Role of Edtech in Education
Role of EdTech in education and in investing in education during this COVID-19 pandemic
The Education Industry, one of the largest and most significant sectors of the global economy, is undergoing a digital transformation. The Role of EdTech in Education is growing more during this pandemic. Another Role of EdTech in Education is an investment. As more efficient and engaging kinds of educational delivery channels develop, artificial intelligence, automation, and digitalization are changing norms in education.
One of the most significant consequences of COVID-19 is lost learning and its influence on children’s life prospects. The government promised an additional £1.4 billion in catch-up money last month, on top of the £1.7 billion already allocated. While the numbers are impressive, the reaction from the school community has been mixed, with spokesmen calling the news “woefully inadequate”, “dispiriting” and “a damp squib”.
These are the grumblings of school leaders who have a mountain to climb and little money to do so. Sir Kevan Collins, the government’s own “Catch Up Tsar,” quit over the proposals after leading an assessment that estimated the cash needed at £15 billion. There is also an acknowledgment that, while catch-up spending is important, it does not address the underlying structural causes for education disparities growing during the pandemic. If the projected increased budget is woefully inadequate, then creativity is required.
Investing in the adoption and strong implementation of educational technology can be a major part of the answer in a few areas.
- Increasing productivity:
To begin, schools should invest in systems that allow instructors to devote more time to teaching. Teachers spend less than half of their time in the classroom, according to a pre-pandemic study by Ofsted of 2,000 school and college employees, with administrative chores taking up the majority of the remaining time. Dealing with a pandemic has just added to the difficulty. Using ‘Software for Digitization’ of essential procedures may offer instructors more time in the classroom, increase collaboration, and make inspection and parent conference preparation considerably more efficient. Critical information, such as on achievement or child protection, ceases sliding through the cracks, and the ROI from the time savings is clear: it’s a win-win-win situation. For this reason, users of systems like CPOMS, a security software supplier, are ardent supporters.
- Specific interventions:
Second, schools may make more focused interventions with the help of technology. Century, for example, is a clever company that is integrating AI into the classroom (at an affordable price point). Using AI for personalization can help teachers discover knowledge gaps that are proving difficult to bridge for specific students, which is especially beneficial for those in catch-up mode. But, in tomorrow’s world, this does not have to be the case. Moving to more contemporary administration software with robust reporting capabilities – for example, for Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) provision or achievement monitoring – makes data patterns much more obvious. When you can identify which cohorts of kids have been the most badly affected by the pandemic, it’s simpler to deploy resources.
- Digital Learning:
Finally, schools must keep pushing forward with their digital learning techniques. Of course, this will necessitate a long-term hardware strategy, but reallocating funding to high-quality digital content is also critical and may be accomplished more rapidly. If student involvement is important to learning, then investing in quality will pay off in the long run, allowing students to catch up more rapidly. It’s also a chance to reconsider how the curriculum should be approached, such as by including more short video parts for the TikTok generation. Teachers should also be encouraged to include digital learning classroom techniques into their Continuing Professional Development (CPD) strategy. As a positive outcome of the crisis, it would be wonderful to see a faster acceptance of digital learning and the development of digital pedagogy. If student involvement is important to learning, then investing in quality will pay off in the long run, allowing students to catch up more rapidly.
There are currently no indications that the government intends to reconsider its decision on catch-up financing. Regrettably, this is likely to remain the case, at least until the pandemic’s influence on exam scores begins to show up. Our kids, on the other hand, have no time to waste, and school leaders are not the kind to do so. The technology is critical in bridging the gap and increased use will improve our educational system in the long run.