The transformation of the education sector presents many opportunities. The education sector is in the process of transformation, rapidly becoming the new frontier of investment for venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) firms. Educational programs are changing so they are cheaper, more efficient, and more tailored to the exact needs of the student - from primary school to university.
Even as primary and secondary schools are adopting digital curricula, a survey by consultants McKinsey found 60 percent of teachers in the US lack the digital resources they need. For science and languages teachers in earlier grades, the figure is over 70 percent. In Australia, some 40 percent of STEM teachers do not hold a degree in science or mathematics.
In tertiary education, institutions are looking to boost enrolments, which have been stagnant or falling in a number of countries. The issue is affordability.
Various commentators, including President Barack Obama, have called for competency-based education (CBE). Like Intelligent adaptive learning (IAL), this involves the personalisation of education. Students are only taught what they do not know, and are assessed on what they actually learn, rather than on their attendance in classes. With CBE, a course bypasses what a student already knows.
The solution is to make courses shorter, cheaper and more effective. A US government survey found that about one-quarter of students was enrolled in courses that involved at least some degree of distance learning or coursework via the Internet.
In Australia, the University of Queensland can accommodate upto 200 students in its Virtual Classrooms recordings of classes mean that students can listen to it later, that is convenient to them. Virtual Classrooms can also be used for team-building activities, which encourage the interaction between students.
Like the University of New South Wales, many of our universities now offer blended learning, including tutorials and lessons online. Companies like Smart Sparrow, is now working with over 55 institutions globally, to facilitate the online learning experience through their platform, where lessons are created using rich interactive content that provides intelligent feedback like a personal tutor and analytics to the teacher on student attainment. One such course implementing the technology for mechanics saw the failure rate drop from 30 percent to fewer than 7 percent with an overall increase in mastery. Rich simulations that are interactive, engage the students in the learning environment closer to gamification.
Businesses Embracing Change
Businesses are embracing the change, developing in-house educational institutions to ensure their staffs maintain a competitive edge. Education is becoming more virtual, more digital and less associated with physical campuses. Mobile devices, games and VR will increasingly play a central role in education.
And non-traditional, digital teaching is likely to become far more common. Juniper Research sees 2016 as being the watershed year for Virtual Reality (VR) headsets and expects that the new technology will transform entertainment over the next five years. As entertainment changes, so too will education through mobile devices.
In a recent study, Philadelphia's Einstein Medical Center found that over one third of babies aged one year had touched or scrolled the screen of a mobile device such as a smart phone. By two years of age, over one quarter of children were using mobile devices for at least an hour a day.
Technology is personalising the educational experience, to match the exact needs of each student. IAL captures every decision that a student makes. That decision is then analysed in terms of learning theory: the student's path within and between lessons is then adjusted accordingly. In essence, IAL combines Artificial Intelligence with teaching. Sometimes, IAL engages children through games on smart phones or other digital devices. Some students, who have difficulty in focusing on learning, are able to concentrate on games for hours.
Employers are also investing in education. According to a recent McKinsey report, only about 40 percent of employers in the US believe that their new employees have the skills that are needed for success.
The process of transformation is complex, and involves many different companies at varying stages of development. Many of those companies are small, nimble and innovative. They are precisely the kind of companies that need assistance from VC and PE firms. For countries like Australia, which are substantial exporters of educational services, schools and universities have no choice but to embrace the changes, signally the end of traditional blackboard teaching as we know it, or used to know it. It is time for education and learning to move into the 21st Century.
Dr. Michelle Deaker
Michelle established OneVentures in late 2006, coming into the venture capital industry as a successful IT industry business owner and entrepreneur. Michelle has extensive experience in the development of high growth technology companies, a strong background in Australian R&D and expertise in global business expansion. Michelle has over 10 years' experience in research and development with leading Australian universities and CSIRO where she not only worked in technical areas but also in corporate public affairs. She holds a Bachelor of Science (First Class Honours) (double major in Physics and Chemistry) and with both Commonwealth and CSIRO Postgraduate Research Scholarships and numerous publications, was awarded a Master of Science and a PhD in Applied Science.