Rishabh Khanna is the Cognitive Scientist and Co-Founder of Suraasa, a teacher training and accreditation platform. He belongs to Karnal, Haryana, a city widely regarded as an education hub. Rishabh has earned a degree in mechanical engineering from a leading college in New Delhi. After graduating from college in 2008, Rishabh joined Hindustan Computers Limited (HCL) one of the largest and most prestigious IT companies in India. In 2017, Rishabh created Suraasa, a platform that trains aspiring educators and teachers who are in service. Suraasa teaches educators skills that prepare them for teaching.
There has been a rising concern around the acutely deteriorating attention span of humans. As per a study, the average attention span has declined from 12 seconds to 8 seconds over the span of the past 15 years. This has imposed an underlying challenge for the education sector to keep the students engaged amidst the omnipresence of distractions at every point of the day.
A huge reason for the increased distraction is the easy access to abundant information enabled by technology. Instagram Feeds, YouTube Videos, Tiktok Videos have made it easier than ever to consume more and more content with clicks and swipes.
But do you know what’s interesting?
Technology, the cause for this problem, also has the potential to solve it.
The Edtech industry has a huge potential to influence the wide gamut of learners with their revolutionary teaching techniques and it’s no surprise that it has already crossed $4 billion funding in 2021.
The emergence of EdTech platforms has redefined how students engage during the learning process. There are numerous relevant factors that contribute to the improved engagement on EdTech platforms, such as ease of access and navigation, interface design, and level of interaction.
But before that, let’s understand the problem first. There are several shortcomings in a traditional offline classroom. In a traditional classroom, a student is overwhelmed by the teacher-student ratio. Even for the teacher, it becomes difficult to personalise the delivery according to each and every learner’s style and pace. Many times, the geographical and time-related boundaries do not support the requirement of being present at the same place at the same time, as some learners may prefer. In addition to these, the traditional brick and mortar mode of learning does not support the facilities of tracking the actual attention of learner.
The gaps in traditional modes of learning led to the emergence of EdTech platforms which proved to be game-changing for the education sector of India. EdTech stands for education technology or use of technology in education. Here, the technology brings with it the benefits of data tracking, storage, and personalization.
Let’s discuss in detail how edtech plays a crucial role in making learning more engaging. the learner.
Personalized Learning
Edtech can personalise what, how, when, and where you learn. With the help of personalisation, EdTech platforms can cater to the specific needs of the students. Understanding the behaviour of each individual student, it can optimize, customise and humanise the structure.
Courses can be customized with the help of personalised recommendations and reading references that best suits the learner’s requirements. Learners can also access content in the format that suits their learning styles.
Of course, let’s not forget the magic of self-paced content that eliminates the need for all people to be together at the same time.
Regular Nudges
EdTech platforms very efficiently track activity data and constantly remind you to meet your learning milestones in your set time. Teachers are able to access this data too which helps them learn if they are slow or if they need to invest extra time on a particular topic.
Our brain sometimes needs a trigger to perform certain tasks, and nudges play an excellent role in doing that.
Gamification
EdTech platforms have the ability to include multimedia much more natively on their platforms. With diverse content delivery formats, learners never get bored of learning. The availability of fascinating elements like contests, timers, and spinning wheels encourages users to increase their time on the platform.
On-Platform Jobs
EdTech platforms are multidimensional and are able to bring myriad facets under one roof. Many of them support not just learning but entire career progression. Learners can apply for jobs on the platforms itself. This often acts as a motivator for learners to continue engaging so that they can progress faster.
Teachers from anywhere in the world
EdTech platforms are able to onboard the best educators of the world who teach you from another part of the world as digital spaces transcend all geographical boundaries.
EdTech platforms, being sensitive to the holistic learning needs of students, also understand that it is of equal importance to hone the skills of teachers to render the desired results. Hence, in recent years, EdTech platforms have diversified into upskilling teachers so that the teachers can further effectively engage the students in the class.
Covid-19 has accelerated the EdTech industry as formal education systems moved online, and people realized the value of being at the top of their game after the wide-spread lay-offs. With technology, the possibilities are endless. One can only wait and see how EdTech further evolves in future.