Technology is slowly and steadily making a foray in education. Knowledge is no more limited to books, and the use of platforms such as websites, apps, videos, live chats, etc, have taken it to another level. A lot of schools and colleges in India – mostly in tier 1 and tier 2 cities – have embraced technology to make learning fun and interactive.

Education Technology or ‘edtech’ as it has been termed now, is a growing sector. If we look at the numbers, India’s online education market is set to go as high as $2.5 billion by year-end, according to a research done by RedSeer Consulting. The report had further estimated a total of 20 million students between junior high to senior school who would count as the contributors to this market.

Interweaving technology with education seems to be helping students at all levels. Many educators in the city swear by instructional videos while parents are gradually opening up to the possibility of a platform which may help their wards learn something new in an innovative manner.

The use of education technology is not restricted to Indian cities and metros, as one might believe. It is expanding its base to Tier II and Tier III cities in India as well. One of the reasons for this is difficulty in having access to proper instruction channels and resources or quality of education available to city students, the RedSeer Consulting report says.

The way edtech has evolved is interesting to see. While originally it aimed at providing a fun alternative to learning activities in terms of education-related games and platforms in general, they have now come all the way to including technologies dedicated to enhancing learning and education itself.

Besides aiming to make students adapt better to the rapidly digitizing world around them, edtech also helps develop creativity as well as personalizing content suited to the needs of each child based on constant evaluation.

When it comes to involving technology while learning, special attention needs to be given to each child by understanding his or her individual needs as well as making the process more interactive and fun by transforming studies into a hands-on experience instead of a rot-based system.

Technology has infiltrated the education sector and is only going to grow. The biggest challenge of edtech, which is changing the mindset of people, especially parents, with regards to technology’s role in education also seems to be easing up. The only factor which remains to be seen now is what shape the sector takes in the future and how it competes against classroom teaching and the rot-based education system prevalent in the country.

This article was originally featured on Indian Express:
Written by Shalini Rajvanshi | Noida | Updated: October 12, 2016 1:26 pm
http://indianexpress.com/article/education/edtech-how-important-is-technology-in-education/