Over a year after the pandemic started, there is no doubt that the move to remote learning was an extraordinary shock for students, teachers, and parents alike. Despite the initial disruption, the benefits of distance learning can go far beyond protection from the virus.
As we settle into the new normal dictated by COVID-19, we must look ahead into what the future holds for the education sector. There are serious doubts that education will ever return completely to the traditional way. It’s essential for educational institutions to recognize that a hybrid model blending virtual and in-class environments is the future of education.
While distance learning came to the rescue when lockdowns were rolled out, education as we know it has been turned on its head. If we fast forward a few months or years down the line, I can foresee several opportunities and considerations as we transition to an education sector of the future.
Informed and Intelligent Experience
In addition to the already well-known advantages of remote learning like flexibility, time efficiency and extended reach, there are a few other more subtle benefits. One of those is how technology is going to ensure a consistent experience between in-class and at-home modes. With facilitated interaction between students and teachers, education institutions will be able to cater to different needs of students as well their learning styles and preferences.
In the physical world, technology can be a key enabler to facilitate a safe return to the classroom for students. We have extended the functionality of our collaboration technology in the classroom to be used to maintain social distancing, keep track of maximum occupancy at lecture halls or ensure everyone is wearing masks by using geo targeting and facial recognition. Mobile apps can also be used as collaboration workplaces, scheduling, and way-finding tools.
In both scenarios, the digitization of the learning experience will result in “datafication” which represents a transformation in the education process. The datafication and measurement of many physical and virtual aspects of education will provide actionable insights to teachers and institutions; the type of insights that were difficult to acquire before in an objective way. AI can help identify which parts of the lesson, style of teaching, or after class studying habits that are most effective.
A Borderless Education
Many of us, at one stage of our lives, wanted to enroll in a school or university but weren’t able to because we couldn’t move to the location of the institution. Well, now we can take that class without having to travel because many educational institutions offer multiple options for virtual learning. While this has been available in post graduate degrees, it now has the chance to extend to undergraduate and maybe even schools in the future. Even though education across borders has to be put in a balance against many other social and emotional considerations for the students, we cannot ignore the flexibility, efficiency, and wide access that it can provide to students who might have been previously ignored.
Naturally for educational institutions, it can drastically extend their reach outside of their traditional geographic domains. Suddenly there’s much less restriction on the number or type of students a school or university can accept.
Modular Qualifications
In many situations, it’s specific courses that are of more interest to a student than all courses required for a degree. In the new virtual learning environment, students will have the luxury to mix and match what courses they take and with which educational institutions based on interests and preferences. Although this will no doubt raise questions about graduation requirements, I can see us quickly moving towards modular certification where the scope and expectations from certain core courses will be standardized. In jobs that are becoming more specialized, employers can become more prone to hiring based on satisfying such requirements rather than degrees, as long as such certifications will guarantee meeting minimum level of skills and knowledge.
Global Content
Besides flexibility in choosing courses from several schools, technology is also offering flexibility increasing the reach of the education content itself. As qualifications get more modular and standardized, institutions and students will also have the choice of using different content for the same subject bases on learning preferences. Further more, students and teachers will not only have more choices around what content to consume but also access it on demand.
A Regulatory Challenge
This more flexible learning process in content and structure, and the global reach of educators and students will introduce regulatory challenges. The traditional physical borders are no longer as relevant as they used to be. Since their role is to ensure a certain standard of education, regulators might lose some of the control over quality and content. This is specifically true in the case where students are enrolled in institutions present in countries that are not within the regulator’s jurisdiction.
Lifelong Learning
All these factors give a fresh lease of life to the highly-sought lifelong learning. Technology already plays a crucial role in lifelong training and retraining. But now with distant learning, modular courses, standardized certification, content options and global reach the opportunities are huge. Companies and executives will have access to a wide variety of easily accessible tools to develop their skills and knowledge. This is our best chance to enable workers to keep pace with the knowledge economy in a fast-moving digital word.
In the end, while some of the above might not come to life tomorrow, there is a systematic move in that direction. If the pandemic taught us anything it is that acceleration is the name of the game. What we thought to be impossible before COVID-19 is now a reality; merely 12 months later.
It also gave us options we didn’t think we had before. Digital transformation catalyzed the education sector and will continue to impact it in ways that could have taken years. Giving educators, students and regulators the opportunity to voice their concerns and experiences will play a big part in shaping or adapting to the new education system. But what we know for a fact is that technology has offered opportunities for education that we didn’t perceive possible before.
At the beginning of the pandemic, we rushed to try and adapt to the disruption it introduced. Initially forced to learn online, we have now pushed the envelope and accelerated the experimentation with digital learning. The benefits and possibilities this past year demonstrated will continue to drive us forward towards a hybrid education model that maximizes the benefits of digitization while mitigating its limitations. Challenges around regulation, accredited degrees, global certification and quality of content will all need to be addressed, but they are unlikely to send education to the pre-COVID times. That would be a huge, missed opportunity.
