Earlier this month, Aimeice, a leading
education software development company, set the perfect stage for discussing EdTech trends by explaining what educational technology is and what role it plays in today’s fast-paced world.
Today, we’re zooming in on the key trends in educational technology that will affect primary, secondary, and higher education institutions through 2024 and beyond.
Emerging Trends in Educational Technology You Can’t Ignore
EdTrend #1: Increasing Migration to the Cloud
Cloud computing opens up unprecedented opportunities for educational organizations.
Instead of investing heavily in on-premises infrastructure setup and maintenance, you can use a software-as-a-service (SaaS) learning management system (LMS) or collaborate with a reputable
LMS development company like AimeiceTech to create one from scratch using Amazon or Microsoft cloud resources.
Furthermore, cloud apps are always available and can be accessed from anywhere at any time, making them ideal for remote and hybrid educational arrangements.
Not surprisingly, 60% of all educational organizations globally have already shifted to cloud computing, and even more will follow suit in 2024.
Despite the obvious benefits, you should treat migration to the cloud with caution, and the same rule can be applied to other technology trends in education highlighted in this article.
Specifically, you should pay attention to:
- Rising cloud computing costs. Wages, energy consumption, hardware expenses, and the adoption of emerging technologies in education all contribute to increasing cloud computing costs. Just recently, IBM raised prices for their platform (PaaS) and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) offerings by a whopping 26%. Over 80% of IT leaders, meanwhile, claim their organizations have recently incurred “unnecessary” cloud infrastructure costs. If you’re considering streamlining your operations, from student recruitment to payment processing, by shifting your IT infrastructure to cloud servers, it is recommended that you partner with an EdTech company skilled in cloud-native app development and DevOps. By thoroughly planning your cloud migration project, you’ll be able to optimize your IT budget while ensuring impeccable application performance.
- Ensuring end-to-end data security. Cloud-based EdTech solutions, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), admission and enrollment management software, and student information systems (SISs), handle a variety of sensitive data, including payment information, academic research results, and student records. When making use of such systems, your organization must validate that its data management practices comply with different regulations—think Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) in the United States and GDPR in Europe. A recent increase in data breaches and cybersecurity attacks has become one of the most concerning technology trends in education. In 2022, for example, the education sector was named the top target for cybercriminals launching malware attacks, accounting for 63% of all cybersecurity incidents reported globally. One way to reduce security risks when migrating data and workflows to the cloud is to carefully plan your migration initiative. Conducting a risk assessment before beginning the project, selecting a reputable cloud vendor, implementing strong access control mechanisms, and encrypting sensitive data all increase your chances of success.
- Merging cloud systems with existing applications. Ensuring compatibility and seamless operation of various systems and applications is a significant technical challenge for educational institutions. This is exacerbated by the use of legacy technology systems, which is still common for K–12 and tertiary education providers both in Europe and overseas. As a result, legacy software replatforming and/or end-to-end system integration are frequently required before implementing modern cloud-based Edtech solutions.
EdTech Trend #2: Mass Adoption of Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI)
It’s been a little over a year since OpenAI’s ChatGPT went live.
However, many industries, such as insurance, banking, and education, have experienced such disruption that failing to use Gen AI tools may result in even market leaders going out of business.
While traditional artificial intelligence systems excel at spotting patterns in data and coming up with wise recommendations, generative AI’s capabilities stretch far beyond that.
By using foundation models, including large language models (LLMs), under the hood, Gen AI can produce original content that is similar to the data the algorithms were trained on. The technology can also help educational organizations with data analytics by summarizing comprehensive reports in a conversational format. Or check students’ assignments faster, reducing the workload for tutors.
Unsurprisingly, Gen AI is on track to become one of the hottest trends in education technology for the coming years, and here are hard numbers to prove it:
- ChatGPT is already used by 43% of American college students for studying, and up to 90% of Gen AI amateurs say they prefer AI over human tutors
- Gen AI is even more popular among teachers, with nearly 70% of them using it for lesson planning
- AI-generated content can already be found in 11.2% of all high school, college, and university assignments in America. In India, the percentage of academic papers and student assignments written with Gen AI's assistance is even higher, at 33.47%.
However, as with any new technology in education, generative AI presents novel challenges for the industry, including:
- Necessity to use artificial intelligence responsibly. While Gen AI provides unprecedented opportunities for personalizing learning paths and improving educational outcomes for struggling students, it can also be used to cheat on writing and exams. Recent research on educational technology trends suggests that Gen AI may have a negative impact on cognitive abilities, making students more susceptible to biases and reducing memory retention. As a result, any educational organization considering incorporating Gen AI into their technology stack must first establish a reliable framework for regulating the use of smart algorithms by both tutors and students.
- Generative AI’s possible regress. Many Gen AI tools, including ChatGPT, have been trained using reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF). In this approach, data scientists carefully select training data for AI algorithms and evaluate the machine's responses until they achieve satisfactory results. Today, OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard already have real-time access to the Internet. By 2026, 90% of all online content will be produced by AI. In practice, this means that Gen AI tools will continue to learn from the data they’ve created themselves, degrading over time. To address this issue, education providers will need to regularly update Gen AI models, implement filters that prevent algorithms from absorbing incorrect data, monitor Gen AI's performance while collecting user feedback, and establish clear ethical guidelines.
- (Possibly) high generative AI implementation costs. Following education tech trends blindly can bloat your IT budget, especially if you are looking at cutting-edge tools like Gen AI, which are just getting started and lack clear pricing strategies. While there are many ways to implement the technology at your organization, from using commercially available tools “as is” to fine-tuning open-source models on your data, each implementation approach may entail significant Gen AI costs. In the case of off-the-shelf solutions like ChatGPT, you will be charged based on the amount of text the model receives and generates. If you use an open-source model without customization, you’ll need physical servers to run your AI. Retraining Gen AI models on your data, meanwhile, may involve considerable data preparation and computing expenses.
EdTech Trend #3: Extended Reality Technologies Going Mainstream
Since 2016, every overview of educational technology trends has included virtual (VR), augmented (AR), and mixed reality (MR). Still, these immersive educational technologies, collectively referred to as extended reality (XR), are yet to enjoy mass adoption. And the metaverse, which dominated headlines last year, has already been declared dead by both experts and users.
What makes us believe that extended reality will make a splash in 2024?
- Technological advancements. With modern smartphones supporting augmented reality apps and a plethora of AR and VR headsets, such as Meta's Quest and Ray Ban smart glasses, hitting the market, it is safe to say that the technology foundation for widespread XR adoption has already been established. Independent studies also claim that extended reality is already 75% less expensive and up to 40% more effective than other technologies used in education and on-the-job training. If immersive learning solutions do not dominate EdTech trends in 2024, they may not have another opportunity in the future.
- Significant educational value. Extended reality can transport students to historical sites, other planets, and even inside the human body. Understanding complex concepts through interaction with virtual objects rather than reading textbooks can be much easier. Furthermore, XR technologies provide a safe environment for students to learn and practice important skills like surgery and aircraft operation. Leading educational organizations around the world, including the University of Glasgow and Old Dominion University, are implementing XR-based educational programs, including on a national scale in Saudi Arabia, China, and the United States.
- Content availability. A lack of high-quality content for immersive technology solutions, combined with the high cost of production, has long hampered EX adoption across all industries. The latest technology in education—specifically, generative artificial intelligence—can automate certain aspects of XR content production, such as creating realistic textures, environments, and even animations, leading to massive cost savings.
EdTech Trend #4: Partnerships with EdTech Startups and Software Development Companies
EdTech companies and educational institutions should collaborate to drive the adoption of emerging technology in education.
Without such collaboration, educators will inevitably fall behind EdTech trends, while technology companies will be unable to prototype, field-test, and fine-tune their products.
Luckily for all the parties involved, 2024 is likely to be the time when strategic partnerships between educational organizations and EdTech vendors will flourish.
Here’s what makes us think so:
- EdTech spending is expected to top $132 billion globally by 2032 (up from $14.8 billion in 2022). Several factors contribute to the high demand for educational technology solutions, including the widespread adoption of hybrid and remote learning practices and the sector's staff shortages.
- More collaborative initiatives between educational institutions and EdTech startups are emerging around the globe. One prominent example comes from the Netherlands, where the Startups in Residence EdTech initiative was launched last year. As part of the project, Dutch universities identify specific challenges, such as increasing course evaluation response rates and efficiently grading essays in large courses. Startups, in turn, collaborate with universities to develop solutions to these problems. This process includes co-creation, experimentation with new education technology, and EdTech solution testing and evaluation. In another example, King’s College London joined forces with Capgemini to create human-centered AI systems for 6G networks. While holding immense potential for all sectors, from healthcare to utilities, such networks will prove particularly beneficial for educational institutions, providing high-speed, low-latency connectivity for XR solutions.
- Educational organizations are increasingly preferring to use SaaS solutions instead of developing EdTech systems from the ground up. Some examples of such systems include Salesforce for Education, Workday for Higher Education, and Full Fabric. Despite having advanced functionality for student management, administrative planning, and collaboration out of the box, such systems frequently necessitate extensive customization. And here’s where EdTech software engineering companies step in, offering various services spanning digital transformation consulting, software migration and modernization, and SaaS customization. To back up our claim, we’re going to reference a recent survey from Market.us Scoop, which expects the global EdTech software market to reach $11.41 billion in 2024.
EdTech Trend #5: Nanolearning Gaining Momentum
The final step in our educational tech trends overview is nanolearning, a concept introduced in 2005.
The approach entails breaking down large educational materials into small, highly focused blocks that take no more than 10 minutes to complete. If you have ever tried to learn a foreign language using Duolingo, you will understand what we mean.
In 2024, we expect nanolearning to invade every EdTech solution, off-the-shelf or custom—and not without a reason:
- In today's AI-dominated world, lifelong learning is the only way to compete with always-on, increasingly intelligent algorithms that solve ten mathematical problems in one minute, while it takes humans five minutes to solve just one. Nanolearning is well suited to this need, providing a quick and flexible way to acquire new skills and knowledge.
- Short-form video and text-based content with a limited number of characters has grown in popularity thanks to social media platforms like TikTok and X, formerly Twitter. Coupled with the increasing consumption of digital content (55% of Americans now spend more time online than they did before the pandemic) and shorter attention spans (just 8 seconds in 2023, down 33% from 2000), this makes nanolearning one of the major trends in educational technology for the future.
- Nanolearning can be tailored to specific learning paths and preferences, meeting the growing demand for personalized learning experiences. By configuring technology systems, such as eLearning platforms and mobile apps, to deliver educational content in specific learning units, educational organizations enable students to skip topics they have already mastered while focusing on areas that require improvement. It is also possible to combine emerging technologies in education, such as AI, with nanolearning methods, adapting learning paths to individuals’ needs. Finally, the use of nanolearning in education keeps students motivated because shorter learning sessions are less overwhelming and help balance work, education, and personal time.
Why Keep up with the Latest Trends in Educational Technology?
Whether you are an education provider undergoing digital transformation or an EdTech startup developing a music learning app, following current trends in educational technology is critical.
There are several reasons for that:
- Keeping your finger on the pulse of the technology trends in education ensures that your product remains competitive, helping improve the teaching and learning process
- Younger generations of learners are more tech-savvy and expect interactive, seamless educational experiences. By using new technology in education, your organization can engage students and improve their outcomes.
- Being aware of the latest technology trends in education is crucial for EdTech startups looking to innovate and stay ahead of their competitors. It can help you create unique and appealing products while also shortening your time to market.
- Understanding global trends is vital for adapting to different educational needs and cultural contexts—especially if you’re aiming to reach a broader international audience
- Keeping up with EdTech trends also means staying informed about new regulations and standards in digital education, ensuring compliance and maintaining high product quality
As a company offering education software development and consulting services, Aimeice Tech. can assist you in navigating EdTech trends and recommend the best course of action for your project. So, get in touch—and stay tuned for more insightful educational technology articles!