‘The New Normal’ — EdTech and the Covid 19 Pandemic

Since the beginning of 2020, the Covid 19 pandemic has disrupted and ruined many lives. Children from all over the globe could no longer go to school as the world completely froze. We’ve had to learn to live with face-masks, drastic social distancing measures, and various lockdowns. But, beyond all that, it was the beginning of a ‘remote world’. Working from home became ‘the new normal’. But, what was it that helped us regain that crucial sense of normality in a completely remote world? How did we manage to stay in touch with loved ones, continue working, and allow our children to continue their education?

Through the use of extremely intelligent technology.

As we all know, technology has many downfalls. From mental health illnesses caused by the rise of social media, to lowering our attention span, we are all often told to not spend too much time staring at our screens and to go and get some fresh air. However, when the pandemic hit, one thing became more than apparent to most people across the globe: we cannot live without technology. From face-time calls with family members across the world to binge-watching series on Netflix, technology is what kept the world sane during this global crisis. It supported us in every way possible, providing the opportunity for a social life, to continue working, and even for children to continue attending school.

The education technology sector is ultimately the reason that children could continue learning and progressing at school, ensuring that their level of education did not fall. However, more importantly, it is what provided children all over the world with an ounce of normality. A way to still give their days purpose and for part of their daily routine to stay similar to what it once was.

Despite the fact that Covid has been more than detrimental to our world, the pandemic has shown us the importance of education technology and has given it a massive push forward.

In 2020, as a result of the emerging pandemic, EdTech startups received $2.2 billion in private equity and venture capital funding, shockingly nearly a 30% increase from the $1.7 billion they secured in 2019. In addition, over a third of all EdTech unicorns worldwide were minted just in 2021.

Dr Steve Wheeler, a research fellow at Plymouth Institute of Education, stated towards the beginning of the pandemic that:

“The pandemic has simply highlighted the need for teachers to become more versatile in their pedagogy. What this has highlighted is learning can take place anywhere, anytime and that teaching methods must adapt to meet the new normal.”

As technology continues to get smarter, we believe that the market for EdTech will continue to grow as new ways of teaching emerge and replace those that have become outdated. With the possible future rise of robotics, the proliferation of voice technology, the enhancement of extender reality……the sky is the limit.