Thriving in Today’s Changing Education Landscape

by McGraw Hill Canada

COVID-19 has altered the education landscape like never before. Global education institutions
have suffered lockdowns for months at a stretch, and this has had an
unprecedented impact on learners and instructors. This unforeseen pandemic has triggered the
need to rethink traditional education, and leverage technology to aid transformation. 
 
As per UNESCO’s global monitoring of school closures, over a billion learners have
been impacted globally in the past year. Technology has come to the rescue, and from online
classes to remote assessment, educational institutions pivoted commendably to remote
learning.  
 
The global adversity has acted as a catalyst for educational institutions to speed up innovation.
Lectures are no longer confined to designated spaces within colleges or universities.
Technology has been leading the change, but it can be only as good as the one using it. This
begs the question: is enough support and readiness among educators and students to
transform in sync with the changing education landscape?

Key elements to thrive in a changing landscape 

Student engagement, success, career readiness, communication efficacy – all the metrics that
defined the quality of a teaching setup - have taken a shift. McGraw Hill has identified the key
elements that signify this change, along with ways to help educators thrive.

 Incorporating Experiential Learning: A key ingredient to be successful in the

education sector in 2021 is to introduce experiential learning in your course. With
students not being able to get practical experience, it is imperative that instructors make
the course more engaging. According to a survey conducted by Statistics Canada,
almost 35% students reported that the pandemic resulted in the cancellation or
postponement of their work-integrated learning. Bridging this gap is going to be key to
ensuring students are career ready. 
 Career Readiness: Career readiness continues to be under the microscope since the
shift to remote learning. The quick pivot to remote work has triggered a technological
adoption of automation and contract work, with forecasts signaling a 50:50 share of work
between humans and machines by 2025. This has brought the role of higher education
under a lens, and it is under greater scrutiny to prepare students for the jobs of
tomorrow. How educators leverage technical advancements in learning platforms will
influence how well prepared their students are. 
 Communicating in a Hybrid Environment: The blended learning environment has
flipped the traditional one-way lecture and higher education students are embracing the
change with gusto. In one study, over 50% students have reported better learning
experience since transitioning to online learning. This is a testament to the
communication channels available to instructors, allowing them more time to focus on
higher value-added classroom discussions. Exactly how this is achieved is down to how
comfortable an instructor is with instructor study software tools. 
  Making Data-Driven Decisions: With a wide sample size and a long history of
interacting with students, educational institutions are best suited to draw on years of data
to make informed decision as they pivot to future of education. From designing courses
for graduate and undergraduate students, to recalibrating assessments for online
teaching, leveraging years of data can help institutes make foolproof changes that
positively impact students learning. 
 Engaging Management Information Systems: Getting critical pieces of information
across students, and ensuring it has been correctly comprehended is really important.
Grades, attendance, behavioral information, admission status etc. are all key stages that
students need to be well aware of. Making the system more engaging allows
administrators to manage a seamless database of all student-faculty interactions in
institutes, making it easier for them to scale. 

Education technology, or ‘EdTech’ as it is popularly called, is here to stay and grow. Getting
students engaged, motivated and communicating effectively are going to be the decisive factors
in making sure the institutions of today thrive in the changing landscape of tomorrow.