Role of Educational Institutions in Building a Tech-Powered Pedagogy

With the COVID-19 outbreak, interdependence of education and technology has increased drastically. The increased connection between education and technology is promoting innovation and outside-the-box thinking among learners. According to a recent survey by Gallup, close to 81% of teachers believe that using digital learning tools in classrooms adds great value. Additionally, 57% of them agree that using digital tools are more effective for personalising the learning experience for the children’s specific needs.

The lockdown situation, though having pushed kids indoors for a long time, has also opened up a myriad of opportunities for EdTech as a whole. With bigger capabilities, also comes bigger challenges. For successful integration of cutting edge tech in learning methodologies, the decision makers of educational institutions would play a key role in tackling the challenges during execution

Training of Educators

The newer tech-based learning models are driven by the ideology of improving engagement levels of students while stimulating creativity and innovation. While learners of this generation are digital natives and have the capability to quickly adapt to the changing dynamics, the teachers might need additional upskilling to provide the best learning experience to their students.

Institutions that are planning to integrate new tech in education must ensure that their teachers are properly trained to use technology and troubleshoot issues that might be faced in a classroom or a remote learning environment. The expertise of teachers to handle technical difficulties in a virtual classroom is directly related to the learning experience of students. Though most of the remote learning systems designed today have an intuitive user interface, regular training and feedback sessions to discuss the practical difficulties faced by teachers and brainstorming on ways to improve the system, would go a long way.

Being Technologically Pertinent

Education sector is quickly catching up to other industries in accelerating the digital transformation. Technologies like Virtual Reality (VR), Over the top media distribution (OTT) and Augmented Reality (AR) which were primarily used by the entertainment industry, are being leveraged by the education sector. In a traditional classroom setup, institutions had the time to slowly adapt to any major change in teaching and learning practices. But with increased dependence on technology, educational institutions will have to continuously build their capabilities to incorporate the latest tech within their pedagogy.

Building strategic partnerships

In a quickly changing landscape, it is much essential for institutions to build partnerships that would help them build a learning environment that benefits both teachers and the students. A lot of technology tools are aiding students with autism, dyslexia and other similar learning disabilities. These smart technology tools are making the learning process more inclusive and are leveling up the inequalities among the students who were left behind in a traditional classroom approach. Partnering with tech companies with complementary capabilities would help the institutions to strategically cater to students with different levels of learning needs.

As we are marching towards the new normal, it is important to acknowledge that technology in education has become indispensable, and structure plans for the future accordingly. All education institutions have realised this and are slowly integrating technology based solutions in their learning practices. The secret sauce for a successful implementation is making the right decisions during the execution phase and the role of decision makers of educational institutions is pivotal in making those right calls.