The growth of EdTech has also provided teachers and assessors with far greater access to data on individual achievements and progress.
Education has remained broadly the same for hundreds of years. Technology is changing that.
EdTech-The Definition:
Applying digital technology to deliver a new form of a learning ecosystem is called EdTech. This ecosystem leverages the reach of the internet, big data analytics, and portability of devices to deliver personalized and customizable learning solutions. A learner gets access to the content of his/her choice, he/she can access it at his time of choice and place of choice, and finally, he/she can pursue and finish it at his/her own pace. This is revolutionizing how education is resourced, taught, consumed, and the learning outcomes it achieves.
Brick and Mortar Centers of Learning
To put things in perspective, 85% of every dollar spent on education is spent on delivering it, .i.e., the brick and mortar infrastructure (real estate), teaching staff, and a lot of other things. Increasing budgets for education does not necessarily mean better learning outcomes.
Advantages of EdTech:
- Cost-effectiveness: E-learning methods can deliver content one-to-many at a very low cost.
- Improved user engagement and learning outcomes: Customized lesson plans, multimedia, gamification, mobile, informal learning apps, peer-to-peer learning platforms not only make learning immersive but keeps them engaged thus leading to better learning outcomes.
- Creates Efficiency: Data analytics can be used to design personalized learning modules and fill knowledge gaps that might exist.
- The democratization of Education: A student in the remotest parts of Tamil Nadu, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, or Gujarat can have access to the same content that a student in the metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, or Bengaluru has.
EdTech and the 2019 NEP Push
Some issues that plague our education system are post-primary dropout rates, lack of equal access to quality education, and affordability.
To address these issues, one of 2020 NEP’s recommendations is to harness EdTech through app‑based learning, online student communities, and lesson delivery beyond ‘chalk and talk’. The NEP envisions schools as nodal agencies, through which the underserved can access internet‑powered devices and thus access to quality education.
The Size of the Pie
The digital revolution in India is characterized by cheap data, low-cost handsets, vernacular-language content, apps, sites, and online marketplaces, and very importantly low-cost electronic payment infrastructure such as Phone Pe, Google Pe, Paytm, etc. Research on the digitization of India predicts a whopping half-a-million new users will come online for the very first time by 2022.
This waiting half‑a-billion (WHB) people would be characterized by a mobile-first approach to the internet. These are people who had no access to quality education and for whom the internet was once out of reach. As more and more people are uplifted from poverty by India’s sustained economic progress, this aspiring populace is one that seeks educational and financial security and opportunities.
The K12 EdTech-addressable market is projected to be worth $1.7 BN by 2022, up more than six-fold from $265 MN in 2019.
BYJU’S Numbers
64 million + downloads, average app rating of 4.7+, 1701 cities worldwide, 71 min avg. time spent on their app daily and 2800 cr. revenue in the financial year 2020 until May 2020.
Miles to go
India is the largest education system in the world (270 million students in our schools). There are another waiting half-a-billion people that is a potential market for a BYJU’s like product. This is a mighty BIG opportunity with room for a lot more BYJU’s. Let us know what you think?
IMAGE: Pexels
