• What is Moodle and how is it engaging with the AI education debate?
• The themes for the MoodleMoot Global 2023 included the impact of AI on both education and work.
• Moodle’s 4.3 release will likely fix more than 300 bugs and add a host of new features.

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AI in Edtech – the answer to a growing teaching crisis?

In recent years, technology has enhanced the world of higher education – whether that world wanted it to or not. Given the wide availability of AI tools for both teachers and students though, more needs to be done to help a range of players in this industry navigate the challenges of technologically-enhanced teaching in the modern era.

A new UNESCO survey of over 450 schools and universities around the world found that fewer than 10% have developed institutional policies or formal guidance concerning the use of generative AI applications.

Moodle, however, is pushing the AI conversation forward — especially at this year’s MoodleMoot Global in Barcelona, Spain. Over 700 participants from 56 countries and more than 100 speakers from 24 countries took part in the conference.

Moodlers of the world, unite!

“It’s a place for the community to meet together, learn about what the other people are doing, [and] learn about what Moodle is doing,” event organizer Diego Fabra explained. “They can meet people from the [headquarters and] ask them questions directly. This is something that doesn’t happen in other conferences.”

What is Moodle?

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Edtech, Part 1: How Online Learning Succeeds

Moodle’s open-source learning management system (LMS) is free to download, modify and share with others. It bills itself as the “ultimate expression of the values that unite our community of developers, system administrators, educators, and learners.”

Moodle is actually the world’s most popular LMS, so it has something to back up such press office language. It is used by any number of schools, universities, non-profits and companies to manage their education and training needs. Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, responsible for running the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, Hampshire, has turned to Titus Learning — a certified, premium Moodle partner — to develop a custom Moodle Workplace solution.

Core teams at Moodle HQ coordinate with over 1000 developers, and the Moodle LMS also has an ever-growing community of Certified Partners, developers, system administrators, educators and learners who write new features, fix bugs, update documentation, and share resources and ideas to constantly evolve the platform.

Since Moodle is modular, users can search and download official plugins from the Moodle Plugin Database. They allow users to extend and customize the LMS’s functions beyond what Moodle has envisioned. This flexibility is what makes Moodle collaborative and community-enhanced.

Moodle’s 4.3 release is set to launch on October 9 and will likely contain more than 300 bug fixes, improvements and new features.

Those new features include an “In Course” communication option that will empower better collaboration. The matrix messaging system will also make working with other messaging systems like Slack and Teams relatively seamless.

The potential of artificial intelligence in eLearning

MoodleMoot Global 2023 covered a wide range of interests and expertise, including:

• The use of augmented and virtual reality in education and training
• How AI is changing education and the workplace
• Building core competencies with Moodle
• Addressing inclusivity and equity with Moodle courses
• Soft skills revolution — strengthening learners’ critical thinking, interpersonal & creative skills
• Using Moodle to support Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) delivery

On the morning of Day Three at MoodleMoot Global 2023, a panel discussion explored the transformative power of AI in education and workplace learning. The session, titled “How artificial intelligence is changing education and the workplace” was hosted by Brett Dalto, Head of Education Solutions at Moodle HQ.

It featured a host of experts, including Heikki Wilenius from the University of Helsinki, Tim Hunt from The Open University UK, Elizabeth Dalton from IntelliBoard, Rajnish Kumar from Verificient, and Meghan Mencer of Harnessing Your Potential.

Dalto posed three questions to the panel: are our educational institutions equipped or prepared to address potential AI? How will regulating AI impact the education industry? and how will AI have the greatest positive impact on education?

Moodlin’ along.

Discussing bias in AI, Dalton suggested that we need to broaden our data to be inclusive of all demographics for AI to be unbiased. Conversely, Kumar from Verificient argued that we should consider the intention behind building an AI system rather than focusing on whether AI is biased.

The panelists also raised thought-provoking questions. Hunt, for example, questioned whether we understand the implications of AI well enough to draft effective legislation. The conversation also touched on how current and future generations will adapt to the growing impact of AI in society.

MoodleMoot 2023 covered a lot of ground involved in the AI education debate as it stands in 2023. How many of the issues will be resolved by the time of MoodleMoot 2024? Watch this space.

The post How is Moodle advancing the AI education debate? appeared first on TechHQ.

• Automated webcams improve remote work meeting experience
• Optical sensors can highlight whiteboard content
• Linked cameras provide seamless coverage in large boardrooms

Web-based tools have made it easy to share information and collaborate on documents, spreadsheets, and other business applications. But there are still scenarios where the remote work audience can miss out on the in-person experience. And one of the biggest challenges for those dialing in is trying to keep track of what’s happening in busy conference room meetings.

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Video conferencing tools have evolved rapidly and are capable solutions for one-on-one interactions thanks to screen sharing and headsets that clarify the conversation for participants. But those setups fail miserably in a boardroom setting. Placing a conventional webcam or a laptop at the top of the table makes for mixed results and puts remote workers at a major disadvantage compared with those in the room.

Hybrid and remote working allows companies to recruit talent from anywhere, but if firms can’t make the most of those skills and ideas, then the rewards will fall short of expectations. Companies miss out on valuable insights and comments from participants joining online when conversations in the physical conference room are hard to hear and if in-person interactions are off-camera or poorly framed. But Owl Labs – headquartered in Boston, US – is on a mission to change that.

Competing on the best experience

Co-founders Mark Schnittman and Max Makeev had a eureka moment when seeing how meeting dynamics improved when a laptop was put on a swivel stool. And both knew that automation and software could make the experience even more interactive – fusing smart algorithms with readily available cameras and sensors developed for smartphones and other consumer devices.

By 2016 the duo, who had met as employees at iRobot, had their first prototype 360-degree camera, mic, and speaker device dubbed the Meeting Owl. And today, more than 150,000 organizations use Owl Labs technology to maximize the opportunities of remote work and make the goal of being able to work from anywhere a reality.

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Remote learning: anonymized AI powers engagement dashboard

Placed on the conference table at the in-person venue, the Meeting Owl gives remote workers a 360-degree banner display of everyone in the room. And to make interactions face-to-face, separate camera views focus on active speakers based on algorithms that respond to motion, vision, and voice signals.

Cleverly, two Meeting Owls can be paired, turning larger, harder-to-capture business discussions into a well-produced TV show experience for remote workers joining online. “You go from watching a bad movie to something that’s more engaging,” Max Makeev – Owl Labs Chief Development Officer – told TechHQ.

Edtech opportunity

Makeev and his colleagues have worked hard to create the best experience for people inside and outside of the room. And the technology isn’t just for business meetings, it’s proven to be a valuable edtech tool as well. Education providers have been quick to realize how useful the meeting technology could be to improve the remote study experience for students.

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“The Meeting Owl follows the teacher to the whiteboard, enabling hybrid learning,” Makeev comments. “It gives that feeling of being connected.” One of Makeev’s proudest moments was seeing how the technology improved the study experience for an immune-compromised student who had to isolate from their classmates. Thanks to the setup placed in the classroom, they were still able to see and hear the teacher and other students clearly and participate remotely.

A new addition to the remote work tech line-up is a whiteboard camera that integrates with the meeting technology to make the writing and drawings pop for online participants. Makeev demoed the kit, which is activated by rotating a QR code – one of two, placed on a regular whiteboard to mark out the physical area for the optical sensor.

Best view for everyone

With a regular webcam, whiteboard interactions – that may not be in the shot or in focus – are often lost to remote workers. Instead, staff joining online will likely have to rely on an in-person colleague sending a photo of the final visuals when it may be too late for their ideas to affect the outcome. But having a dedicated whiteboard camera changes that and makes annotations crystal clear, rendering pen strokes and coloring digitally on-screen.

Remote work isn’t disappearing. In fact, the Owl Labs annual ‘State of Remote Work Report’ – a collaboration with Global Workplace Analytics – found that the number of workers choosing to work remotely in 2022 was up 24% on the previous year. And staff with hybrid work schedules had risen by 16%. The trend is clear, and with two-thirds of employees questioned saying that they would immediately start looking for a job with more flexibility if the ability to work from home was taken away, remote work isn’t about to disappear.

Companies that will benefit the most will be those that have meeting technology that delivers the best experience to participants regardless of where they may be. And technology from Owl Labs and other providers is shrinking the gap between being in the office and working remotely.

The post Remote work tech adds conference room benefits to hybrid setup appeared first on TechHQ.

Live online training events are a trend that’s here to stay, and while delivery platforms are more feature rich than they’ve ever been before, there are still key elements of in-person sessions that are hard to re-create. For training providers, one of the big missing pieces is how to determine whether the audience is engaged, happy, and following along with the content.

In a real-world classroom or training hall, it’s straightforward to ‘gauge the temperature of the room’, even for a large audience. All that’s required is for the trainer to glance at the class, read the expressions of the participants, and listen out for any questions or confusion. But taking a quick look around a virtual room is another story. For online events with more than a handful of participants, all dialing in from different locations, the task scales poorly as images of attendees soon become hard to read if all placed on-screen at once.

Reading the room, online

But the technology that makes it possible to host events remotely in the first place could also lend a helping hand when it comes to reading the room (together with some clever use of artificial intelligence (AI) enabled in a privacy-protecting workflow). Dubbed ‘Sensing the classroom’, researchers from the Educational Technologies team at DIPF (The Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education in Frankfurt) in Germany, together with scientists from Open university of The Netherlands, have prototyped a system capable of generating an ‘emotional dashboard’. The anonymized data are designed to bridge the feedback gap between online and in-person teaching.

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Presenting the work at the 17^th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning – which took place in Toulouse, France, in September 2022 – the group recapped the challenges of online learning and explained how their ‘Sense the Classroom’ setup works. As the researchers point out, video conference tools and learning management systems have worked wonders in making education more accessible and flexible. But there are downsides to remote learning in comparison with lessons held in a traditional classroom setting. “Communication is unnatural, students get distracted under isolation, and teachers have a lack of understanding of how students are doing,” said the team.

To tackle this, the group has investigated how data generated by detecting ‘learning centered affected states’ such as anger, anxiety, boredom, concentration, confusion, engagement, and frustration – to give just a few examples – can be turned into an informative dashboard for trainers. Non-verbal cues include gestures, body postures, and micro-expressions, which can be combined with the observation of activities such as turning away and active listening can be aggregated to build up an anonymized emotional picture of participants. “Sense The Classroom is a pragmatic approach to detect students’ affect in a privacy-preserving and highly scalable way,” the group explained.

System architecture

In terms of system architecture, the project features student-, server- and teacher-side tools that pipe together machine learning output, database files, and session data based on images that are taken periodically (with consent) from participants’ webcams. And if trainees don’t want to participate, or wish to pause their contribution, they can simply turn off their cameras.

Affective computing, which refers to the study and development of systems and devices that can recognize, interpret, process, and simulate human affects is attracting great interest across a range of industries. Uses include not just edtech examples such as ‘Sense the Classroom’, but also audience testing of upcoming Hollywood movies and Netflix productions, as well as many other novel applications.

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AI in Edtech – the answer to a growing teaching crisis?

Returning to the team’s solution, the system first locates facial landmarks such as the trainee’s eyes, bridge of the nose, and mouth, and then applies a neural network (a series of non-linear algorithms used to generalize the properties of large data sets) to determine willing participant’s likely emotional state. The data is packaged up into a machine-readable Json file and combined with the expressions gathered from all of the other trainees who are taking part.

High-level response

Together, the results give trainers valuable snapshots of the emotional distribution of their classes and overall trends as lessons progress. At a high level, the dashboard shows if the class is happy or displaying more of a neutral response. And even lower-level hardware was shown to be feasible for providing a status update over one-second intervals. Addressing ethical concerns, the researchers are clear that consent should always be asked for before using such a system. And the tool is designed to enhance the training experience – for example, by highlighting when topics need to be revisited and the pace at which content should be delivered.

Furthermore, the system should support the work of trainers as a valuable add-on and shouldn’t conflict with the independence of the presenter or be used to monitor teaching performance. And the next steps for the researchers are to further road test their design and gather views from all stakeholders on how anonymized, privacy-preserving, AI-based systems can contribute positively to making online learning a more engaging and beneficial experience.

In related news, Daniele Di Mitri – one of the contributors to the ‘Sense the Classroom’ project – announced that DIPF’s EduTec department has received EURO 750,000 to investigate the use of AI systems as ‘Multimodal Tutors’ in a joint project with the Cologne Game Lab. The work involves testing the ability of AI systems to ‘provide automatic, personalised, and real-time feedback to learners in distance learning settings when a human expert is unavailable’.

The post Remote learning: anonymized AI powers engagement dashboard appeared first on TechHQ.

The Asia-Pacific region is the fastest-growing region worldwide in the adoption of education technology (EdTech), growing at a CAGR of 17.5%, and rising from US$17.6 billion in 2019 to US$64.5 billion by 2027.

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How EdTech is enhancing a ‘traditional’ approach to learning

Across that region, Singapore is globally recognized as a leader in EdTech adoption and the country’s readiness to embrace education technology can be traced back to 1997 when the Ministry of Education (MOE) first announced the first information and communications technology (ICT) plan to nurture digital literacy among students.

The Singapore ICT master plan is now in its third iteration, with new initiatives including infrastructure upgrades, integration of EdTech into classrooms, and the use of ‘Edumall 2.0’, an online platform for hosting teaching and learning digital content.

The disruption from the pandemic has seen schools and educational instructions make a rapid transition to home-based and remote learning, with many adding and upgrading their IT education technology and monitoring tools to provide better outcomes for all. However, rapid EdTech adoption may not necessarily be a good thing.

Because of the pandemic, the push to go online has been sudden and many educational institutions have little experience in going fully digital. Through trial and error, schools in Singapore have pivoted and scaled their infrastructure to support the remote classroom and a surge in network demand. However, the learning experience is often compromised due to the use of too many applications or from the lack of an adequate infrastructure to support them.

The saturation of EdTech tools may be leading to wasted money, inefficiencies, and missed opportunities. When there is a heavy reliance on technology, tool sprawl seems almost inevitable.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Here are three things schools and educational instructions must consider before falling into the trap of adding more applications or monitoring components to their IT systems.

Commission or decommission?

It’s tempting to invest in the latest shiny new solution. But instead of rushing to commission more apps, tough decisions must be made about where opportunities exist to contain the application environment, rather than continue to saturate it. The best way to do this is to conduct periodic assessments of the application environment.

IT pros and administrators should ask a few fundamental questions: how critical is the app to daily operations? Does it align with the district’s mission? What data does it house? Does it overlap with another tool? Is it being fully utilized? Finally, is it maintenance-intensive?

Students Seow Yun Rong (L) and Heather Seet setting up virtual reality simulations educating them about sexual harassment, at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. (Photo by Catherine Lai / AFP)

With these insights, officials can have a meaningful conversation about consolidating, retiring, replacing, upgrading, or commissioning new technology based on what’s best for students, faculty, and the mission.

Plan EdTech to mitigate infrastructure limitations

Tool sprawl isn’t just costly and inefficient; it puts pressure on the entire IT infrastructure. Pre-pandemic school networks and systems weren’t designed to accommodate a remote schooling model where everyone connects at once. However, through trial and error, schools pivoted and scaled their infrastructure perimeter to support the remote classroom and a surge in network demand.

Because high-performing networks are more critical than ever, to accommodate new software and hardware loads, weak points in the infrastructure should be identified and mitigated. Single-pane-of-glass monitoring tools are ideal for this because they give network administrators a consolidated view of network operations across their complex and sprawling infrastructure. This ensures they can proactively deal with issues before they impact learning and day-to-day operations. With a stable, scalable, and flexible infrastructure plan in place, districts will be better positioned to handle sudden changes or pivot when the next pandemic or disaster strikes.

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Understand potential network conflicts

While it’s easy to think more tools equate to more insights, a plethora of monitoring solutions, each focused on a different piece of the infrastructure, can consume valuable bandwidth and disrupt resources needed for learning. Consolidating network monitoring tools onto a common platform can help mitigate this problem – without drowning in alerts and data.

Monitoring tools aren’t the only issue. Day-to-day apps used by students and faculty also cause network conflicts and slowdowns. When IT teams understand which applications are mission-critical, like student record systems, they can create policies that grant them bandwidth priority.

Adopting EdTech for a positive classroom experience

With the burgeoning demand for education, the adoption of EdTech will only become more prevalent in Singapore and the region. Starting next year, the Ministry of Education is making hybrid learning a standard for the education system in Singapore.

While schools are implementing virtual classrooms, there’s a need to ensure the online learning experience remains effective and high-quality as it would be in an in-person setting.

While EdTech can help create opportunities for schools to thrive in the new digital education landscape, it can be cumbersome for IT teams to lend support because of the lack of visibility or assessment of the right solutions, an overabundance of tools, or an inadequate infrastructure.

Article contributed by Brandon Shopp, Group Vice President of Product Strategy, SolarWinds

The post Ensuring EdTech adoption without compromising the user experience appeared first on TechHQ.

Ever noticed how our newsfeeds and timelines fill our heads with problems, but seldom offer any solutions?

Artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and an army of robots are all waiting to take our jobs as we head for an uncertain future. But what if we changed that narrative and turned challenges into opportunities?

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What if the things that make our life easier, could also make the world better? This is the refreshing mindset adopted by the Greater Phoenix area in Arizona. Prior to the pandemic, the migratory market was tempting over one hundred thousand people a year into the Grand Canyon state. A better standard of living and the absence of any natural disasters were making it incredibly appealing for digital natives, but it’s the thriving tech scene that is possibly its biggest attraction.

As the digital transformation gathers pace, it has the same challenges as every region in the world. Rather than clinging onto the past, Phoenix is thriving by embracing emerging technologies rather than fighting them. The area is also affectionately referred to as “The Connected Place”, and with more products being manufactured in the Phoenix metro area than in Silicon Valley itself, you can see why.

“The Connected Place extends beyond the fabric of our community,” says Chris Camacho, president and CEO, Greater Phoenix Economic Council. “As a region, we’re dedicated to changing the game and joining forces with emerging disruptors to ensure the region is known as a place where innovation goes to scale”.

Tech education in Phoenix

Traditional jobs are beginning to disappear and are being replaced by roles that require a new set of skills that are needed to thrive in a digital age. Although this can feel incredibly daunting there is also a tremendous opportunity to stay ahead of the curve by reskilling to enjoy a change in career.

In 1977, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs famously embarked on a mission to change the world when they founded Apple. But in a new age of transformational change, ‘Woz’ has his sights set on revolutionizing tech education by making it easier to gain the skills required to begin a career in software engineering, data science or cybersecurity.

Woz U aims to take those with limited tech skills who are close to entry-level and put them in a position to become a junior developer or software engineer. By addressing the skills shortage directly, the program also aims to provide placements within six months of graduation, with a starting salary of US$75,000.

Woz U has set up camp in Greater Phoenix also to provide school districts with K-12 STEAM projects and launched the Woz Accelerator, an immersive in-person training program. The message is that it’s not too late to join the tech revolution and anyone of any age can upgrade their career path to secure some of the most in-demand and highest paid jobs on the market.

The Phoenix fintech sandbox

Greater Phoenix also offers the first regulatory sandbox program for fintech. At a time where many states are increasingly nervous around blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, Arizona has sent an open invitation to fintech partners to come and play in the desert fintech sandbox.

In Arizona’s sandbox, startups, entrepreneurs, and even established companies can launch products on a limited, temporary scale to consumers to test innovative products, services, business models, and delivery mechanisms in the real market without incurring the regulatory costs and burdens that would otherwise be imposed. The Arizona Attorney General’s Office will administer the sandbox.

Driverless vehicles

Arizona’s excellent infrastructure and weather make it the perfect place for testing autonomous vehicles. Additionally, Governor Ducey signed an Executive Order and established the ADOT (Arizona Department of Transportation) Self-Driving Vehicle Oversight Committee, allowing for testing on Arizona roads.

Waymo cars can be seen on the roads regularly, and there is a belief that technology will eventually make the roads safer. Many dare to predict that future generations will question why we ever let humans drive vehicles on busy roads. But not everybody is happy about their roads being used for beta testing.

Tensions are still palpable in the community after a self-driving Uber struck and killed a pedestrian a few years ago. Some find the technology and future possibilities exciting, but other community members are fearful of being the victim of a real-world mistake during the testing phase.

There were 37,461 crash-related deaths in America in 2016 alone which in many cases were the result of human error. Tech companies in Phoenix are asking the question what if we could make the roads safer and eliminate road rage, once and for all? Intel, for example, predicted that by 2035-2045, 585,000 lives will be saved from driverless vehicles.

However, it’s important to zoom out and look beyond the driverless car. Companies in the region are also responsible for manufacturing along with the components, software, and communications systems that power and operate them. Acceptance and testing will take much longer than the hype suggests but make no mistake; Greater Phoenix is emerging as a self-driving hotbed.

IoT and wearable technology

We all know somebody with a tech wearable such as a Fitbit or smartwatch that can track our steps and heart rate. The IoT (Internet of Things) subsector in Greater Phoenix is exploring how wearables can deliver more value to society and transform industries that you do not normally associate with tech.

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Sure, wearable devices are ideally suited to the tracking of medical and physical conditions. But, how will these same tiny sensors help transform the world of logistics, supply chains, agriculture, and farming? Businesses in the region are trying to solve real problems with IoT, and the monitoring of crop and livestock conditions are just the beginning of future possibilities.

Cybersecurity to match

Greater Phoenix prides itself on creating a connected place built on the foundations of education to deliver a fully connected world and smart city. But, the protection of these permanently connected devices is something that they are also taking very seriously.

Although cybersecurity seldom gets the credit or coverage it deserves, Phoenix has also built a hub for software and services to protect and secure information. The growth in IoT, wearables and a myriad of devices is responsible for an increased emphasis on cybersecurity to protect the vast quantities of data being collected.

It’s no surprise to see why companies such as Dexcom, Kudelski, Intel, and Deloitte are increasing their presence in Greater Phoenix. However, the real story is how the locale is addressing the decline of traditional employment, the influx of new jobs, and skills shortage by building a connected place to attract both businesses and employees to the area.

The digital transformation is proving to be much more than a buzzword. Phoenix is joining a growing list of so-called surge-cites such as Austin, Nashville, Denver, Portland and Atlanta that are being transformed by embracing technology and thriving as result. Maybe it’s time to retire the apocalyptic news stories and understand that where there are challenges, there are also opportunities.

The post How Phoenix embraced digital possibilities to create smart city opportunities appeared first on TechHQ.

• While full-scale adoption of digital technologies maybe a few decades away, artificial intelligence (AI) has been fueling an education boom
• Yet, education is grossly under digitized, with less than 4% of global expenditure on tech

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Many would say 2020 was the year of educational technology (ed-tech). When Covid-19 pushed schools to go remote, educators and students become more reliant on technology than ever before. In particular, the usage of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered solutions such as machine learning (ML), natural language processing (NLP), voice, and speech recognition has intensified during the lockdown and now it may be the way forward in the education industry.

The transition to this learning environment also revealed new insights into the state of technology in education. The “education system is evolving at an unprecedented rate, and making effective ed-tech investments will be critical in the year ahead,” according to a recent report by Promethean.

Last year alone, the ed-tech market raked in more than US$10 billion in venture capital investment globally in 2020, on the back of heavy adoption when schools and higher education centers shuttered because of the pandemic. Statistics however suggest that education is still grossly under digitized, with less than 4% of global expenditure on tech, presenting a serious challenge given the scale of what’s to come. The knowledge economy and future skills require massive digital transformation, and, while accelerated through Covid-19 there is still far to go.

How to use AI in education

Experts reckon educational institutions should make attempts to unlock the value trapped in vast volumes of data. For an instance, the huge data bank enabled with AI can be used to create customized assessments for students across subjects and grades. And the same can be evaluated with equal ease on a smartphone or a laptop.

AI can further be leveraged here to generate specific insightful reports, focusing on the strength and areas of improvement for different students. A fair assessment should evaluate students on both their strengths and areas that need improvement. While the current assessment models focus on overall dexterity, AI can create a fairer and unbiased system to assess students.

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Another way AI and ML can further advance the ed-tech sector is by letting it sift through cluttered content. Furthermore, ed-tech players can provide additional support for students with AI tutors. As a matter of fact, some tutoring programs based on artificial intelligence already exist and can help students through basic mathematics, writing, and other subjects. While they might not be ideal for high-order thinking and creativity, they certainly help in teaching students the fundamentals. 

Even customizing education to meet the needs of different students with varied aptitude is a mammoth task, but the ed-techs can overcome this bottleneck efficiently with the help of AI, which can help teachers and students to craft courses that are customized to their needs and also provide feedback to both about the success of the course as a whole. AI conversational tools — or chatbots — also can be leveraged to improve student engagement in their overall learning process. There are several ways in which chatbots can be used, including teaching a lesson through a series of messages, integrating it in the feedback loop, and more.

The post How AI, ML will further advance the Ed-tech system appeared first on TechHQ.

• Organizations including startups should evaluate existing and future technologies to see if they’ll be able to deliver the innovation at a scale that they’ll need to survive and thrive
• Covid-19 has reshaped trends, as many of them are brought about or will be emphasized to a greater extent due to the health crisis that the world continues to face
• From 5G-enabled techs to telemedicine, digital currency, and edtech, these are the trends that will shape the manner in which we work and live one year from now and in the future

While no one foresaw the world-changing events of last year, technology certainly played a big part in helping us cope with various challenges, from communicating to shopping, and helped prepare us to adapt to the many challenges as we headed into 2021.

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Inevitably, the events of 2020 will act as a catalyst for a whole host of changes that were already on the cards, but have been accelerated with the use of technology, and consequently is now on an entirely different trajectory in 2021 (and beyond). The difference would be that things will just happen more quickly now, with necessity as the driving force. 

Here are some technology trends that have blossomed in 2020 and will continue to thrive in 2021, featuring applications from promising startups and representing not just good use cases for business purposes, but good investment opportunities as well. 

5G-enabled AI, IoT, & edge computing

One of the major 2021 technology trends making waves is edge computing, which is the concept of processing and analyzing data in servers located closer to the applications they serve. Edge computing is now burgeoning in popularity and opening new markets for established telecommunications providers, semiconductor startups, and new software ecosystems. 

It’s mind-boggling how technology has come together over the last couple of decades to make edge computing possible, which has really exploded in 2021. Harnessing a trove of big data and the idea that with lots of information, now stored in mega-sized data centers or even in the cloud, one can sift and analyze relevant insights from around the world and use it to provide new value to consumers. 

Combine this concept with IoT, and connected everything, from coffee cups to pill dispensers, oil refineries to paper mills, smart goggles to watches, and the value to the consumer could be infinite. Experts foresee a very exciting time ahead as the market can see unlimited potential in the combination of big data, IoT, and AI, although we are only at the beginning of a long road. 

Telemedicine 

The telehealth industry saw demand rise incredibly last year as Covid-19 infected millions worldwide. Telehealth appointments, of course, are ideal for a pandemic: patients can get an informed opinion on their symptoms, and receive a referral for a diagnostic test without having to physically go into an office and endanger others. 

In fact, the global telehealth/telemedicine market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 37.7% to reach US$191.7 billion by 2025 from an estimated US$38.7 billion in 2020. The key factors driving the growth of this market according to Research and Markets include the need to expand healthcare access, the growing prevalence of chronic diseases and conditions, a shortage of physicians, advancements in telecommunications, government support and raising awareness, and rising technology adoption in the wake of Covid-19. 

The Asia Pacific is projected to register the highest growth during the forecast period. This large share can be attributed to factors such as the rising prevalence of chronic conditions, the need to reduce healthcare expenditure, increasing overall and geriatric population.

Centralized digital currency finally arriving

When Facebook shocked policymakers with its plan to launch a digital currency last year, central banks around the world have been forging ahead with discussions on how they could create their own virtual money. Then in early October, the Bank for International Settlements and seven central banks including the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, and the Bank of England published a report laying out some key requirements for central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs.

Among the recommendations, the central banks made were that CBDCs complement — but not replace — cash and other forms of legal tender and that they support rather than harm monetary and financial stability. They said digital currencies should also be secure, as cheap as possible — if not free — to use, and “have an appropriate role for the private sector.”

Adoption of edtech at schools & education institutes

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The pandemic has forced major changes in education at every level, from early years to adult learning and career development. It has accelerated the adoption of digital technology in education with global edtech investment on track to grow by 15% in 2020, a predicted €6.4 billion. At its peak in mid-April, the virus caused nationwide school closure in 190 countries, impacting 90% of total enrolled students, almost 1.6 billion people globally.

Hence, while the world still battles the Covid-19 outbreak, edtech startups can expect significant growth as more people turn to digital education and solutions. International organizations like UNESCO also have their own list which certainly increases the reach of these platforms. The current pandemic has accelerated the transformation of education and technology startups in this sector have grown exponentially which means that edtech is here to stay and the way students learn will never be the same. 

The post Telehealth, edtech and the tech trends influencing startups in 2021 appeared first on TechHQ.

Many of us live in the browser these days — at least, those of us who can take our work ‘home’ with us without much difficulty.

In an era of remote work, which is unanimously agreed to be segueing into one of flexible working when the demands of a global pandemic are behind us, the ‘notebook’ is about the most practical device we could use for work.

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Dependent on nothing more than a good internet connection, the notebook is a relatively low-cost (not to say, cheap) option for employers. It’s light, quick to boot-up, and perfectly designed for an age of cloud-tethered working. 

Queen of these is the Chromebook. And if evidence were needed how much the device fits into a world of ‘where the hell am I going to be working in two month’s time?’, Google shipped 11.6 million units in Q2, representing a historical high for a single quarter and 25% of total notebook shipments. 

Much of this spike in popularity is down to the rise of distance learning in the education sector, which continues to be a primary market for Chromebooks, given their cost and functionality. In addition to this objective demand in the education sector, notebook brands — facing disruption in the Chinese supply chain — began ramping up their orders for Chromebooks over more expensive Windows notebooks.

Both the US and Japan treat Chromebooks as the key device in their remote learning policies in the K12 sector. Even before the pandemic, DigiTimes predicted that “[…] shipments of Chrome OS-based computing device[s] [will] surpass those of Windows-based one[s] in the global education sector in 2020.”

But while education is a driving force for Chromebook sales, the workforce going and staying remote could secure staple-status for most white-collar organizations amid the accelerated digitization taking place across a broad range of industries. 

Chromebooks for the enterprise

Working on the internet has become the norm, and Chrome OS is purpose-built to run cloud-based applications.

Gunning for a wider market share, Google recently rolled out features to make it easier for IT managers to implement the Chrome OS to their workforce. 

Those included a color-coded readiness tool to establish which applications are ready to go on Chrome OS. At the same time, certain applications like Zoom and Salesforce have been certified to work well on Chrome. On top of that, an increasing number of Chrome web apps and extensions also work offline and will sync all data back to the cloud when you get connected again. 

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The company also made a tool called Parallels available for Chrome OS, enabling companies dependent on Windows applications to run them natively in Windows in a virtual machine.

Meanwhile, the company is making “zero-touch” configurations possible, where the devices are enrolled by the manufacturers with the correct domain, settings, policies, applications, and certifications and drop-shipped directly to the user, as though it’s been set up by the organization’s IT department. 

Arming a workforce with $200 Chromebooks can also help protect the business from the rise of opportunistic cyberthreats targeting distributed workforces. 

IT admins can manage devices and users of the business from home with the Google Admin console. This allows them to enforce policies such as MFA, configure device settings, and force install apps and extensions where needed. 

Quick and flexible in setting up, secure, low-cost, and able to be managed centrally; for cloud-centric organizations eyeing a flexible working policy in the years to come, Chromebooks could become the standardized device for most employees whose work is dependent, pretty much, on accessing cloud-based applications.

The post Is 2020 the year of the Chromebook? appeared first on TechHQ.

• The education industry was thrown into disarray this year, with a state of normality nowhere in sight
• Schools and colleges had to embrace remote learning ‘overnight’, but the stakes are high, and the transition has had its issues
• Not least of these is cybersecurity and data privacy. The education sector has become the most-affected industry

When lockdowns began, universities and schools — like every other physical organization — had to slam their doors shut. Facing a void of in-person education for an indeterminable amount of time, the solution was quickly identified in remote learning. Lessons, lectures, seminars, and tutorials were shifted online overnight.

This strategy worked well in the world of work, where many businesses were already experienced to varying degrees in flexible working or, at least, were largely equipped with the enterprise-grade tools to make it happen. 

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In the white-collar world, there were immediate teething problems but, by and large, business rolled into a state of new, virtually-enabled normality.  

In education, however, the transition to remote learning has been much more of a challenge. The stakes of ineffectiveness or failure here are not simply financial, but risk “scarring the life chances of a generation of young people.”

Online teaching needs more than basics. Lecturers or teachers need access to a computer that supports teaching software; they and all of their students need a reliable internet connection. The shift to remote learning has also highlighted an economic problem, whereby lower-income families may be excluded from the same learning experience, given their lack of access to the right hardware or services. 

But for those students fortunate enough to be able to access online courses or video-conferenced lectures and seminars, there is another problem: security. 

The cybersecurity issues of remote learning

As noted in The Guardian, those who have returned overseas to be with their families during the crisis, for example, may be subject to different data protection laws than are assumed where they study. Privacy, or even freedom of speech, may not be guaranteed for ideas and personal data. This is a serious problem for universities, intended to be homes for free and open academic discussion and debate. 

In the same vein, this freedom may be compromised when institutions are suddenly reliant on and contributing to the revenue of solutions created by Big Tech companies, such as Microsoft Teams, where data — including conversations and ideas — are swept away, however impermanently, to data centers in Eastern Washington or elsewhere. 

But the education industry faces a more malicious threat; the pandemic has assured us that cybercriminals are indiscriminate about their targets. More than 20 universities and charities across the UK, US, and Canada reported themselves victim to a supply chain cyber-attack via compromised cloud provider Blackbaud. 

The breached provider, which eventually paid the attackers, waited weeks to warn its clients that data had been stolen, which, in some cases, included the personal details of existing staff, students, and other parties.

Ransomware is a growing issue in the education sector. The growing threat of attacks to individual schools in the US prompted the FBI to issue a security alert about the growing risks, especially in regard to vulnerabilities created by a reliance on remote staff connections using Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) accounts on internal school systems. 

Cybercriminals were likely to increase targeting of K-12 schools “because they represent an opportunistic target as more of these institutions transition to distance learning,” the FBI said. 

“K-12 institutions have limited resources to dedicate to network defense, leaving them vulnerable to cyber attacks.”

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A growing cybersecurity problem

The education sector has long been a target for cybercriminals to exploit, but the problem is getting worse — US schools and districts publicly disclosed 348 cyber incidents in 2019, three times more than 2018 — but the pandemic has kicked the hornet’s nest. 

According to Microsoft’s Global Threat Activity tracker, 61% (nearly 4.8 million) of malware encounters reported within the past 30 days took aim at the education sector, making it the most affected industry. The business and professional services sector came in second with just under 1 million incidents.

‘’Even before the COVID-19 outbreak, school districts already faced serious cybersecurity challenges,” said Juta Gurinaviciute, Chief Technology Officer at NordVPN Teams. “A lack of dedicated funding and skilled personnel made it hard for educational institutions to keep data secure and improve privacy-related defenses.” 

Gurinaviciute continued: “Hence, many schools make essential primary setup errors and put little effort into overseeing old existing vulnerabilities. It comes as no surprise that, during the COVID-19 crisis, hackers and scammers found those vulnerabilities so easily.’’ 

But schools and students also face potential risks from third-party edtech firms that fail to appropriately secure data in their platforms. 

‘’Systems have to be set up with adequate authentication and controls. Otherwise, they can become vectors for attack,” said Gurinaviciute. “Without proper implementation, tools to access school networks remotely – even VPNs, password managers, and remote desktop protocols — can all be hacked to gain unauthorized access and steal sensitive data.’’

With schools and universities facing continued uncertainty, with potential further outbreaks or even second spikes of the coronavirus looming, the education sector cannot think about folding its new reliance on remote learning yet. 

As millions of teachers and students will once again make remote access attempts from a slew of devices this fall, cybercriminals will swarm to the opportunity once again. Those who have learned hard lessons must now enact them, and the rest of the industry should take note, ensuring staff and students are thoroughly and consistently trained in IT solutions they are using and are taking the steps to ensure cybersecurity and data privacy compliance remains airtight. 

Conversations should arise not just about internet connections and devices, but about the integrity of the software being used and implications, as well as the data privacy rights of all users. 

‘’Edtech and its infrastructure is not given the importance it is due,” continued Gurinaviciute.  

“As governments attempt to address the public health crisis around the world and contain the spread of COVID-19, there is a very large chance criminals will continue to exploit this chaos, and that there will be another spike in cyberattacks against vulnerable targets.

“Educational institutions should focus on protecting their open networks and managing devices they don’t have control over.”

The post How cybercriminals will continue to exploit the chaos in education appeared first on TechHQ.

• TikTok has shot to dizzying heights amid a spike in social media usage during lockdown
• Now, it’s eyeing the online education market as it seeks to leverage a trend of ‘micro-learning’ 

If Zoom is the new poster child of remote working, social media app TikTok has risen to stardom in the world of lockdown entertainment. 

Downloaded more than 2 billion times with 315 million installs in Q1 this year, the Chinese video-sharing app, founded in 2012, has become one of the most popular apps in the world – it’s even shed its association with Gen Zs alone, seeing a nearly 20% uptick in regular usage by millennials since the outbreak. 

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If you haven’t tried your hand at it, users create 15-second clips set to music or soundbites, which they can overlay with special effects. But you don’t have to be a user to see its success; from the ubiquitous TikTok dance clips, to viral sketches, and even ICU nurses, the reach of TikTok’s user-generated content goes far beyond its own platform. 

Now, the company owned by Chinese multinational internet giant ByteDance has announced a significant shift into the online education market, commissioning hundreds of experts and institutions to produce education content for its #LearnOnTikTok platform.

How to more cases than anybody in the world pic.twitter.com/VA9bPJiQ6i

— Sarah Cooper (@sarahcpr) May 15, 2020

Organizations – including universities and charities – as well as a handful of celebrities, will be among those paid to produce educational content for the platform, in what could spur a trend towards ‘micro-learning’, or small units of learning found online. 

Pumping US$14.6 million into the project, the announcement indicates TikTok thinks it can break ground in the online education market, which offers alternative means and channels for education as schools and universities around the world look to be some of the last organizations to reopen. 

“[…] Tiktok has quickly become a place people turn to when they want snack-sized entertainment,” said Rich Waterworth, Tiktok’s EU general manager. “Now we want to build on this strong foundation, bringing together entertainment and learning, offering our community a truly rich and diverse ecosystem of content.”

Social media usage has spiked during the pandemic, and apps are now increasingly used as news sources. According to the 2020 Reuters Digital News Report released this week found that 43% of 16-24 year olds accessed social media as a source of COVID-19 related information in the past few months – 6% turned to TikTok specifically. 

Waterworth said the platform had identified a growing interest in educational videos, with more than 7 billion views of the hashtag #LearnOnTikTok; “We’re using this investment to seed the educational category broadly,” he said.  

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“Going forward, LearnOnTikTok is about us investing in partners and content creators with a breadth of professional content […] We think this is about applying the power of TikTok to learning: the effects, the audio, the transitions, the tools that make it so engaging and fun, to make people enjoy learning,” he said. 

Even before COVID-19, there was already high growth and adoption in education technology, with global edtech investments reaching US$18.66 billion in 2019 and the overall market for online education projected to reach $350 Billion by 2025.

Worldwide there are currently more than 1.2 billion children in 186 countries affected by school closures due to the pandemic. Whether it is language apps, virtual tutoring, video conferencing tools, or online learning software, there has been a significant surge in usage since COVID-19.

This show of intent from TikTok to has been linked to the appointment of former Disney’s direct-to-consumer head Kevin Meyer, who oversaw the launch of new streaming service Disney Plus, which now has more than 50 million subscribers.

Enders Analysis’s Jamie MacEwan, told the BBC Meyer could lead the social media app in a new direction: “TikTok really wants to broaden its appeal and we are going to see more structured, more premium content going forward.

“We know [Meyer] as a deal-maker for content and we’re sure to see more partnerships going forward.”

Educational content could also be attractive to advertisers who are looking for a new way to cut through the noise of online video and display, or an expensive and risky influencer marketing industry. Brands and organizations can look to short ‘micro-learning’ segments to engage audiences and provide value, or even to run recruitment campaigns for a younger generation.

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