You would find it incredibly difficult to find an industry in active motion today that has not been affected by the countless technological innovations of the world. Businesses use online platforms and smartphone applications to cement their relevance in their industry. Security and privacy are online systems now. The transport sector is going electric. Even the concept of a career is steadily going digital. Healthcare has gone partially digital, and so has education. The entire planet has been affected by technology in one way or another, and education is finally embracing the modernisation for what it is: the saving grace the industry has long needed.

While some still hold their footing, many traditional education methods and models are outdated, and technology is stepping in to bridge the gaps that are forming, effectively making the industry as a whole stronger in the process. Education and technology have begun to merge together, effectively creating pathways to what is likely to be a very successful future for the education sector. From small changes like online services such as community support programs and online tutoring platforms, to large-scale changes like taking textbooks and submissions digital, the field of education is finding itself subject to varying and unrelenting changes – and it is improving dramatically because of them.

Allowing for global access

The fast-paced rise of technology in the education industry has meant that innovations like online education and fast-track online course development have become widely available anywhere where a sturdy internet connection is present and thriving. In opening access to education to practically anyone that wants it, technology has both broadened the scope of reach for the field and given hope to would-be-turned-literal-students around the world. worldwide access to education has been an issue since as long as education became an established basic human right, and seeing this gap in the industry begin to surely close is both encouraging and promising for the future of the field of education.

Finding solutions to problems

Solutions are being forged to long-existent issues, and it is all thanks to the disruptive nature of technology and its impending infiltration of the education industry. For example, the education industry used to use a truly shocking volume of paper every year, from text books, paper assessment submissions, worksheets, marking sheets, and so on and so forth. The impact this had on the planet was devastating and now, thanks to technology, all the mentioned aspects of education have gone digital, making them easier to access, keep track of, and easier on the planet, too.

Environmental awareness

Speaking of impact on Earth…this is perhaps the most unusual of the three impacts to mention, but the rise of technological advancement and digitalisation in education has meant that a lot of aspects of education that used to be print are not digital – significantly lessening the impact on paper use. Areas of impact include (but are not limited to) textbooks, submission sheets, printed sources, and marking sheets – each of these components of education are now digitally-based systems, allowing at once a more environmentally efficient method for education and a modern paper trail that is backed up all the time.