their needs. With the availability of personalized learning, a learner can complete the course anywhere regardless of the time and earn a badge.
Skill-Based Learning
A digital badge can enable students to showcase their skills while applying for an internship or part-time job. These badges must be connected with professional capabilities that confirm that it is worthy to the students. These skill badges either can be for technical skills like programming or soft skills like leadership, teamwork, and so on.
Open Standards
As we know that digital badges are verifiable, it offers a chance for students to learn something outside their typical classroom. It increases the achievement and abilities of the students creating a new opportunity for them at the time of recruitment.
Some of the companies and institutions that are using digital certifications include Certif-ID, Stamford University, Georgetown University, and MIT. For those who want to implement blockchain and digital badges in their educational institutions, you can easily hire developers that will build a powerful system to glorify the entire education process.
Wrapping it up!
To maintain educational records, a digital badge is the most innovative solution. Moreover, the education industry is gradually moving towards record maintenance on blockchain to eliminate fake degrees due to which many deserving candidates lose their chance to attain better opportunities. It is also beneficial for the companies as they will not have to hire less staff for cross-checking the information which will increase their profitability and productivity as well. Despite the increasing acceptance of digital badges and blockchain in the education sector, many educators are unaware of their power. Plausibly, it is about to change soon.
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Education Technology, Continuing Education
Article | August 8, 2022
K-12 teachers and learners are witnessing a shift in learning methods, and much of the change is driven by technology. In the face of the pandemic, many schools adopted classroom management software as a temporary measure, but it is fast becoming the norm. If your school is still considering refining your classroom management or switching to a new platform, it is essential to understand the advantages it offers for administrators, educators, and learners. Here are three ways classroom management enriches K-12 education and why you should embrace it in 2023.
Student Security
The emergence of the use of laptops, tablets, and other devices has exposed students to not just increased screen time but also cybersecurity mishaps. Classroom management solutions offer extensive security modules that enable educators to keep a firm grasp on the safety of students online. These solutions offer visibility across devices used by students, which can prove to be mission critical in the case of data leaks. The two features that address device management concerns that can be addressed with these solutions are:
Web filtering
This software protects students by restricting access to inappropriate, objectionable, and harmful content that can impact students and risk the school’s network security. Combined with classroom management, web filtering provides richer insights into devices and fosters effective learning.
Mobile device management
Technology investment doesn’t come cheap. This is why mobile device management, or MDM, is so valuable. It helps the school’s technology department to keep a close eye on the access and user management, permissions, application deployment, remote access, lost equipment tracking, and so much more in order to prevent any kind of security breaches, and is especially handy in a hybrid classroom environment.
Collaborative Activities
Classroom management solutions can prove to be a meaningful investment only if they can address the most important need of a classroom, i.e., collaborative learning. Thanks to technology, collaboration in the classroom has become seamless and more engaging than ever before. Here are some ways that it is creating rewarding learning experiences.
Screensharing
Screensharing allows teachers to share their screen with the whole class and even allow certain students to share theirs. This encourages collaboration and allows teachers to conduct two-way discussions during each class.
Secure messaging
Classroom management solutions specialize in providing teachers with complete control of the online class and maintaining decorum. Teachers can lock screens and even devices, close tabs, and even message students individually to keep them engaged.
Student Support
One of the best features to ensure student engagement is an avenue for students to reach out to teachers. This way, students are able to stay in the loop, get their queries cleared, and avoid neglecting doubts and problems due to the inability to connect with their teachers.
Better Learning
Being able to cultivate ample learning opportunities in a creative, fun setting is one of the best ways to use classroom management platforms. Here are some ways that such solutions reduce the hurdles that many schools and educators face in creating conducive and enriching learning environments.
Flexibility
Classroom management promotes learning by supporting multiple settings for learning, like in-person classes, remote and mixed modes of instruction.
Higher teacher efficiency
Increasing teacher efficiency is another benefit schools can look forward to when equipping classes with classroom management solutions. Thanks to features like pop quizzes and report card generation, classroom management eliminates extensive paper work and promotes teacher efficiency.
What’s the Word?
There is little doubt that technology can propel learning and education to new heights. With the above features, it is easy to see why classroom management is a substantial piece in the puzzle for schools trying to figure out their long-term game plan for learning delivery methods. The right solution will not only be important, but it will also be a turning point in improving educational outcomes in K–12 schools, which are always looking for ways to make learning more fun and interesting while also making teachers' jobs easier and reducing teacher burnout.
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Education Technology
Article | December 27, 2021
Education technology has the opportunity to improve learning outcomes for hundreds of millions of children and adults worldwide.
But what are the biggest trends in edtech for 2021? And what’s coming around the corner?
Read on to find out.
Tech-Enabled Immersive Learning
Extended reality (XR) is an umbrella term for augmented reality, virtual reality, or the combination of related technology with the real environment. And it’s one of the biggest edtech trends happening right now. One big reason is cost.
The price of a standalone VR headset is already lower than ever, and expected to drop further to $200 by 2023 (and even lower for mobile-based VR units). Cheaper units means that more schools can use them as a standard part of their curriculum. Separately, the total value of AR in education is expected to reach $5.3 billion by 2023.
But how can these technologies be used to teach?
One way is by enhancing the visual learning process.
Using AR, students can see 3D depictions of dinosaurs, chemical elements, the human body and more. Products like Adobe Aero are making it easy for anyone to build AR objects. While a real expense for many schools, VR can actually be used to save money on physical equipment.
For example, Danish startup Labster provides interactive VR laboratories that STEM students can run experiments with. No million-dollar lab needed. While Google Expeditions lets classes take virtual field trips to places like Mount Everest and the Louvre. And for adults, Interplay Learning lets tradespeople learn skills like HVAC repair and solar panel installation.
VR is also assisting special needs students.
Students with disabilities can use VR to see things they can't physically access. And autistic kids can rehearse scenarios they're likely to encounter in the outside world.
Another type of immersive learning is "makerspaces".
Unrelated to AR and VR, makerspaces are physical areas of a classroom, school, library, or community center that allow students to build things by hand. They can be used for any creative endeavor, like creating books or art. But makerspaces are often used for tech projects.
For example, students are using littleBits kits to learn programming.
Innovative K-12 Homeschooling Startups
Interest in homeschooling in the US has been increasing for years. In fact, homeschoolers currently make up 3.4% of American school-aged children.
And because of the coronavirus pandemic, homeschooling has been an even hotter topic over the past couple of years.
But a lot of homeschooling is still conducted with old-school pen and paper, using workbooks that can be expensive or outdated. So it's no surprise that several edtech startups are stepping in to offer new, tech-enabled homeschooling solutions.
One of these is Prisma.
Offering a blend of in-person and live online learning experiences, Prisma separates the roles of instructor and facilitator/coach.
And promises to unlock learners' potential in the process. Outschool is another interesting edtech startup in the homeschooling space. Outschool works by matching students with teachers for online learning in small groups, conducted live.
A third example is Primer.
This startup wants to build the "full-stack infrastructure" to help parents homeschool their kids, with the hope of bringing homeschooling into the mainstream. The platform includes a tool to help parents navigate local regulations, a learning management system, and a library of curated educational resources.
ELearning
In 2021, there’s probably no bigger education trend than eLearning.
According to the Research Institute of America, eLearning increases retention rates by 25 to 60 percent. It's also extremely scalable, allowing the best educators to reach many students at the same time (or at different times, in the case of on-demand pre-recorded courses.)
And at a much lower cost than traditional in-person classes. No wonder this industry is expected to exceed $1 trillion by 2027. The homeschooling startups we just covered are following the eLearning trend for K-12.
But tools that aren't built for online learning are also being used en masse to teach courses live. An example of this is via Zoom. Additionally, a whole host of service providers have stepped in to serve different segments of this growing sub-industry.
Some colleges have started offering 100% online bachelor’s degrees in recent years. And many others have offered online courses during the pandemic.
So it's safe to assume a good portion of them will continue to offer online learning post-pandemic as well. While Coursera has partnered with scores of universities (including Stanford and Yale) to provide higher education courses and degrees online.
And beyond college, Udemy offers online courses for professionals seeking to improve their skills.
Other major players in the eLearning space include:
MasterClass, a subscription service for on-demand courses taught by celebrities.
Teachable and Thinkific, course-creation platforms for entrepreneurs.
Lessonly, B2B training software.
Italki, 1-on-1 language tutoring.
DailyBurn, an app for exercise courses.
In K-12 education, the eLearning trend is unlikely to slow down. But it's not without its challenges. According to a survey of IT leaders in the U.S. educational system, only 7% expect their school districts to return to pre-pandemic onsite teaching this fall. However, 87 percent named off-campus internet availability as an urgent issue to resolve to maximize distance learning possibilities.
Accessible Education
As of 2018, there were 258 million children worldwide not getting an education. Things are improving: that number is down from 378 million in 2000.
But there's still a long way to go when it comes to accessibility. Even in Europe and North America, there are millions of out-of-school children. eLearning promises to help solve this problem. However, there are still barriers.
For example, many schools have doled out Chromebooks to each student. But some of these homes lack internet access. In the US, 86.6% of households have broadband. But in rural areas, the number is much lower.
Device availability is another challenge. Mobile-first learning may be able to help with both of the above. After all, mobile devices are cheaper than laptops. And rather than requiring wifi access, they can rely on mobile data service.
But not everyone can afford a dedicated additional mobile device, or a data plan for it either. So in some cities, local PBS networks are broadcasting lessons on TV for pre-K to 8th graders. While some libraries have offered curbside book deliveries. At the same time, many edtech leaders are calling for the FCC to use its E-Rate program to help bring reliable internet access to homes.
For homeschoolers and underserved communities, free educational resources are also helpful. Open Educational Resources (OER) and Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) offer no-cost use of materials and software for educational purposes, enabling students and educators access that would not otherwise be possible.
AI-Enabled Adaptive Learning (And Admin)
Adaptive learning is a high-tech form of personalized education. Thanks to AI, digital learning interfaces can adapt to students' needs in real time, providing the lessons and exercises that are needed to fill in knowledge gaps and reinforce concepts.
All at the level of the individual student. Automated, intelligent tutoring systems have been on the rise for years. In fact, the first "teaching machine" was created in 1924.
But it's only more recently that processing power (both in the cloud and on local devices) has become powerful enough to employ AI for this purpose. Unlocking near-unlimited possibilities for personalized learning.
One example is the AI-powered math tutoring service Thinkster, which promises up to a 90% improvement in math scores for K-8th graders. And in April 2020, Thinkster acquired another AI-based adaptive learning service called SelectQ.
SelectQ applies the technology for SAT test prep tutoring. Adaptive learning is also present in the ROYBI Robot, named one of Time Magazine's best inventions of 2019. The ROYBI Robot uses machine learning to tailor its educational content to the child who's interacting with it, taking the child's learning style and emotions into account. Artificial intelligence is also being used to grade essays in at least 21 U.S. states - though the results aren't always flawless.
AI-enabled chatbots are becoming increasingly common as well.
For example, the chatbot-like Duolingo uses adaptive learning to teach foreign languages. And chatbots like Ivy.ai and AdmitHub are being used as higher-ed administrative assistants, helping with anything from the college admissions process to student housing and financial aid. These automated tools can drastically reduce costs for colleges, as the average cost of a call center call is about $5.
Gamification
Gamification in education is nothing new. For ages, teachers have been offering students prizes for reading books, achieving good grades or otherwise being a good pupil.
But in the digital era, game mechanics can be used in even more ways. In fact, many educational tools are simply games.
Minecraft is probably the most common example.
This "sandbox" style game has been used to create stage performances, write stories, and even teach students about DNA. And with over 100 million monthly players, gaming platform Roblox is now even bigger than Minecraft. It's being used around the world to teach programming and game design. On the other hand, game mechanics are being added to non-games as well.
Socrative offers a "space race" feature that turns quizzes into a competitive game. Knowre brings gaming mechanics (and adaptive learning) to math lessons. And ClassDojo can add points-based gamification to almost any subject.
Google Everything
Google has planted roots in the education system. Thanks to their low cost and ease of use (and maintenance), Chromebooks have become the standard student-learning device.
And there's no more natural pair to Chromebooks than G Suite for Education. This suite of tools includes favorites like Google Docs, Sheets, Gmail and Forms - each of which can be used by faculty or students. (And a free version is available.)
Also included in G Suite for Education are Google Classroom and Google Assignments. Google Classroom offers a digital space for students and teachers to interact, assign and turn in homework, and more.
While Google Assignments is a tool to help teachers create and grade coursework more quickly. Finally, Google also offers their Google Cloud Platform to schools and universities, offering cloud storage and computing power for research and other uses.
Accelerating Investments In EdTech
Global edtech venture capital investments totaled more than $10 billion in 2020, up from $500 million in 2010. Some estimate an additional $87 billion in investment over the next decade. According to EdSurge, from 2014 to 2018 the most well-funded education technology product category in the U.S. was post-secondary education products.
With curriculum products fighting "other" products for second place. Among the well-funded post-secondary edtech companies are CommonBond (which has secured $1.6 billion in funding since 2011) and CampusLogic (which has secured $192.8 million).
However, both are focused on student loans and financial aid services, making them arguably more fintech than edtech. Lambda School is another highly-watched education startup, which again blends edtech with finance. Rather than charging its students outright, it uses income-share agreements (ISAs) to make money based on a portion of its graduates' career earnings.
These Western startups may be exciting, but for now, most of the largest edtech "unicorns" are in Asia. Will the U.S. and Europe pick up the pace? Or will American and European investors put more of their money into foreign ventures? It will be interesting to see which well-funded startups end up shaking up the education sector.
Wrapping Up
There you have it: eight of the most interesting education technology trends of 2021. From AI-powered learning to eLearning and more, for PreK-12 and adult learning. Many of these trends are poised to disrupt the field of education as we know it.
Hopefully for the better.
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