Prominent Trends in Ed-Tech for 2022

Institutions must focus on the quality of their online experience to remain competitive

FREMONT, CA: Schools, colleges, and universities must implement specialized and specific ed-tech solutions to meet their remote/hybrid remote students' and employees' expectations. For institutions to remain competitive, the quality of the online experience will be a crucial differentiator, particularly in higher education.

In addition, schools will require secure, adaptable, and high-quality remote learning capabilities in the event of irregular shifts to hybrid learning. Notable ed-tech trends will be those that improve the hybrid experience quality for all organizations and institutions.

The focus of future trends will be on achieving objectives in two key areas: providing seamless, highly engaging online experiences and enabling optimal security. Among the particulars are the following:

Fundamentally secure and private technology: Efforts must be made to raise safety and security standards for all remote higher education experiences. Colleges and universities must protect their students' identities, personal information, and content. At the institutional level, new standards, policies, and protocols must be created, along with the implementation more security tools and technology. As the demand for secure tools increases, standardized technological products will emerge.

Tools to facilitate the transition to immersive visual communications: Future best-of-breed solutions will replace simple video and audio conferencing with immersive video communications that allow remote learners to experience and interact as if they were in a physical classroom.

Advanced collaboration tools that encourage participation: There are now tools that enable stronger and more sophisticated remote communication. This emerging technology will engage learners and audiences more effectively, facilitating easier collaboration and more interactive experiences.

These tools should also foster community and relationships among students, whether they are learning in person or remotely.

Greater integration of disparate technologies: When too many dissimilar tools result in a disjointed experience, hybrid and remote learning is diminished. It is crucial to integrate advanced tools with authentication and security expectations.

For instance, learning management systems must integrate with collaboration tools seamlessly. APIs are the preferred method of integration for connecting tools. Remote students require access to administration, registration, and advising, in addition to high-quality remote experiences.

Media to be incorporated into all forms of communication: All forms of media will be readily available and accessible to remote working and learning solutions, allowing users to engage the audience in whichever form they prefer.

The emergence of a hybrid model in higher education: As we emerge from the pandemic, all forecasts for higher education point to the hybrid college-university experience as the future direction for colleges and universities. Online and distance education create flexible educational options that meet the needs of a wide range of students. As a result, online education will become a permanent component of higher education.

In its report on post-COVID university learning, Deloitte surveyed higher education leaders and found that nearly all respondents agreed that a hybrid plan would benefit colleges and universities. Deloitte highlighted the nuances of a high-quality hybrid remote experience by stating, "The hybrid campus reimagines residential education in a technology-enabled world: a technology-enabled student experience." This is not only hybrid instruction, but also a blended, immersive, and digital campus-wide residential experience."

The success of the hybrid model in institutions will depend on many crucial factors, such as the level and quality of technology and the accessibility of services to online students.