In this article we will see through the progress and utility of edtech which has been started mainly from the 90s and beginning of this century. Rapid development in computers and boom in Internet and communication technology usages at the root level of human population became the most crucial determining factor for widespread development and use of modern edtech. 

I prefer to call this edtech that we see all around today as “modern edtech” because if we confine our edtech ideas only with computers and the internet then that will not be quite rational. Edtech has its history back to even ancient ages. 

To follow the history we need to understand the actual notion of edtech, what actually we should understand by edtech. To many of us edtech is almost synonymous to some trendy electronic technology like the computers and the internet. Buzzs of even high level latest developments like Ai and machine learning have already been there for quite some time. Virtual reality and adaptive learning are indicating to change the complete picture of teaching and pedagogy. 

Under this hitech environment understanding edtech as some to do with all these latest technologies are not a very strange or abstract idea. But the reality is different. Edtech existed through ages with developing human civilization and education. Maybe we are not always too aware of that but still it existed in our educational life forever. 

We use writing tools, educational playtools and other interactive gadgets or devices from time immemorial. It is true that every such primitive device evolved a lot and standing today it is really hard to figure out much about those ancient devices unless we do a deep study on history. But at the gross we can take it that educational devices are not anything new but existed through ages. Anything and everything that was made by some kind of technical innovation and used for the progress of education, individual or collective, can be easily categorised under the edtech devices.

With time Science and technology changed in giant leaps, also leaving every possible footprints in the sector of educational applications development, directly or indirectly. Cumulatively that gave us all the relevant tools and technologies we are seeing everywhere, from the internet to the apps in the smartphone within our pocket. Let us browse some of the available technologies of today and delve into some possibilities of tomorrow. We need not be too critical about their uses and ethics over here as we are not doing any comparative study on them, nor are we trying to build up any mandate for or against. This is just a naive journey to the space of edtech today and tomorrow. 

EDTECH Today

There are so many developments going on at such a pace that the boundaries of today and tomorrow are fading beyond demarcation. By the time one will be reading this article, maybe today’s tomorrow may seem like that day’s today. Still we can hold onto somewhere, so let’s try to begin there. 

There were times, when the very old television channels used to broadcast some educational contents, sometimes some video of classes, as the remote educational broadcast services. Today many such channels and programs no longer exist. But the basic model still holds great in YouTube and other video sharing platforms. We talk about Youtube because that’s the most popular. 

There are some obvious benefits of Youtube over those old days television shows. Those were very rigidly time bound, if one misses one show then perhaps he missed it forever. But Youtube is highly customizable, with very flexible play-pause-stop options, making it far easier to view them according to one’s own time flexibility. 

Things do not end into just unidirectional video telecasts or on-demand views. Bidirectional communications, video conferences, online class applications are among the most used features of the developments in telecommunication and computation sectors like the portable computers, smartphones and high speed internet. The internet now boasts its speed not only in the urbans but almost equally to many rural and remote places. And the developments are yet far from any saturation. 

Beside Youtube, there are many online audiovisual based learning mediums and applications which are extensively used by teachers from diversified fields and even more diversified ages and other demographic data. Still Youtube happens to be the most popular among young learners. 

It is not that education tools always have to be online. There are so many educational tools and toys which seem to promote and develop better human education and learning experiences. 

Educational toys are one of the most versatile supplies to be used by students of varied ages and other demographics. Who has not heard about abacus? Many learn their first calculations by it. It is also a great and traditional example of edtech. Every writing tool, even the slate and the pencil or the blackboard and the chalk also makes sense as edtech. Perhaps we don’t know or are not aware of it. 

With the advent of the latest electronic, computer and communication technologies, it seems that the word edtech has been taken away by them. Many of us understand different online and offline applications as the sole representation of edtech. But that is not the way to get it right. Any technology that can anyhow facilitate or assist in the process of learning and education is very much an example of edtech. 

Still it is true that edtech today is more than obsessed with computer and internet applications of a very wide and diversified spectrum. From infants to researchers, all find ample learning materials and educational resources within that spectrum. 

There are hardly any people in education who have not used youtube and other social apps as his or her learning tool or edtech. This has become an extremely widespread trend. 

Online courses are more popular than even the best textbook in the subject. People enrol both in free and paid courses, often get certified and keep having progressive education. Though I would not personally pitch too much for the online courses or videos over a well written text book or reference texts. Sometimes such a textbook or reference can become a masterpiece of a century or even many centuries. 

Many of such courses are even absolutely automated. That obviously carries many advantages on both the side of the teacher and the student. The most important of them is the time independence factor, such that there remains no issue of teacher and student time alignment. But at a certain level it can work but at deeper levels machine teachers or non-interactive human teachers (as recorded content) may not function to meet the best purpose. 

Then there are test engines, some are even AI powered. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is very fast entering the edtech market. Modern automated test engines are a good way to assess the subject competence of a student. It is easy and cost effective. But they are mostly based on quantitative evaluation by statistical scoring on objective questions. Qualitative evaluation may not be so feasible and effective by these automated systems. 

Thus today’s edtech made it possible to have education, have a class, without a teacher, without a classroom, without a book, usually without a pen and copy……can we expect it even without a student in days to come??

EDTECH Tomorrow

Nobody can predict the exact future, but there are trends by which one may assume. Things are already highly under automation, getting even deep and smart day by day. 

There are the trends of adaptive learning, where the latest artificial intelligence and machine learning systems are creating a predictive model of each student, providing the education and learning assistance accordingly customised and adapted for each student. 

Again I would not be too critical on such developments over here, still would like to ask about that. Do we really think our brain is meant to be spoon-fed and learning adaptation has to be absolutely an external factor instead of internal? 

Then there are buzzs on virtual realities and augmented realities. Animation together with virtual reality applications can make us visualise at any depth. Future students will enter an atom or inside the sun to take a kind of first hand experience on the systems and processes going on in them. They may enter a sort of virtual time machine to reach at the most ancient age. And maybe also in some kind of simulated future. 

This level of audio-visual and sense organ interaction based learning methods may help students to understand and visualise most of their syllabus. But another question arises. How much indeed can an external simulation actually develop a student’s natural simulation capability?