Transforming education

Abstract

With the global economy increasingly centred on knowledge and skill, educational institutions are moving from traditional teaching methods to custom methodologies that promote anytime, personalized, and adaptive learning. Disruption in education with adoption of online learning platforms and the move to cloud-based solutions have brought about radical changes in education and student outcomes, attracting a potential investment of $10 trillion in the next 10 years. The pandemic has served as one of the biggest disruptors as well as accelerators in the sector. Online learning has become feasible, more easily accessible, attractive, and effective. Worldwide, institutions must leverage innovative technology solutions to reimagine the learning value chain and their operations, to transform how they teach and create a talent pool for the future. Tradi�onally, across developed and emerging markets, ins�tu�ons have underinvested in educa�on technology, or edutech, for various reasons, the least among them being the belief that one must “go to school” to learn. Factors such as lack of an enabling policy environment, inadequate government funding or budget constraints, and parental and educator iner�a have also played their part. According to a 2020 Ci� GPS report, Education: Fast Forward to the Future, edutech spend worldwide will more than double to 4.8% of total the educa�on spending, to about $360 billion by 2024, from about $160 billion in 2019. That's an average growth rate of 17% per year. This indicates massive blue ocean opportuni�es for digitaliza�on of educa�on. The pandemic has catalyzed this demand, especially in the emerging markets with significant unmet poten�al. For example, when one of India’s premier technology ins�tutes, IIT Chennai, launched an online Bachelor’s program on data science, it received an opening enrolment of 35,000 students. The Ci� report also forecasts that 50% of all study hours (in and outside classroom) will be digi�zed, sugges�ng a market size of $2.7 trillion in the medium term, eight �mes that in 2024. Industry and service providers hope that the large poten�al increase in tech spend will, at long last, lower barriers to entry, thus sharply reducing cost to students and yielding be�er learning outcomes. Reduced enrolment and funding affect revenues However, inves�ng in smart technologies such as ar�ficial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, AR/VR, big data and the internet of things (IoT) will require strong financial health of ins�tu�ons, which are currently struggling with reduced enrolment and revenues. According to the Ci� report, enrolment rates are set to fall in 2021, especially for interna�onal enrolments; a poten�ally large drop in student enrolments is expected in the short term. This trend has been visible for some �me, especially as higher educa�on has become more expensive and students not only see in-person learning as having less value for money, but also find online courses to be a more reasonable and quicker channel to secure degrees and, consequently, jobs. Higher educa�on ins�tu�ons are worried how to be�er a�ract, retain, and engage students in the face of falling enrolment due to the pandemic travel restric�ons, reduced educa�on funding, and the shi� to digital. With interna�onal students making up 20%-30% of enrolments in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia, universi�es expect 4%-10% of decline in enrolment in the next couple of years, according to the Ci� report. Even government funding is ge�ng hard to come by, as na�onal economies struggle to grow or even survive. With economic vola�lity reducing affordability of good educa�on, matching learning to job readiness has become increasingly important for students. During the pandemic, 70% of the students in 13 countries said they had considerably fallen behind on their studies, according to a 2020 Canvas and Hanover Research report on state of student success and engagement, for various reasons, including affordability and lack of access, which includes cheap and uninterrupted internet connec�vity. To engage such students, educa�on needs to be more visual, interac�ve, immersive, and affordable. Apart from the quality of faculty, engaging content/instruc�on and their delivery and assessment will hugely influence student outcomes. Crea�ng meaningful, interac�ve experiences between the faculty and students and among students will ensure con�nued learning. It is here that technology plays the most important role. Digital fluency equips learners with tremendous poten�al for collabora�on, innova�on and entrepreneurship. In the backdrop of this seismic environmental shi� in educa�on, how can learning providers as well as learners use these challenges as an opportunity to evolve and thrive? How can technology be be�er incorporated into pedagogy to help ins�tu�ons and content providers adopt and create learning models that are resilient and innova�ve? Innovate technology to reimagine learning The answer is already clear. According to HoloniQ, by the year 2030, 1.15 billion more students will complete school or college educa�on, and the number of new teachers required to serve them would be 40-50 million. The unmet gap in the number of teachers will be at least 15 million1 in the next decade or so. This gap can only be filled by a hybrid model of physical and digital educa�on, or ‘phygital’ educa�on that innova�vely uses technology to provide accessible, economical and engaging learning. Educa�on ins�tu�ons that quickly act to reimagine learning by improving faculty availability, capability and proficiency, and by enhancing educa�on content and delivery through sophis�cated technologies will be be�er posi�oned to grow themselves and help students succeed as well. Here is what the educa�on transforma�on road map could look like.  A “phygital” world: To provide an inclusive world-class learning experience, integrate digital pla�orms with physical assets. Solu�ons that crea�vely blend physical and digital modes seamlessly will be needed to a�ract and retain a highly diverse student community. The ini�al investment in crea�ng capability and branding will yield major benefits over �me in lower overall costs and bring in higher revenues.  Digital First: Enable academic ins�tu�ons to automate end-to-end student outreach process, promote academic integrity in selec�on, assessment and marking, and offer omnichannel student experience to gain significant increase in enrolments.  Hyper-personaliza�on and new learning methods: Promote an immersive and hyper-personalized learning experience, irrespec�ve of the size of the classroom, to the learners by leveraging advanced digital technology such as AI-based cogni�ve tools. In other words, learning at individual pace, based on learner’s ap�tude and interest help teachers assess students’ weaknesses and gaps and then, fashion the solu�ons imagina�vely.  Industry-driven, new ecosystems: The future holds ‘digital self-learning’, ‘peer-to-peer’, or ‘teacher on-demand’ systems, where experts will teach only complex topics. Performance feedback will be near real-�me for course correc�ons. New alliances and ecosystem among universi�es, edutech companies, educa�on content providers, LMS, MOOCs and courseware providers will facilitate end-to-end services for the industry.  Op�mizing opera�ons: Integrate and automate end-to-end university processes like corporates and create exponen�al value for stakeholders. Significantly transform the technology infrastructure to deliver remote learning capabili�es -managing digital content, LMS, remote assessments, cloud hos�ng, or “as-a-service” model, rather than making large capital investments – keeping in view the shrinking capital base. Educa�on has winged out of classrooms to evolve into anywhere, any�me learning. Blended, technology-supported educa�on aimed at improving personaliza�on, engagement, and ul�mately outcomes will not only enrich students but also teachers and ins�tu�ons -a win-win-win for individuals, government, and society. Tradi�onally, across developed and emerging markets, ins�tu�ons have underinvested in educa�on technology, or edutech, for various reasons, the least among them being the belief that one must “go to school” to learn. Factors such as lack of an enabling policy environment, inadequate government funding or budget constraints, and parental and educator iner�a have also played their part. According to a 2020 Ci� GPS report, Education: Fast Forward to the Future, edutech spend worldwide will more than double to 4.8% of total the educa�on spending, to about $360 billion by 2024, from about $160 billion in 2019. That's an average growth rate of 17% per year. This indicates massive blue ocean opportuni�es for digitaliza�on of educa�on. The pandemic has catalyzed this demand, especially in the emerging markets with significant unmet poten�al. For example, when one of India’s premier technology ins�tutes, IIT Chennai, launched an online Bachelor’s program on data science, it received an opening enrolment of 35,000 students. The Ci� report also forecasts that 50% of all study hours (in and outside classroom) will be digi�zed, sugges�ng a market size of $2.7 trillion in the medium term, eight �mes that in 2024. Industry and service providers hope that the large poten�al increase in tech spend will, at long last, lower barriers to entry, thus sharply reducing cost to students and yielding be�er learning outcomes. Reduced enrolment and funding affect revenues However, inves�ng in smart technologies such as ar�ficial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, AR/VR, big data and the internet of things (IoT) will require strong financial health of ins�tu�ons, which are currently struggling with reduced enrolment and revenues. According to the Ci� report, enrolment rates are set to fall in 2021, especially for interna�onal enrolments; a poten�ally large drop in student enrolments is expected in the short term. This