What Is EdTech And Why Is It vital?
Education impact of the pandemic
The number of children and adults not attending schools or universities due to the COVID-19 outbreak is skyrocketing. Governments around the world have decided to shut down educational institutions to help contain the global COVID-19 pandemic. According to UNESCO, more than 100 countries have implemented nationwide school closings, affecting more than half of students. Several other countries have implemented local school closings. If these countries also order the closure of schools and universities across the country, it would disrupt the learning process for millions of other students around the world.
It is also worth mentioning some other aspects of the negative impact of the pandemic on the learning process. Of course, school is an important socialization institution for children. The process of self-isolation and separation from society has a negative impact not only on the physical, but also on the mental state and development of children.
It is also important to note that the remote learning process is not available to everyone. Children from low-income families studying in schools not only had food benefits that were beneficial to their state of life, but also had access to computers and the internet to do their homework. During a pandemic, technology became difficult to access and, as a result, the quality of their education has deteriorated.
Don’t forget about the disadvantages of distance learning for teachers. The inability to effectively measure the learning process results in teachers being unable to fully tell whether their students have mastered the material and how effective the distance learning process is.
What is EdTech and why is it important?
According to Investopedia, EdTech (a combination of “education” and “technology”) refers to hardware and software designed to enhance teacher-led learning in classrooms and improve student educational outcomes. EdTech is most commonly associated with online education. In reality, however, this concept is much broader and combines all the possibilities of using technology in the educational process, from interactive boards to virtual reality simulators for modeling surgical operations. However, learning via the Internet is the most popular direction from EdTech, which has already established a permanent place in the market.
The scope of EdTech includes a large number of applications that perform various functions to improve and accelerate the learning process. Here are some examples of such features:
Create and complete tasks
These types of programs can be used to create interactive learning assignments. Software vendors can also work with schools to provide their users with lesson templates that relate to the assessment criteria that most teachers use. These types of tasks are updated online. This is very useful as when teachers are assigned to students to run, they can get updates on how each person is doing.
Video communication
With the help of such applications it becomes possible to conduct lessons online. When schools don’t use this method of teaching, just emailing materials with regular homework reviews, video calling becomes a must-have assistant when a student needs one-to-one tuition.
Tools for interaction
EdTech apps like Classroom.Cloud provide teachers with tools to collaborate in the classroom, monitor interactions with their students, and provide support. This also means that every student in the class still has the opportunity to express their thoughts. In addition, this software has a poll function with which the students can vote whether they understand something or not.
Help in maintaining alertness and improving behavior
The distance learning process can be difficult for students as it is tempting to get distracted during class as the teacher’s control becomes much weaker. For example, they can look at something in other tabs on the computer. To this end, some programs can not only monitor but also control what happens on their students’ computers during the class. Such tools can also block certain websites or the mouse cursor during class, which undoubtedly helps teachers.
Why EdTech is responsible for schools
In a pandemic, schools are forced to work in remote conditions so as not to endanger the health of the children or their families. eLearning is the most successful solution in this case. Because of this, many EdTech service providers have benefited greatly from the situation as the market for this type of software has grown significantly and rapidly. This is why it is very important for EdTech service providers to understand the importance of their contribution to education and to do their best to help schools in ways that are not aimed at making a profit for themselves. If they do so, they can even solve some other problems caused by the pandemic.
How EdTech Service Providers Can Help
How can EdTech developers help the education sector? Let’s look at some options:
Help with software implementation
First of all, EdTech service providers can support schools in the successful implementation of eLearning techniques. Without help, it is difficult for schools to adapt to a new type of teaching on their own. It’s also worth noting that most older teachers aren’t as tech-savvy as the younger generation. Hence, it is important that the instructions for them are as detailed as possible. Another big plus is the ability to run webinars on working with learning platforms that allow teachers to interact with them more effectively.
Help for needy students
As mentioned earlier, there is a category of students who do not have access to the internet or have no computers at all. In such cases, EdTech service providers can offer technical support to students with financial problems for free or for a small fee.
Accessibility
We all understand that not everything can be free. However, if the applications developed by EdTech service providers have free features that allow you to take basic actions to enable remote learning, it can help reach more schools. Of course, anyone who has the desire and ability can combine additional functions to get the benefits that are not possible with the basic service package. However, this base should be enough to successfully study in remote conditions in the face of the pandemic.
Conclusion
No one can overestimate the importance of education in children’s lives, especially in a pandemic world. Right now it is very important to think about ways to improve teaching methods and adapt to distant conditions. One way to help the education industry is to hire educational software developers to develop a custom solution. Qualified professionals can help you develop a product that perfectly suits your needs and advise on how to make it even better. Given the global situation, this solution would not be an exaggeration. Keep in mind that there may be times that one day your innovative solution will change the game.
