Top tech tools for education

It is no secret that technology is set to revolutionise education, but as the cost of the technology decreases, particular solutions will take centre stage, a research firm has found. According to researchers Gartner, technology solutions not specifically designed for education will make their way to school desks in the near future. “An increasing number of technical innovations and technology trends are emerging from within the industry, but most will emerge outside the industry, driven by major forces such as digital business and the consumerisation and industrialisation of IT,” said Jan-Martin Lowendahl, Gartner vice president and analyst. Training, training and then some more training of teachers, as well as education department officials. The major reason for under-utilisation (or in many cases, non-use) of technology in schools is the lack of understanding on the part of teachers of the way in which technology is to be employed in the classroom,” Kobus Van Wyk, head of e-Learning at Mustek told Fin24.
Strategies

The company identified these top strategies for technology in education:
1. Adaptive Learning
Adaptive learning is a type of crowd-sourcing and big data collection. The value lies in the metadata attached to each learning “morsel”, which must then be combined with enough data of students trying to master the topic to allow personalised learning.

2. Adaptive E-Textbooks – E-textbooks can be edited to include up-to-date information, be assembled or disassembled, or include content from other sources and social interaction.
3. CRM – Customer relationship management (CRM) is a tool for tracking and managing relationships with constituents, including prospective and current students, parents, alumni, corporations, benefactors and other friends of the institution.

4. Big Data – Big data in education is associated with collecting vast amounts of data from the digitised activities of students, parents, faculty and staff, transforming that into information, and producing or recommending actions aimed at improving institution outcomes.

5. Sourcing Strategies – Strategic sourcing helps IT to focus from administrative transactions and operational support toward activities that enable differentiation and innovation for the institution.