EdTech Market Trends 2021 Technology has revolutionized almost every sector. The education sector is also a part of this as it has seen numerous technological advancements in the past years, with several EdTech players joining the race.
Even before the pandemic, Education Technology has been adopted in India well and has seen promising growth, with total investments touching $553 million in 2019. On the other hand, in 2020, start-ups in the EdTech sector grabbed an investment of $2.22 billion.
Then, came an unexpected change in everyone’s lives- the lockdown that imposed restrictions on people from going out and brought a shift from classroom learning to online learning.
No one imagined this, but this thing went ahead for a whole year, with some of the schools still offering online learning classes to students for ensuring their safety until things get better.
All this has increased the demand for online education from tutoring to higher education. Keeping this in mind, we are coming up with some important information in this article. So, if you are interested in EdTech and want to stay aware of the next wave of demand in this sector, here are the 10 best EdTech market trends to watch out for in 2021.
Online Learning
Online Learning has topped the list of EdTech trends in 2020 and will get even stronger in 2021. Even before the coronavirus pandemic, online learning was growing at a significant rate in India, and more people were getting interested in it. With the emergence of online tools and technologies and the ease of learning, online education is expected to be adopted by the masses further.
Robotics
Robotics is another trend gaining acceptance in the education sector. It is an interesting field for students to build and code robots and experience all of this through practical training. It involves flexible teaching methods and learning systems that are beneficial for the learners, especially the ones with disabilities. For instance, a visually-impaired student can make use of a voice assistant feature or mobile app to learn and implement things.
Mobile Technology
In the past years, smartphones have become a vital part of our lives. We are so dependent on smartphones these days that we can’t imagine spending a day without them by our side. Millennials are well aware of the use of applications that are available in smartphones as compared to adults. They have made good use of this by availing online education through mobile technology during the pandemic.
We all know that quality education is gaining importance in our country. However, not everyone can afford it. To bridge the gap between this, platforms providing loans and student financing options are coming up for students who are willing to learn in India and abroad. These portals are receiving huge investments and tapping the opportunity every single day. The main target of the FinTech companies is the millennials who are willing to enrol in higher education courses but are not financially strong to do so without taking loans.
Student Housing
The number of students migrating to different cities for pursuing higher education courses is growing and is estimated to be 10.4 million. So, there’s a high enrolment of students in universities, especially in metro cities such as Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, and more.
Hostels and other accommodation services provided by these universities can serve only 20% of the demand, which has led to the emergence of the student housing industry. More housing options are in demand as new universities are setting up campuses in India, seeing the growing demand, so the sector has offered a great investment opportunity to the realty players.
Extra-Curricular Skills
The younger generation usually looks for opportunities to learn and develop new skills besides their regular learning. Higher use of the Internet and social media platforms have enabled the users to consider and opt for online training classes for singing, dancing, photography, personality development, yoga, public speaking, and more. These extra-curricular activities are quite beneficial for the overall growth of the students.
Education with Employment
Platforms that offer industry-oriented courses are coming up to increase the employability of jobseekers and other workers. They will capture a larger share in the market with a variety of training, skilling, and recruitment options. The sector has gained an investment of $142 million in 2020, in which IT and management courses were the top picks of leading EdTech players.
Educational Counselling and Support
A large number of Indian students, close to 7,53,000, study abroad as per data released by the Government of India in 2019. So, Indians are one of the world’s largest sources of international students and always seek golden opportunities in foreign universities. To serve the growing demand of students, many online platforms are coming up that allows students to search for relevant educational courses, provide support in the application process, guide them to connect with universities and provide mentorship and professional consultation services.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the core part of Education technology. It has gained massive importance in multiple sectors and is gaining a considerable share in the education industry. For instance, face recognition technology is getting used to taking student attendance by recognizing their faces. It also brings up several features for monitoring students during exams. It helps to identify cheating during the conduct of online exams and helps in a lot more processes.
Big Data
EdTech is growing, and so is big data. It is an excellent way to serve the growing needs of the students and help them explore better. As the education sector is growing, so universities and institutions need more data to customize things and represent the course in a good format.
Thus, EdTech market trends are going to hit the economy fast and will bring an excellent opportunity for people to tap the power of the Internet and make a transition from offline to online learning. As per the expectations, these trends will be the new normal and will rule the education industry for the upcoming years while giving rise to the idea of learning at your convenience.
