Technology has enabled education to continue in Australian households through the COVID-19 pandemic. Misplaced passwords, wifi-bandwidth issues and forgetting webinar start times have replaced the more traditional lunch-packing, hairbrushing and carpooling rigmarole of primary, secondary and tertiary education.
Educators have continued to impart wisdom via online sessions, apps and email, and parents have… well, hung in there! Where available, universities leveraged their online options to support running all their programs online. Those not already offering remote learning quickly got a system up and running. A decade ago, it’s likely much of the education sector would have ground to a halt without face-to-face learning.
Meanwhile, edtech, the thriving technology community — creating cutting-edge hardware, software and experiences to facilitate learning delivery, development and administration — has stepped in, and in doing so, transformed the way in which students engage with education. What will its role be in a post-COVID world, and how should educational institutions make the most of its opportunities?
The state of education today
Education had already begun to go digital, particularly in the tertiary sector where disruption has come in the form of online courses, such as Open Learning and massive online open courses (MOOCs) such as Coursera, Udacity, EdX. Students are digitally savvy, and they expect their educational providers to provide flexible, personal and always-on study options.
The pandemic ushered the world into a period of ongoing disruption and uncertainty, and changed user preferences and expectations. Now, our education institutions are repositioning themselves for success in the post COVID world to ensure that they continue to be an engine of innovation, creativity and productivity.
The way education has been taught hasn’t changed substantially in decades, and digital provides an opportunity to deliver in different ways. Technology, and the data that a connected education ecosystem brings, will provide a wealth of information with which to understand student needs and tailor experiences to them for better engagement and outcomes.
To embrace the opportunity that digital and technology presents, it is imperative that education institutions not only transform what they look like and what they do, but also how they think and perceive the external world when planning the way forward.
Edtech to the fore
Edtech will help. Globally, the edtech sector, which has been fast-tracked by the COVID-19 pandemic, has reached critical mass and is now estimated to be at least a US$250 billion market.1 Edtech ventures, their capabilities and offerings are emerging from the periphery of the education sector to become increasingly mainstream.
In Australia, the domestic edtech startup sector is the second largest startup community behind only fintech, more than doubling in size since 2017.2 Growth in startup activity and innovation is expected to continue for the foreseeable future, as the sector grapples with what education looks like in an increasingly digitally-enabled environment. This represents an opportunity to improve the overall delivery quality and relevance of education.
These startups, combined with established edtech companies, have already driven significant innovation in the overall education ecosystem, including fully online delivery of education, digitally-enabled assessment delivery and virtual work integrated learning experiences. And while technology has always been part of the education world, as those of us who remember overhead projectors from our primary school days or the microfiche machines of university, edtech is taking those experiences to the next level.
Learning Management Systems digitise the admin, documentation, course delivery and reporting elements of education. Immersive tech, such as AR and VR, bring new modes of learning to the classroom. Apps for STEM, coding, language-learning and alternate learning methods help students in specific areas, and services/platforms exist to provide tutoring, study notes, exam prep, career counselling and social elements of education. It’s a broad remit.
The focus of the ecosystem has more recently shifted towards digital engagement models across the education value chain — including pre-enrolment, peer-to-peer engagement to support recruitment, ‘in-semester’ student-to-student engagement and support models, and alumni mentoring and networking. Despite this significant activity, it is estimated that half the edtech startup landscape is only subscale/early stage in Australia, indicating there is still significant innovation and disruption yet to be realised.3
Your move, education sector
With a growing number of edtech companies seeking to disrupt the post K-12 education sector, education institutions have a choice: seek to fight them off and build their own competing capabilities/offerings, or find new partnerships.
An increasing number of education institutions are embracing the latter and redefining the role of edtech in the broader ecosystem, viewing it as a pool of innovation and opportunity that established institutions can leverage.
This is not a new concept to the sector — over the last decade, an increasing number of institutions have acknowledged the value such startups (and some established edtech providers) can bring and have started interacting with them in ways beyond direct competition. However, most of these engagements have come about opportunistically, with a limited number of institutions systematically engaging with edtech organisation’s across their whole value chain.
Where to start
Institutions are openly and honestly assessing their existing capabilities to understand the key gaps or areas of improvement. Efforts can then be focused on the most meaningful capability gaps that future roadmaps do not adequately address and where existing edtech ventures can meaningfully support. Partnering with edtech to enhance capabilities that are already market leading, or can be better addressed internally, will not realise incremental value.
With a clear perspective on the specific role that edtech can play in supporting the realisation of strategic vision, education providers can begin to systematically assess the edtech ecosystem for attractive opportunities.
Key things to keep in mind? Treat edtech providers as external sources of innovation, rather than competitors to challenge and defend against. Adopt an ‘inside-out’ approach by starting with strategic priorities and internal capabilities gaps so you are crystal clear on the strategic purpose of partnering with edtech. Finally, understand the different ways you can partner with edech, being clear on when and where they are most appropriate.
New lessons
There is no doubt that education institutions have a lot to gain by partnering with edtech to support their strategic priorities.
However, if gap between the traditional education sector and the edtech ecosystem is bridged, it could also drive an education revolution that will improve student outcomes (through more effective learning approaches), enhance workforce skills with relevant and digestible learning products and increase equity and access to the education for everyone, regardless of location or background.
The cumulative effect of these benefits is the enrichment of and improvement to the life trajectories for generations to come. It’s certainly a lesson worth learning.
