How Technology Will Shape The Future Of Education

Prashant Gupta Jun 01, 2019

Technology rules every facet of our lives today. And the field of education is witnessing path-breaking discoveries every day that are being driven by the evolution of technology like Artificial Intelligence (AI), augmented reality machine learning and the growing use of educational software. The global Education Technology (EdTech) industry is expected to reach $252 billion by the year 2020. AI skills have become the fastest growing skills among the professional networking platform. AI and machine learning specialists have been emerging as the top two top emerging roles by 2022, according to the Future of Jobs 2018 report. And this technological revolution is not just bringing about a change for the students but is also making the role of educators take a new shape.

Though the traditional mode of face-to-face learning that has deep-rooted traditions in the country cannot be replaced completely by technology, it has become pertinent to enhance the often-used techniques to limit and join the gap between the existing skills of students the demands from the industry. Additionally, educators or teachers get a respite from the mundane task of providing education through information overload but cater to individual interests and pace of learning along with monitoring the pace of success and learning. This education system has enhanced the role of teachers in being a mentor for their students. In return, the students too have access to globally developed and industry relevant courses, adding on to their skills and giving them a higher rate of success of finding the right vocation.

However, the major tech trend that will redefine education in the future will be augmented reality. Armed with the potential to replace textbooks, posters and printed manuals, augmented reality offers less expensive and portable learning material. With digital literacy beginning to outpace academic literacy in far-flung classrooms, the reach, efficiency and definition of education is getting redefined. A hybrid form of teaching and learning known as blended learning that involves both online as well as classroom learning is becoming the norm today.

Blended learning is writing new chapters in the education system in the country, with the online education industry estimated to be at $1.96 billion industry by 2021, according to a research conducted by KPMG along with Google search insights. With the paid user base expected to increase 6X from 1.6 million users in 2016 to 9.6 million users in 2021, the growing numbers present a distinctive opportunity and market that can be further explored. Technology is being used as a binding tool by schools and teachers to cater to the current and future learning needs of schools.

Predictably, digitization and automation are responsible for the bulk of this shift: Cybersecurity, data science, digital marketing, business analytics and machine learning offer roles with hitherto unknown skills or those that need “redeployment”. Machine learning makes virtual assistants now learn continuously using artificial intelligence. With the introduction of robots and AI, machine learning is a reality. Yet, if the history of technology adoption is any evidence, the shift will be gradual enough for us to cope: Natural linguistic processing (NLP)-based inventions in the 1990s led to the modern virtual assistant, but look how long that took.

However, times are e changing and the kind and reach of education is adopting and adapting to various models that is pushing its growth. Take for instance open source learning models that instantaneously create the impression of tools that not only enable learning but also serve as a breeding ground for innovation in learning. The coming times will also have cloud-based education as a norm rather than being an option resulting in an improved amalgamation of student metrics leading to efficient data sharing.

Technology is enriching the learning experience by making it more dynamic and interactive and also instills the spirit of entrepreneurship in every student redefining the future horizon of the country.