Zoom's latest report indicates that Asia-Pacific institutions need to prioritize professional development for educators in adopting technology for teaching. The report also notes that digital platforms can enhance the learning experience for educators, including by moving training online so that busy educators can access it at any time. It also facilitates bringing training into the classroom, using recorded lessons to fully document and facilitate feedback.
With traditional classroom learning and education no longer fully adequate, education must evolve rapidly and at scale to minimize learning gaps for millions of students worldwide. In fact, educators and administrators are redoubling their efforts to digitize curriculum and find a balance between pedagogical frameworks and the new normal in education. While in-person classes are gradually resuming, many schools in Asia Pacific will continue to adopt hybrid learning models, meaning that the lessons learned during the pandemic will be crucial in guiding continued educational innovation.
Zoom released its first public report on the future of education, commissioned by Intelligence Business Research Services (IBRS), at the Zoom APAC Education Summit today. The report summarizes learnings from the transition to online education during the pandemic and provides recommendations to help educators and administrators build future hybrid education.
Using qualitative research methods, this report collects feedback from relevant personnel such as teachers, curriculum leaders, technology and innovation leaders, and senior management of colleges and universities to explore the impact of blended education on educators and administrators.
Dr. Joe Sweeney, an IBRS consultant, said: "The pandemic has demonstrated the remarkable flexibility of the education industry, exemplified by how institutions quickly pivoted to digital to provide students with a consistent, accessible learning experience. To help educators manage these evolving learning models, the ability to adapt to both in-person and virtual teaching channels and integrate diverse digital solutions and platforms into a single ecosystem will be key."
Ricky Kapur, Head of Asia Pacific at Zoom, said: “Zoom is committed to making education accessible. This means providing educators with the right technology platform as they navigate the future of education in a post-pandemic world. These approaches may differ from institution to institution. As our report with IBRS shows, communication technology plays a critical role in helping educators deliver effective, purposeful, and highly engaged remote learning.”
Key observations from the report include:
● Focus on purposeful screen time: Across all institutions surveyed, the majority of respondents believe that screen time needs to be clearly managed by institutions. The challenge lies in ensuring that digital courses are purposeful and effective, and balancing them with other forms of instruction. Existing video features and collaboration tools can be used to track screen time and identify areas for improvement.
● Simply uploading teaching materials has limited effectiveness: In the early stages of the pandemic, many educators simply digitized existing teaching materials and uploaded them to online learning management systems (LMS) for students to access. However, this presentation of learning content is often unpopular with students. Both teachers and higher education professionals agree that supporting blended learning requires more than just changing the delivery medium; it also requires a shift in the way course content is created. Educators have also discovered that sharing teaching materials online and collaborating on better distance learning courses is actually simpler and more effective than previous models.
● Equity in educational resources remains crucial: All educational institutions interviewed noted that some students struggled with internet access or lacked the equipment to fully participate in online learning. While this may be related to national infrastructure, some schools have modified online instruction to conserve bandwidth, such as using shorter, smaller videos and compressed files for data transmission.
● Creating new social norms for a modern education: Many institutions are finding that students are applying past internet habits, such as using online communication with friends, to digital interactions with teachers. This leads to students expecting teachers to respond to messages late at night, making it difficult to balance teacher availability with student expectations. Therefore, investing in solutions that support modern education models across multiple communication channels is crucial.
Prioritize educator professional development: Institutions lagging behind in technology use have been found to experience the greatest limitations on professional development. Given the differing teaching styles of different generations, educators are also concerned that older educators may find it difficult to adapt to digital tools. However, many educators have expressed a desire to continue their professional development efforts remotely, as they have during the pandemic.
