
The absolute care and attention to detail that education systems around the world are expected to operate to is something that has been an immense sense of pride for the industry for generations. This is an industry that helps to mould the minds of young individuals. These are the people who are going to grow and evolve into the leaders of tomorrow, the next generations charged with the safekeeping of Earth and the society that we have built [quite literally] from the ground up.
One of education’s biggest accomplishments is its inherent ability to always manage to somehow be everything that students of the time need it to be. Students blossom best when they are in learning environments that foster their sense of keen wonder and eagerness to engage. For generations past, this has been something that has played to the education system’s advantage. They knew what worked. They were familiar with it. And then technology began to evolve, and everything started to change.
Digital transformation has well and truly come to the academic sector. We value our education more than we do most other things in life. The introduction of technology into the education industry has only served to heighten this sense of value. When EdTech (education technology) first came to the academic world, it faced quite a lot of scepticism, and even criticism. It is not entirely impossible to understand why this is. Educators were concerned that the introduction of technology into their field would run them out of the job.
With courses online and digital learning materials, there was genuine concern that educators would lose their jobs – or a significant part of their jobs – to automation and technological advancement, that the education industry itself would be changed beyond return. Automation and technological advancement have come to the industry in the form of EdTech. The industry has indeed changed. But only for the better. And, more importantly, at no cost or risk of career loss to those that work within the education industry.
In short, the value in EdTech is not that it is so efficient it can take over traditional education entirely. The value in EdTech is that its reaches have been designed so delicately, so efficiently, that they can work seamlessly in perfect collaboration with educators and traditional education methods and models. At the end of the day, the goal is to strengthen the education system around the world and provide students everywhere with a more wholesome, engaging learning experience.
EdTech has brought technology to the education industry in so many exciting ways, but perhaps the most exhilarating part of it all is that it has not reached its peak – not by a long shot. There is a lot of value in EdTech, and all that value speaks volumes of the power of industries – even those most traditional in their functioning – embracing modernisation. In allowing technological innovation through the doors, the academic sector has ensured its stance as a sturdy, relevant environment for generation after generation to experience, grow, and learn, ultimately shaping students into capable, intelligently-driven citizens of society.