{"id":12666,"date":"2021-02-22T10:17:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T09:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.gstic.org\/?p=12666"},"modified":"2022-03-18T09:35:06","modified_gmt":"2022-03-18T08:35:06","slug":"how-covid-19-has-exposed-the-challenges-for-technology-in-education","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.gstic.org\/expert-story\/how-covid-19-has-exposed-the-challenges-for-technology-in-education\/","title":{"rendered":"How COVID-19 exposed challenges for technology in education"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

School doors around the world have been closed for several months to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. During this crisis, we have seen an incredible amount of large-scale efforts to use technology in support of remote learning. At the same time, this crisis has exposed the challenges<\/a> for technology in education, including many inequities starting at the lack of access to computers and the internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1,6 billion students in 194 countries were impacted by school closures<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The UNESCO numbers on school closures<\/a> caused by COVID-19 illustrate the pandemic\u2019s overwhelming impact on education throughout the world. At its peak, early April 2020,  the nationwide closures of educational institutions were affecting over 91% of the global student population. In absolute numbers, this means that nearly 1,6 billion students in up to 194 countries were impacted by schools being shut down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of\nits far-reaching impact, the COVID-19 pandemic has given us massive insights\ninto how the role of technology can radically shift to reach 1,6 billion\nstudents and how to adapt learning processes in challenging times. How can we\nensure continued access to education? And how can we support students that are physically\ndisplaced from schools? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digital technology in education enables us to find new answers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Digital technology in education enables us to find new answers not only to what people learn but also to how they learn, where and when they learn. On top of that, digital technology can help boost the role of teachers. Rather than just communicating knowledge, they can become co-creators of knowledge, coaches, mentors and evaluators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Digital<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Existing digital learning systems<\/a>, for example, can go far beyond mere teaching. Empowered by Artificial Intelligence, these systems can also observe how students learn. Besides, they can discover what kind of tasks and thinking interests them the most, and what kind of problems they find boring or difficult. These systems can then adapt the learning process to accommodate individual students\u2019 learning styles. And, most important of all, they can do this with much more precision than any traditional classroom setting could ever achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But how effective is digital technology in education?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While digital technology has been instrumental in offering continued access to education over the past months, we need to critically ask ourselves this one question: How effective has digital technology been in reaching the almost 1,6 billion students affected by school closures? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"How<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reports some sobering figures<\/a> in this regard. On average across OECD countries,<\/p>\n\n\n\n