The panel
- Martin McKay, CEO of Texthelp
- Ashley Harrold, Executive Headteacher at King’s InterHigh
- Graham Glass, CEO of Cypher Learning
The advancement of the Covid-19 pandemic saw 2021 uncover new ways of teaching and learning, with edtech at the heart of digital advancements in and out of the classroom. As we enter a new year, what can we expect to see emerging from the world of edtech? We took a look back at the last 12 months and explored what 2022 will bring.
On the role of school teachers in virtual learning
One of the biggest things we’ve seen in the industry and in schools is there’s been a huge upskilling of teachers in terms of their digital literacy and their competence and confidence with teaching online. A lot of it was reactive – it was trying to figure out how to move something they’re doing in the classroom, and then replicate it – Ashley Harrold
On the impact of the pandemic to education
There are things that are difficult to do online. Teaching math, turning in math homework, it all gets a bit clumsy. We had a big uplift in our math tools – it’s been really different for us since we got back to school this year. Covid has been very disruptive – there’s a lot of teachers having to isolate, there’s Spanish classes being taught by someone who doesn’t speak Spanish… It was disruptive for all of society, but it still continues to now, and I think it will be for a while – Martin McKay
On diversity and inclusion within the past two years
One of the biggest things to take away from the pandemic is it did not hit equally across society – it did not hit people the same. There were pockets of real impact and there were some people that coped relatively well compared to others. There has been a concern around disadvantage, around students having access to tools. The impact of a lack of technology was felt strongly by some learners… If they didn’t have that access, that was a big differential factor – Ashley Harrold
On teaching in 2022
Because of the pandemic, because people are starting to get exposed to what edtech can and can’t do, I really hope people start to figure out how to personalise education, and allow people to go at their own pace, and have a bit more freedom in how they learn, particularly with materials – Graham Glass
On edtech trends to come this year
Social and emotional learning tools are going to be important – lots of kids found remote learning to be stressful and difficult. It did expose some fundamental inequalities. I think there probably needs to be, or it would be really good to get, good connectivity to remote locations, to neighbourhoods that don’t have it – Martin McKay
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