5 things we learned this Inspiration Day

The FeedbackFruits Inspiration Day is all about sharing knowledge and ideas around expanding our tools’ functionality for future use cases. The combined drive to improve higher education in the room leads to ideas about newer ways to teach and learn in today’s complex world.

While the entire experience cannot be captured in a blog, here are the top 5 things we learnt.

Move towards maturity and stability in EdTech

Universities look for reliable partners because of the implications of things going wrong. A small bug affects the experience of many students so it is imperative that their tech partners provide a certain service with stability over a long period of time. The education industry is already hesitant in adoption of technology because of these reasons, making it even more important for EdTech players to demonstrate longevity and make the user experience as smooth as possible.

How innovative universities envision the role of education

Education is the only institution that can instill skills in students to make a positive societal impact in the world they are living in. It starts with making them aware of their impact and inspire their thinking to improve the world. Just like societies are interconnected, interdisciplinary conversations within our educational institutes will help tackle the problems of today and tomorrow’s complex world.

Artificial intelligence’s role in education

Although AI has been around for a while, better algorithms, more data and higher computing power has created a strong business case for AI in education today. On top of that, the increasing number of students and the level of diversity among them creates a solid need for having such support through machines. Different areas with AI use cases include automated assessments and personalised learning plus coaching. More on this soon..

Size matters

There is a difference between using our tools in MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and in a more blended format – we have both types of universities in the EdTech DoTank. Unlike the blended format, where there is a synergy between interacting in a classroom and online, MOOCs are completely online. On an educational level, the difference lies in the amount of teacher involvement. In a blended setting the teacher retains an active role where in MOOCs, the teacher keeps an overview and operates more from the background. EdTech tools need to be built in a way that can be useful across this spectrum.

Active learning at scale

Teacher and instructional designers that use our tools use them differently. Either by plug and playing different functionalities or using them to meet different learning objectives. Some of these use cases were not even thought of when the tools were developed. This speaks of the potential of technology to scale active learning as the teachers and instructional designers use those tools creatively to create new didactic scenarios with the existing technological possibilities.

To conclude, as players in the EdTech space, there is a strong need to imagine a future where we can use technology to not only manage learning within a classroom, but also play a crucial role in sparking a deeper form of learning at scale.

To capture the essence of this Inspiration Day, we’ll borrow a quote from Philip Uys, our keynote speaker from Charles Sturt University, Australia.

EdTech is not the big idea, but it is supporting big ideas