“Technology will never replace great Teachers, but in the hands of great teachers, it’s transformational”

mentioned George Couros, the Author of “The Innovator’s mindset”.

Technology has always had an impact on the human life, right from its outset. With the evolution and
advancement of technology, general sectors are transmuting expeditiously, with no exception in the
education sector. Life, as we know it, has evolved, and technology has emerged as a life saviour amid all
this. The impossible has been made possible, and yet, while we mostly embrace it, the question of the hour
is: concretely, are we having mixed reactions to this change, which basically is quite consequential.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on the education of children across the world.
However, teaching hand in hand with technology has certainly helped to minimise the disruption of
education dissemination even to the most needed. Whether it is language apps, virtual tutoring, video
conferencing tools or online learning software, there has been a significant surge of technology from the
past year.

Technology is an innovation of humans, so the application of technology in education is also innovative;

enabling the educator to engender a differentiated space for each student’s own personalised learning.
Educational Technology assists how educators impart education, both online and offline. Students now
have access to information anywhere, anytime, and not only if physically present with the instructor. It
transmutes the students’ approach to learning, making it much appealing, interactive, and captivating their
attention – thus engaging them: making them learn better, recollect better, and apply it better. This does
not mean that teachers must now become experts in IT: rather it signifies they have fascinating
opportunities to work with.

An innovative educator follows the latest trend in educational technology, nonetheless, it is up to the
teacher to decide which “trendy” aid they need for teaching and learning. Some of these would be,

1. Video Assisted Learning & Gamification

Studies have shown that videos effect to much retention and this mode of learning is now booming
especially in distance learning situations. Video assisted learning has proven to be beneficial to enrich
lessons and make content comprehensible – thus improving student outcome and reducing teacher
workload. Gamification helps create a fun, relaxed and positive learning environment for learners, thus
making it the most popular in the K12 segment.

2. Big Data

Big Data has been part of EdTech back from 2019 itself, and it is just getting bigger. The cognition
experience needs to be personalized to cater to the learner’s needs. With online learning now booming,
data tends to be more crucial than ever. Relevant information helps to customize and present the learning
in a suitable format for the user. A large volume of data is produced in the educational realm through online
courses, teaching and cognition activities. With the advent of Big Data, now teachers can access student's
academic performance, learning patterns and provide instant feedback.

3. Artificial Intelligence

No technology cognate information goes ahead without the mention of AI in it now. AI helps to automate
basic activities in education, like grading; making it possible for teachers to automate grading of multiple
choices or close questions. This benefits the learners too, in getting support and helpful feedback. Hence
some schools are utilizing this to monitor student progress and notify issues in performance.

4. Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality Immersive Learning

From the time VR, AR and MR has come into the education sector, there has been a humongous change.
VR provides a constructed reality whereas AR gives an enhanced view of the real image. Thus, it helps to
simplify complex concepts that plain images or a lab experiment cannot portray. This help students
visualize what they are learning and make them feel like they are experiencing it as they learn. MR- a
mixture of AR and VR, creates an environment where physical and virtual objects can exist and interact in
real time.

5. Coding

Quoting Berkman Klein Center, 2014, “Coding is a new literacy. To thrive in tomorrow’s society, young
people must learn to design, create, and express themselves with digital technologies”. Coding involves
problem-solving, perseverance, collaboration, mathematical logic, and reasoning skills – all skills required
for students in this era.

6. Block Chain Technology

A system of recording information in a way that makes it difficult or impossible to change, hack or cheat
the system. This ledger technology could better manage transparency, accountability through smart
contracts for deploying student payments and to incentivize the overall educational experience so that
students are awarded cryptocurrency to those who perform highly.

7. Use of Television

The best way of utilizing Television for Education is in the form of study through informative videos, TV
shows and documentaries that teachers can show during a lecture. This especially, in areas with poor
Internet connectivity. Thus, it can reinforce school learning and act as a supplement to edify topics.

8. Social Media

Creating a Facebook page to broadcast updates and streaming live sessions, Twitter as a class message
board, Instagram for photo essays, Pinterest boards to save pins relevant to lessons – there are many
different uses of social media in the classroom, and it is time to embrace this so that students participate
directly in their own learning rather than just passive information absorption.

9. Robotics

Robotics prepare students for the competitive workforce of tomorrow, instigating the skills required for
the future job market including programming and science engineering. Educational Robotics allows
students to learn in various ways, thus developing their own personal learning experience, accessing
information and educational contents through a tailor-made path all in an entertaining manner.

10. 3D Printing

Educators can have digital 3D worlds come into life with this concept, encouraging sharing, teamwork,
design through complex ideas. It sanctions them to design rich learning experiences for deep theoretical
constructs that bring learning from the computer into the hands of the learner. In essence, they are
learning valuable lessons about design, theory, and the manipulation of objects.

As explained above, these 10 trends are currently being utilized for the betterment of education. However,
these are not the only ones out there. Many more are being adopted by different Education Boards, School
Groups, Ministries of Education of sundry countries, depending upon the desideratum and the requisite in
their local circumstances.

UNESCO has come up with “Sustainable Development Goals” for many sectors. For the Education sector,
they have come up with SDG4 as part of their 2030 vision. Many countries are aligning themselves to the
2030 vision of UNESCO and adopting the SDG4 goals in Education.

The United Arab Emirates is a member of the International Steering Committee on UNESCO's Sustainable
Development Goal 4 (SDG4), UNESCO's 2030 Education. This is part of the UAE’s efforts to promote its
presence in international arenas appertaining to education, innovation, culture, and human development.

Panworld Education too aligns itself to the vision 2030 & thrives & considers inculcating all individuals,
leaving no one behind, to being central in achieving sustainable development. With our facility to provide
traditional learning tools and technology-aided education, we strive to facilitate the evolution of learning
and teaching into the next generation.

Keeping in mind that technology has seeped into education and renewed its whole edifying and cognition
process, I conclude by saying that technology is here to stay and build a culture of collaboration leading to
an improved, enriched experience.