Image: Campus Intelligence

Technology has bought about a revolutionary change, and the education sector is not to be left behind. Technology has catapulted digital education leading to massive changes witnessed worldwide. By 2025, the global spending on education is projected to touch a massive US$350 providing many unexplored opportunities to the EdTech innovators. Currently, the education sector is seen as one of the underserved segments with untapped opportunities for technology adoption. Here are a few of the technology trends in the education domain that we are looking forward to in 2020 and beyond:

Internet of Things (IoT)

Internet of Things (IoT) holds tremendous opportunities in modern education ambit. IoT has the potential to create smarter and more connected schools and universities by bringing centres of learning closer to a virtual environment. For instance, IoT sensors can be deployed to track the traffic movements throughout the campus, giving schools key data to determine which areas need enhanced security features like lighting to benefit its students and visitors. Also, by using real-time communication tools, educational institutions can share the progress reports of the students with their parents, IoT sensors can also help parents track their child's class attendence in a live enviornment.

Immersive Learning (AR, VR & MR)

Immersive learning is the gen-next trend in the education segment. Immersive learning involves learning through a simulated environment in an artificial setting. The rise of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) is creating new forays into ed-tech learning. The combination of AR and VR or Mixed Reality is offering new experiences from astronomy to historical drama to environmental science.

Blockchain

If you thought Blockchain to find its application into finance, then think again. Of late, Blockchain is offering great collaboration into secure data exchange facilities which are unique and difficult to hack for the enterprises. The higher education sector has embraced blockchain technology as a lot of case studies and use cases emerge for the usage of blockchain in the education sector. Consider this, blockchain provides immense untapped opportunities into student data sharing between multiple universities for student transfer, scholarships, semester exchange and course exchange. Recruiters will find Blockchain to be a boom at placements when educations institutions have to share student academic data.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Higher education has got many impactful implementations of AI, for instance, in the case of facial recognition, an educational institution can easily track their student's attendance by capturing photos on each day. Computer Vision and Facial recognition are also helpful to secure campus infrastructure from unauthorized access. Other use cases include strengthening exam security by identifying cheating instances during online exams and conducting exams without any physical human invigilation.

Chatbots

Chatbots are an exciting technology that understands the user intent and respond to human conversations. Chatbots have the potential to save time and administration costs by quickly resolving website or mobile app queries to a visitor on an instant basis round the clock. A chatbot can be integrated with frequently asked questions about the courses, fees, student intake and placement opportunities of the education institution helping prospective students resolve their queries. Chatbots hold untapped opportunities for the educational institutions, in areas of the automating responses to queries related to education loans, admission process, admission criteria and scholarships.

Summing up, as learning continues to evolve, digital technologies have a massive potential to help enable that. As the world becomes more connected, more opportunities evolve to help you learn and master any course.

The future of education is exciting, and schools and education must evolve to embrace new learning styles and technologies to interest students. It is equally imperative to maintain the integrity of the knowledge in areas like history, arts and literature that help create responsible citizens.