Everything you need to know about Smart Education and Learning

The education sector is growing innovative by leap and bounds and expects a manifold growth in the coming years. Parental focus on quality learning for primary kids might experience a wave shift in traditional learning methods and drive the need for smart education and learning.

The ultimate aim of education is the betterment of humanity since the past. Schooling and education have been an uncompromised aspect of society and irrespective of the class segments, the demand for quality education has been at the forefront since then. With the growing competition, educational methods have undergone a huge transformation as the demand grew enormously.

Universally, education is divided into two formats. Primary and secondary. Primary education takes care of essential learning abilities right from age 6 to 12. This includes identification of colors, shapes, language learning and symbols, arithmetic computation, and problem-solving skills. This kind of learning benefits the child to learn with greater ability and boost confidence for further studies.

The secondary education starts from teenage, that helps in understanding life skills, and enhancing perception and personality in terms of educational aspects. For example, personality parameters for primary education differ from those in secondary education because the foundation of the latter turns out career-oriented and much emphasis is given on the choice of career based on the scores of previous grades.

On this backdrop, education is getting smarter and smarter as the educational landscape is widening. It is now defining the art of specialization and skill set with proper tags.

Hence, this post will help you understand the importance of smart education and learning techniques with some insights.

Table of Contents

Technology Penetration Vs Technological divide…

It is no doubt that the SMART technology has defined clarity and approach in the education sector. While the teaching costs have risen up, the technological transformation brings innovation to the table. An example of a perfect transformation would be not only providing iPads or online sessions but giving alterations to the teacher’s role as well. For this, initially, the tutor needs to be highly adoptive of digitization with a clear perception of outcome for students while learning at a digital pace.

This kind of change seems unimaginable at first, as the markets experience a slow adoption of digital learning in emerging countries. While the markets are fully digitized, the education sector is technologically reforming at a moderate pace. At present, the adoption rate in the U.S. market is around 80-85% while those as compared with Indian markets go up to 30-35%.

Therefore, the speedy adoption of technology-based learning can help gain the markets a full advantage of the digital divide.

Technological Variation…

Until now, it is clear that technology plays a vital role in bridging the gap. There can be numerous examples of how technology is changing the education sector!!

This implies students develop conscientiousness while choosing the type of educational platform that offers all-round learning about the concept in the real-time. To be certain, various platforms offer DIY techniques and practice sessions instantly after a particular topic is finished.

But, this happens on a school level, does the same happen at the higher education level?

Yes!!

Colleges have transformed with cloud technologies to provide online learning platforms to their students. For example, several colleges and institutions have provided open access libraries for students that allow them to browse the virtual library. Many universities have already stared with massive online courses (MOOC). Courses under this category are usually free, although depending on the nature and duration of a specific course, small fee stands applicable.

The intention of such platforms is to provide a flexible model of education to working professionals that wish to enhance their skill set or upgrade their domain knowledge. Additionally, these courses have received a huge response from the corporate sector in the past few years.

Technology Owners, Students, or teachers?

On the backdrop of coronavirus pandemic, online learning is gaining huge momentum as there are no early signs of reopening of schools. Also, the school shutdowns and remote learning have stimulated the need for digital learning platforms, big time!

Recently, Mckinsey & Company published the article “New Global Data Reveal Education Technology’s Impact on Learning” in June 2020, to share significant insights on whether technological dependency should be continued even after the re-opening of schools. The article also included survey results that were obtained under the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) published in December 2019 and facilitated by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

To understand the cognitive behavior of 15-year-olds OECD deploys PISA every three years that derive collective data sets for cognitive analysis. For example, in 2018, around 350,000 students from more than 45 countries participated in the technological survey to understand the intensity of technological intent in schools. Some of the following questions were asked to teachers;

The intensity of technology used?
Any positive impact on student learning based on technological inclination?
The standard amount of time spent on using devices for homework and classrooms, and,
The variation of technology in different countries and regions?

The test result states that the results were best when the tutor is using the device. For some subjects such as math and science, there were lower outcomes when the devices were exclusively used by students.

The details drawn from PISA attract some limitations (that are not covered in this post) yet it gives some insights. For example, despite the fact, it draws single-point observational data to derive a correlative study over causation, the assessment is useful in terms of gauging the level of understanding and implementation areas of ideas. The sample tests can also resemble the factual findings based on ground reality.

Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Education…

Smart education and learning emphasizes on adaptive learning and drives the production of customized content for learners. This enables the students to learn at their own pace and develop effective learning styles. Moreover, students are empowered with software access to various platforms that encourage self-learning abilities.

On the contrary, software tools for learning and various learning models are constrained to offer flexibility with maximum potential. At times, the learner might find it uncomfortable to continue with the succeeding session. Therefore, to fulfill this dire need, artificial intelligence and software framework facilitates efficiency to the learners. Cloud technologies provide basic features to fulfill scalable solutions for AI deployment.

Simply put, AI is changing the educational dimensions for students to allow outreach for wider possibilities with enhanced learning.

Quickly, let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages

Smart education and learning are forming a concrete base under educational technology and trends. It enables the learner with the longevity of resources and retains the study materials even in offline mode.
There will always be a high demand for digital tutors based on positive reviews and feedback from students.
Maximized learning and broadening of self-perception based on access for a wide repository of online resources. Enhanced learning offered through interaction between tutor and learner in real-time thereby resulting into a better clarity.
Learners get a chance to enhance other related core areas of their own field.

Disadvantages

Although the ongoing adoption of the SMART approach in the education sector seems high, there are a few concerns that remain unaddressed such as fluctuating bandwidth, geographical divide, and level of technological penetration. There can be pioneers, followers, and trailing markets for smart education and learning operating with different demand and supply scenarios.
Apart, several countries continue to follow the traditional patterns of learning despite digitization. However, this establishes the fact that traditional learning models continue to influence positiveness since tutors and learners can interact face to face.
The cost of technology, talent, operations, and resource management is high to keep them running and average performing educational startups succumb to fierce competition in the smart education and learning industry.

Conclusion:

Heidi-Hayed Jacobs once stated, “Teachers need to integrate technology seamlessly into the curriculum instead of viewing it as an add-on, an afterthought or an event”, stands true. In the feat of gaining knowledge and widening the perspective, the embedding of technology in education can reinforce quality learning. Therefore, the objective and pursuit of smart education must be to fulfill the learning gap and enhance the learning capacity.