“Padhaai Karlo!” ; a statement that has always haunted us since childhood. This meant tough goodbyes to the park and friends and sitting on your desk with tears (trying to forget the pitaais we got for every mistake😭).
Well, with EdTech constantly pushing the envelope, gone are those days. It’s time to blur the lines between studies and a fun time…by combining them! To help us in this crusade are the 4 Horsemen of EdTech, 4 tools that’ll help unlock the true potential of EdTech!
Gamification
Traditionally, studies, fun and games haven’t quite gone well with one another. Preparing for the next exam has always meant sacrificing playtime. But what if studies could be your playtime?
All it’ll take is injecting some game-like elements into the lesson and voila, you now have a gamified course. Here, the chapters aren’t just words piled on to you but quests and puzzles to solve and earn rewards! Basically Jumanji, but you search for solutions instead of magical artifacts.
But that’s not where the fun ends because gamified courses have a whole Pandora’s Box of benefits as well.
- Pressure reliever: As mentioned before, if studies become their playtime, students won’t see it as a burden. When videos, quests, puzzles and a vibrant style come together, the subjects come alive and leave an everlasting impression on student minds. This is a great way to retain concepts and knowledge!
- Improving Tutor-Student Relations: It’s better to have a guide in your ‘Quest’ for knowledge rather than the scary people who keep taking tests. Gamified lessons are more streamlined and interesting where teachers and students both become participants rather than 2 distant figures. This acts as a great ice-breaker and team building activity.
- Positive Reinforcement: Just like all games, gamified courses too have rewards on successful completion of tasks/quests. Students will have a constant ‘hype man’ who makes them feel good and special on every small victory. This’ll ultimately keep them interested and motivated to finish the lessons. See what a little positive reinforcement can do?
It’ll be criminal to talk about gamified learning and without mentioning Minecraft Education Edition. Mojang Studios’ Minecraft is one of the cornerstone names in the video game world. Players get an unlimited terrain where they can build, survive, and learn in the process. But the Education Edition takes the learning several notches up by offering the course content and curriculum of multiple subjects.
From learning Math through architecture to learning about different ecosystems, cultures, language arts and histories, one can access it all. There’s also the provision of creating your own courses. Moreover, it supports collaboration, assessment, coding, and more.
AI-powered Ease
“I ain’t gonna be just a face in the crowd, you gotta hear my voice when I shout it out loud!”
As good as this Bon Jovi classic is, you no more have to shout out loud to stand out from the crowd. Thanks to AI and Adaptive learning, it’s now possible to create courses tailored for students, individually. Imagine a course that can adjust/alter itself on the go, according to the student’s pace of learning, their strengths and weaknesses, and a whole lot more.
Moreover, an AI-enabled EdTech platform can not just keep a track of student performances and course progression, but potentially even the areas where a student lacks or needs special attention (a.k.a the knowledge rifts). They don’t call it Artificial ‘Intelligence’ for nothing!
Classplus offers AI-powered solutions which allows educators to know the students who’re interested in their course. This helps them recommend certain courses to particular students as per the latter’s interests.
On the other hand, American organizations like Carnegie Learning and Querium Corporation give tutors detailed insights of a student’s learning patterns and habits. The AI identifies knowledge rifts and in some cases, even personalizes the course to suit student needs.
‘Literally’ Immersive Learning
What’s better? Learning about an electric circuit through just a book or doing so from within a virtual projection of it?
As crazy as it may sound, the latter is possible thanks to AR and VR.
Virtual Reality (VR) refers to a digitally-generated environment that offers a 360 degree view to a person. By using particular interactive devices like goggles, gloves, headsets or even body suits, users can interact with said environment as well. Moreover, VR environments track your movement and based on that, adjust to your changed perspectives every second. Basically, you’re out there in this virtual world, completely immersed in it! Now imagine learning about the Himalayas while literally walking on those mountain ranges; interesting right?
Augmented Reality (AR) is a close cousin to be as simple as that. The only difference is that it integrates virtual elements with the real environment (Eg. Pokemon Go! if anyone remembers?). So your real world is spiced up with digital and interactive elements. Just imagine being able to watch the insides of an electronic device of daily use, without having to open it up.
When it comes to offering an educational experience via VR and AR, one of the foremost names is Boulevard. In simple words, people can download this app to be virtually transported to places like the Victoria & Albert Museum, Rubin Museum or view the works of greats like Manet and Monet.
If we go by data from the Visual Teaching Alliance, the brain can process visuals more than 60,000 times faster than text. So what’s stopping us from incorporating the same visual learning experience in more schools and colleges?
Blockchain
To start out simple, blockchain in EdTech is a great and efficient way to connect learners, professionals and faculty to relevant courses and resources. By decentralizing the sector and making it more accessible, people can benefit in the form of courses and lessons delivery, audio-video content, lesson scheduling, marking, grading, etc.
How does blockchain make education more accessible though?
According to NewsBTC (Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency News site), online schools have existed for a while now. But between the teachers and students, there has been a middleman (the service/digital infrastructure provider). The peer-to-peer learning platforms created via blockchain removes any such 3rd party intermediaries. So, whatever data is shared, is owned by the 2 parties (in this case the teachers and students). This prevents any potential misuse of such data.
Let’s take the case of Cambridge which is home to Blockcerts. It’s an open and decentralized credentialing system. Through this, one can create, issue and verify academic transcripts, grades, diplomas etc. While universities can verify academic records and scores through this, students can be assured of having full and individual control over their data.
In short, Blockchain technology ensures universal access to books, lessons, and other educational resources, which are free to use and redistribute. Everything from classes to examinations and grading can happen securely over the blockchain.
We’ve barely scratched the surface and EdTech has already made education more accessible. If we accept and adopt these 4 horsemen at all levels, the educational landscape is going to change massively for the good. Question is, can we do it?
Written by: Shoubhik Sen
