Amid unprecedented challenges, education systems have in the past two years accelerated their pace of technology adoption, transitioning into hybrid education. Zoom Video Communications (Zoom) held its inaugural Asia Pacific (APAC) Education Summit to explore the evolving art of teaching in a blended digital and face-to-face environment.
Headlining the event was Ricky Kapur, Head of APAC at Zoom (left in above pic), along with Dr. Joe Sweeney, Advisor – Future of Work at Intelligence Business Research Services (IBRS – right in pic). A report focusing on the future of education in Asia Pacific, “The future of education: lesson from educators”, was unveiled.
Attendees heard from educational institutions like Singapore Management University and Australia’s Monash University, as well as edutech platforms such as Mandarin-language learning startup LingoAce, on opportunities for the future of education and best practices on navigating the transition to hybrid learning.
The event also showcased how the Zoom platform could be used to create engaging blended learning experiences, including integrating classrooms, digital whiteboards, events and more in one seamless platform.
The idea of the summit is to understand where the education trend is going and how we can embrace the latest tools to create an equitable, safe and enriching environment for teachers and students, said Zoom Head of APAC Ricky Kapur.
“While it’s been challenging the past few years, it’s also inspiring to hear the optimism and the opportunities ahead,” he added.
“There’s huge opportunity to improve the equity of education but it does require some changed thinking right across the board – not just the technology, but also how we use technology,” Sweeney surmised, based on findings from the IBRS report.
Some key points Sweeney highlighted:
- According to the report, schools that transitioned well into hybrid education amid the pandemic had a digital mindset. This does not mean applying technology to different components of the education experience separately, but building an integrated digital ecosystem that consolidates systems for students and teachers for greater efficiency.
- Existing curriculum should not be moved online in a wholesale manner, but adapted to bite-sized material that can be moved and slotted flexibly within the overall curriculum. Educators will also be able to share content more readily with each other, which drives peer review and improves teaching practices.
- The report also found that in a distance learning environment, students often felt disengaged with long instructional phases covering multiple content focuses. Instead, learning phases need to be shorter and sharper. It is recommended to have a discovery phase for self-directed learning, followed by a mentorship tutorial phase and finally a synthesis phase to assess knowledge.
Rethinking education in a hybrid future:
- Hybrid education does not only involve students learning from where they are. The learning landscape of the future also needs to consider teachers and administrators working in a hybrid fashion, as well as parents who oversee the education of their children at home.
- It is critical for the technology ecosystem employed by schools to integrate all components of education in a way that is simple, easy to use and cost-saving. This should cut across everything from curriculum development and learning management to how students, teachers and parents collaborate.
- Regionally, remote instruction has made education more accessible to students in countries where education used to be centralised in major cities. Schools are also changing the way they deliver content digitally to reduce the cost on students, such as compressed, smaller videos that require less bandwidth. This creates greater equity.
- Looking ahead, educational institutions should look to a formal technological architecture that can enable educational innovation for enriched teaching and learning experiences.
For more insights from the education report, click here.
