What Role Ed Tech Played in the Covid-19 Pandemic

The school summer holidays are now in full swing, but this time last year, things looked very different. The education system has faced a rocky 18 months, such as many other industries have during the covid-19 pandemic.

Just like majority of the world, schools and education professionals looked towards digital avenues to allow them to support their students as best as they could, in an otherwise bleak situation. As schools began to close down due to the affects of the rapidly evolving pandemic, no one really knew how long remote teaching would have to take place for.

Luckily, earlier this year, schools and their pupils were able to return to some form of ‘normal’, however the journey back to the classroom was not an easy one. During the national lockdowns, the first priority was the ensure that students, across both schools and universities, still continued to receive a high quality of education and resources. Controversially this was not always necessarily the case, but teaching bodies turned to technology to achieve what they could, in a tumultuous time. Video calling platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom became a space to host virtual classrooms, enabling children and young adults to still continue to interact with teachers and classmates, in an otherwise socially distant time.

In some ways, the pandemic caused the education system to move away from the ‘one size fits all’ approach and teaching methods. Not everyone would have access to reliable internet connection or the correct resources, to ensure their learning continued unhindered. Instead, educational professionals needed to seek solutions to address these challenges, to enable all students to progress as well as possible. It goes without saying that remote teaching is not a long-term substitute for in-person interaction and teaching, but instead offered a quick, short-term solution to a problem that could’ve easily spiraled out of control.

As a bespoke software development company, we find it fascinating how the education system harnessed technology and software development to work in their favor. Educational technology (ed tech) is far from traditional teaching methods, but with over 1.2 billion children across 186 countries worldwide affected by school closures, virtual resources had to step up to the plate. Covid-19 drastically transformed the way ed tech was used in daily routines – it allowed classroom days to become more fluid and unrestricted, permitting students to learn at their own pace and not be affected by classroom pressures and distractions.

The educate system had already started adopting ed tech, way before the outbreak of covid-19. Technology and software development such as language applications, video calling tools and online web applications were being used, to redefine teaching and learning in a digital age. E-learning software and ed tech experienced a monumental surge in usage at the height of the pandemic; it is now predicated that the e-learning market is expected to reach an estimate of $325million by 2025. Historically, global pandemics have shaken up potentially outdated ways of thinking. This of course was no different with the outburst of covid-19; the way we work and function was restructured, looking towards hybrid homeworking methods as the next steps in the adult world.

The pandemic acted as a gateway between old and new for the younger generations, as well. Challenging the traditional teaching methods and allowing opportunities to rethink and restructure how education is approached. Covid-19 has transformed ed tech and the way it is interacted in; it acted as a saving grace for so many of those who would otherwise go without.

So, what next?

As with anything new, there were initial fears surrounding the involvement of ed tech in daily education. However, instead of it being a hindrance, it instead allowed teachers and educational professionals to structure assignments and teaching plans with better priority, whilst breaking information into more manageable chunks, in correlation with deadlines.

It’s fair to say the modern education system has never experienced as much disruption as it did in 2020. Thankfully, schools and universities nationwide will return for the start of a new year in September. Larger parts of ed tech may have been parked for now, as face-to-face learning can resume and the need for daily class video calls is no longer required. Various Ed tech software systems will still be used with in the classroom to support learning, however, if another unprecedented circumstance does arise that calls for the need of ed tech to become a major pillar in the educational system again, rest assured we know our students will be in safe hands.