Opinion: Scalability of edtech in the UAE and its impact

Edtech as a category has been looked at admirably for over a decade now. The capability of technology to provide an immersive learning experience that is tailored to the requirements of individual students is what makes edtech beautiful.

In the last three years, we saw plenty of companies mushroom promising personalised learning on the back of digital video libraries, 3D content, animations, collaboration tools and more. Using technology to impart education seeded the narrative for creating independent learners of tomorrow. The narrative assumed students’ intent to learn to be always on. This was not true. With a broken to no student-teacher interaction in recorded video lectures, students felt left out.

The use of tablets, laptops, mobile phones and the internet to learn is all pervasive. Does that mean, tech driven education is delivering its full potential? Let’s examine.

The two years of Covid-19 pandemic, stress tested our existing educational ecosystem and revealed the chinks in our system. Despite the availability of so many advanced tools, there are evident short term learning gaps in students. And these could potentially cause long term losses to human capital which would plague us for decades. The common theme of access to resources being panache to learning outcomes has been proven wrong. The way education is imparted plays a fundamental role in the learning process.

In a market like the UAE where there are students from multiple curricula, the first and foremost step is to serve unique demands of each student. These demands would be based on their learning capabilities, the schools they go to, their teachers and their socio-economic status. Second, we will have to be ready when the students want to learn i.e., we solve for their intent to learn. This means we create pedagogy as a service under which the tutors are available post their standard school hours. We will have to create an abundant pool of tutors. The turnaround time for gratification for students has to be extremely low. One cannot leave students waiting for their answers. Third, we have to create systems that ensure overall professional development of the teachers. Fourth, we have to develop systems to do proper formative assessment. Methodical execution of these 4 will result in fruitful learning outcomes.

The use of tablets, laptops, mobile phones and the internet to learn is all pervasive. The real scalability of technological adoption in education can be said to have happened only when a student gets into a regular habit of learning.

In edtech, one on one tutoring will lead the charge. The tutor will teach as per the grasping power of a student. With one on one tutoring, even the tutors will be able to have a pulse of the student’s progress. While doing so, to bring students up to speed and fill in the gaps in their learning, a tutor can provide accelerated learning. Under which a tutor provides just-in-time intervention on topics from the past so that the learning journey remains continuous. In fact, accelerated learning has become one of the torch bearers for the academic reforms.

Schools of today have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to disrupt their historical approaches to teaching and learning. In fact, one of our collaborations with a prominent group of schools in the region has yielded encouraging results. The project has witnessed parent’s jubilation on personalisation actually being delivered and increase in their child’s confidence.

As doers and changemakers, the edtech system needs to be accountable for the responsibilities taken. There needs to be clear visibility on the success metrics delivered to the students and parents. This transparency in the functioning will embolden the belief in the system. Being mindful of the growth of our demographic dividend, it’s time we embrace tech-inclusive learning rather than just tech-enabled learning.

Imbesat Ahmad is the CEO and co-founder of Filo

Read: Here’s how the Middle East’s $4bn edtech sector could transform learning