The global pandemic has taken a massive hit not just on the lives of the people, but also to businesses. To overcome the crisis, businesses across several sectors are striving to keep their wheels turning by taking the digital route. Although the education industry has observed a drastic development over the past decade, especially in the form of smart schools, e-learning applications, and others, digital learning or e-learning in the smart education system has become a viable and preferred solution amidst the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to address the learning need of students. This, indeed, is anticipated to become the ‘new normal’ in the education industry.
Smart Education: The New Edge Learning Method
Smart education is defined as the unbounded and holistic platform of education where students can learn different subjects by using modern technology. Unlike the traditional ways of learning and teaching that happens in schools, smart education methods outlook the number of hours, location, and attendance. The concept of smart education utilizes training techniques, such as, projectors, whiteboards, smart notebooks, and others to create visual presentations and educational data, that are circulated amongst the targeted audience. Moreover, smart education also deals with the utilization of a virtual learning environment in educational institutes to analyze the attentiveness and participation of the students. The accumulated data assists the teacher to adapt to the demanding teaching method at that very moment. There are different learning modes for smart education, namely, simulation-based learning, collaborative learning, social learning, virtual instructor-led training (VLIT), and blended learning amongst others.
Smart Education: The Evolution and the Driving Factor
Historically, the first smart education project was carried out in Malaysia in the year 1997, primarily conceptualized by the Ministry of Education of the Government of Malaysia. Over the years, with the growing need to develop the quality of education, several governments across the globe began focusing on educational projects that were focused on the smart education system.
The demand for smart education system significantly grew with the advent in technological infrastructure worldwide, favorable government initiatives to promote online education and the increasing adoption of smartphones and the internet, which according to the estimates of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), recorded to be 53.6% of the global population, by the end of 2019. The technology-enhanced learning (TEL) paradigm also grew over the years on the back of the development of other related technologies, such as artificial intelligence, big data, internet of things (IoT), cloud computing, and others.
Smart Education In The COVID Era
The global pandemic has set serious challenges to businesses worldwide. Post lockdown being deployed in several nations, several MNCs and professionals have adapted to the new normal of “work from home”. On the other hand, for many nations, it was a key challenge to ensure that learning remains a continuous process virtually, and hence, to adapt to the new normal, the concept of smart education, primarily e-learning, came into the spotlight. Although, the education system had to observe challenging moments, primarily due to the lack of technological knowledge amongst many, and lack of availability of proper technological infrastructure amongst some. Moreover, the sudden switch from a traditional classroom environment to a smart class environment also required several amounts of adjustment, not just for the students, but also on their parents as well as the faculties.
Yet, the accelerated adoption of digital technology, that had been triggered by the lockdown, led to the unprecedented transformation of the education system from teacher-centric education towards student-centric education. Faculties practiced themselves to adapt to the new concept of virtual classrooms and many of them had to undergo training to understand and operate the online tools of smart education.
The Opportunity Gainers During The COVID Period
Although the global smart education market is driven by several service providers, such as Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE), Blackboard Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), McGraw Hill, NIIT Limited (NSE: NIITLTD), BYJU’s (Think and Learn Private Limited), SkillSoft Limited, Pearson plc (LON: PSON), Smart Technologies ULC, Ebix Smartclass Educational Services Pvt. Ltd. (NASDAQ: EBIX) and others, yet some of them have obtained massive heights during the current pandemic period. The growth for these companies can be attributed to the favorable initiatives by the government of several nations worldwide to promote smart education amidst the global pandemic. For instance, Betsy DeVos, the U.S. Secretary of Education, announced emergency relief funds for more than USD 13.2 billion on the 23rd of April’20 to support continued learning for K-12 students. The funding was allocated by the CARES Act signed by the President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump. The leaders in the education sector were also told that they would have the flexibility to use the ESSER Fund to promote tools and resources for distance education.
Moreover, amongst the five major regions, namely Latin America, North America, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and Europe, the market of smart education in North America emerged as a dominant region amidst the global pandemic owing to the stable economic growth, availability of a robust technological infrastructure and the presence of prominent players operating in the smart education market. Further, the smart education market in the Asia Pacific witnessed a robust growth in the adoption of smart education systems, especially in India, backed by the growing attractiveness for e-learning applications, increasing adoption of bring your own device (BYOD) and the increasing need amongst parents to continue with the education of their children during the pandemic period.
Smart Education: The Road Ahead
Amidst the global pandemic, smart education systems have been a savior for many students worldwide, yet with the advancement in technology, several improvements in the smart education system is underway. Although, the major concern for data privacy and cybersecurity remains, players operating the smart education industry are increasingly focusing on developing advanced security measures for the protection of data. On the other hand, with no other available options at the current scenario for traditional classroom education of students, the concept of smart education is anticipated to pave evolutionary steps in the education sector in the years to come.
About Saurav Dutta
Saurav Dutta is a budding content writer with experience in developing quality content related to the market research industry. He tries to portray his thoughts and ideas into words that help readers from different sectors to experience a seamless perusal.
