Category: Edtech

Leveraging data science and human expertise for student success

“Our industry is undergoing a transformation driven by data science and technology, enabling us to offer more tailored recommendations and fast-track the student application process”

For many ambitious students, pursuing a global education is a life-changing decision. It opens doors to new opportunities, broadens perspectives and equips them with the skills and knowledge to thrive in an increasingly globalised world.

Yet with so many study options available, and access to both in-person support and online support, how can students confidently navigate this journey and make informed decisions that set them up for success?

For me, working in international education over the past 20 years has been a great privilege, and these days it feels like an even bigger responsibility.

“Much has been written about the potential for digital tools to modernise teaching and learning, but as yet, we haven’t seen whole-scale digital disruption and transformation”

Generative artificial intelligence, of which ChatGPT is perhaps the most famous example (although there are many others), has, in the few short months it’s been widely accessible, completely transformed the way we understand the potential of technology in our lives. It has brought into stark contrast the balance between the power for good, and the power for, well, less than ideal, in rapid technology advances.

There have also been suggestions that generative AI challenges those areas of creation that, some claim, are central in defining our humanity: for example, the creation of art, music and literature. Algorithms can do all of these things and, in increasing instances, in ways that can’t be easily distinguished from original human endeavour.

So, what does this mean for education?

“As technology’s role in TEFL grows, so too does the necessity for teachers to be proficient in its use”

Teaching English as a Foreign Language presents an exciting opportunity to journey across cultures, facilitating linguistic proficiency while experiencing life in a foreign land. With the rising digitisation of education, technology is reshaping the global classroom, leading to dynamic opportunities for TEFL teachers and learners alike.

In this new age, TEFL has been enhanced by technological tools that enable remote learning, promote learner engagement, and ensure instructional effectiveness. Online language learning platforms, for example, offer an array of resources – grammar exercises, vocabulary quizzes, and pronunciation guides – that can supplement classroom instruction. This combination of traditional classroom teaching with digital tools has revolutionised TEFL, creating a blended learning environment that offers the best of both worlds.

“Shorter in duration than traditional programs, micro-credential programs enable students to gain specialised certifications for specific skills or knowledge areas”

The economic landscape learners face today is rapidly shifting. A generation ago, a career spent in one role was commonplace. Today, the need to reskill to hold multiple careers over a lifetime in the workplace appears to be quickly becoming the rule rather than the exception.

The skills gap created by this dynamic is also an opportunity. Short programs, such as micro-credentials with specific goals, are an opportunity for higher education institutions to widen access for non-traditional learners to gain the skills needed to compete today and provide an avenue to deliver lifelong learning for more workers tomorrow.

June 6, 2023
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Edtech, Higher education, Innovation, MOOCs, Skills

Unleashing edtech needs more than tech: lessons from Africa

“Africa needs a new model for learning and development, a plan to point the path ahead to a future of opportunity”

The eLearning Africa annual conference, the largest and most comprehensive knowledge sharing event for technology-enhanced education, training and skills on the African continent, has just wrapped-up.

Speakers from around the globe converged in Dakar, Senegal to address the theme of the conference “New Model Learning: Innovating to Become Sustainable, Self-Reliant, Equitable and Resilient”.

It is true; Africa needs a new model for learning and development, a plan to point the path ahead to a future of opportunity. UNESCO estimates a shortfall in teachers in sub-Saharan Africa of 15 million. Worse, teachers struggling to help students often have little or no support.

These shortfalls go some way to explaining why in sub-Saharan Africa, only 10% of children can read a simple sentence by the age of 10.

“Higher education is evolving at an unprecedented pace and institutions must be proactive and agile if they’re to remain competitive”

The world is changing. From the workplace to the study place, higher education is also being forced to evolve and adapt to the changing demands of students and tomorrow’s careers. Since the 16^th century, education has involved spending a good deal of time sitting in a classroom absorbing information before heading out into the working world to put it to use.

But the speed of change around us means that how we are taught today and the content we are taught about may well be redundant the next, causing higher education to rethink its framework and teaching methods for the careers of the future.

“The benefits hologram learning can bring to classrooms cannot be overstated”

At HEC Paris in Qatar, we are sensitive to the demand for learning beyond traditional methods – for it to be more effective, efficient, and impactful. That is why we recently deployed holographic technology, helping achieve seamless integrated learning across international campuses.

This creates a novel teaching model for today, and for the future metaverse – fit for fighting the so called ‘conference call’ fatigue.

May 4, 2023
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Edtech, Higher education, Transnational education

ChatGPT in education: to ban or not to ban?

“Overall, I offered 20 questions to ChatGPT, and around 15 of its answers were correct”

In the last few months, we’ve seen many discussions on ChatGPT’s potential to disrupt certain fields and steal jobs. Copywriters are weak at the knees, and software developers are getting nervous. Education isn’t just a target – it’s already massively affected by AI. For instance, 17% of Stanford students confessed anonymously to using ChatGPT for their quarter assignments and exams.

Will it become a trend? Should we fight this process or accept the inevitable?

“Broadly, international students have a greater variety of attitudes and a greater variance of digital skills than their UK counterparts”

International students coming to the UK are an increasingly diverse group. They arrive with a breadth of personal perceptions, cultural backgrounds and prior experiences both inside and outside formal education. These experiences impact on how well they use digital technologies to learn.

This diversity means that the digital experience of international students coming to the UK is inconsistent with all their needs.

The problems these students face can be tackled by higher education providers taking a more inclusive approach, focusing on equity and outcomes. They can create a digital experience that benefits all students, not just international students.

The Jisc team has embarked on a four-phase research project aimed at understanding the digital experience of international students studying in the UK. Our findings and initial recommendations from the first phase will be published in the middle of April 2023.

March 7, 2023
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Edtech, Europe, Higher education, Innovation

How should universities respond to robot writing?

“At one end of the spectrum are ‘the accommodators’ who see the inevitable rise of AI and conclude that fighting it is pointless. But this is a false dichotomy”

The arrival of automated essay-writing software has sent shockwaves through the global higher education sector. Academics and administrators are urgently debating how to respond to a technology that could make cheating a run-of-the-mill, free, and potentially acceptable behaviour for millions of university students.

Just last year Australia’s higher education regulator, TEQSA, was busy blocking access to scores of essay mills – websites that offer to write essays for students – usually for a few hundred dollars, with turnaround times of 24 hours to two weeks. That response now feels like it came from a bygone era, in the face of the game-changing ChatGPT, the new AI algorithm that can respond to nearly any prompt by spitting out original text right before one’s eyes.

February 15, 2023
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Cyber crime, Edtech, Europe, Higher education