The Covid-19 pandemic caused a radical shift in the education sector, which has certainly impacted EdTech trends. This resulted in the accelerated adoption of education technology solutions across k12, e-learning, and higher education. Some trends and technologies that dominated the marketplace in 2019, including Video-based learning,  AI, Machine Learning, digital assessments, learning analytics, and many others are expected to take a new turn in 2021. 

To give you a complete glimpse into the future of education post-pandemic, we have prepared 10 EdTech Trends and Predictions To Watch Out For In 2021. What will happen to the education technology marketplace? Which trends and technologies will disrupt education as we know it? 

Important EdTech Stats To Note:

• 86% of educators say Technology is the core of learning

• EdTech expenditure will hit $404 billion by 2025 at a CAGR of 16%, between 2019-2025

• Utilization of Technology for Engagement is on the rise (84% of Educators support the idea)

• The E-Learning market will grow to $375 billion by 2026. 

• Global investments in education technology are on the rise, with a total of $10 billion in 2020. They are expected to reach $87 billion in the next decade. 

Image Credit: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

Part 1: EdTech Trends To Watch Out For

1. E-Learning

E-learning is the biggest EdTech trend in 2021. Its scalability and cost-effectiveness have made this model the go-to solution for students all over the world, especially during the pandemic.  Also, recent research shows that e-learning improves retention rates by 25-60%, which makes it a better deal for students. 

The industry is booming and is expected to hit the $375 billion mark by 2026. 

To capitalize on this trend, many institutions have started offering online degrees online. Platforms such as Coursera have partnered with the world’s greatest universities to provide short courses, certifications, and bachelor’s degrees online, at lower costs. 

Other platforms offering eLearning services include Lessonly, Udemy, Masterclass, and Skillshare. This trend is not likely to slow down post-covid, but there will be barriers that should be eliminated in order to accelerate the adoption of this trend. 

2. Digital Assessments Become A Necessity

Assessments are a vital part of the learning process as they gauge the effectiveness of learning methods. Over the past few years, Online tests have been replacing traditional testing methods which mostly involved pen and paper. Some of the main advantages of digital assessments Include:

•  Reliability
•  Cost-effectiveness
•  Flexibility. 
• Increased security and efficiency
• Students with disabilities can have equal chances with other students. This is because online testing can support technologies such as speech-to-text.
• Immediate results reduce stress and anxiety among students
• Learning analytics help improve assessment quality

Online exams have increased effectiveness in the testing process by adding technologies and strategies such as adaptive testing,  remote proctoring, and learning analytics into the equation. This has helped students improve retention rates and exam developers enhance their testing strategies. Cheating, which has been a major concern in assessments has been reduced by online assessment techniques such as Lockdown browsers, time windows, and time windows. Digital assessments are a must-have for all institutions looking to capitalize on the advantages of online testing in 2021.

3. Extended Reality (XR)

Virtual Reality Learning Retention (Source: FrontCore)

Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are revolutionizing the education sector by challenging the way in which students used to receive and process information.  2021 will witness increased adoption of XR technologies and solutions across education and corporate learning environments. 

Extended Reality technologies and solutions are improving retention rates and learning experiences in students by creating immersive worlds where students can learn new skills and visualize concepts in an interactive way.  According to research, Virtual Reality has higher retention rates compared to other learning methods such as lecturing, demonstration, and audio-visuals. Some other ways in which XR is improving the education sector are offering cost-effective and interesting field trips, enhancing lifelong learning, and transforming hands-on learning. 

4. Chatbots In Higher Education

Chatbots took the sales and marketing industry by storm over the past few years and are finding their way into the education sector. During the Covid-19 pandemic, many higher education institutions integrated chatbots into their systems to help in the automation of tasks. 

Some tasks that can be automated including lead generation for courses and student query resolution on pressing issues such as fees. This improves the cost-effectiveness in institution administration. This EdTech trend will be integrated into more institutions in 2021. 

5. Video-Based Learning At The Forefront

Video has become king in learning and entertainment. 2021 will see an exponential increase in video consumption. In relation to learning, the rapid increase in devices on the internet, and new technological innovations such as smart TVs will accelerate the adoption of video-based learning. 

There are many advantages that come with video-based learning. Some of them include cost-friendliness, higher retention rate in students, support for self-pace learning, and many others. The reliability of this mode of learning will make higher education institutions invest in this mode of learning. 

Using video-based learning is not a complex procedure, especially because there are many tools and platforms online that can help with the process. The cost of producing high-quality videos and lectures has also become cheaper. 

6. Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been at the forefront of pioneering innovations that drive humanity to the new ages of civilization. In relation to education, AI has played a big role in enhancing learning experiences, improving assessment practices and so much more! 

In 2021, AI will make headlines as it will be integrated into important aspects of higher education such as campus security, student performance evaluation, and so much more! Facial recognition, which is a component of AI, can be used in tracking student attendance, securing campus premises, and decreasing infidelity during online testing.  AI also plays a vital part in student evaluation and improving the assessment process by powering technologies such as adaptive testing. Adaptive testing is a method that improves the testing process by providing unique assessments to different students based on factors such as IQ and many others.  The power of AI is unlimited and there is no predicting what 2021 will bring to the education industry.

7. Big Data and Learning Analytics

Learning analytics is yet another one of the EdTech trends that is yet to disrupt the education industry. Learning analytics is a set of technologies and strategies that are used to empower educators, track learning processes, and help instructors make data-driven decisions.

Some components of learning analytics include Artificial Intelligence, visualizations, machine learning, statistics, personalized adaptive learning, and educational data mining. 

As we all know, data runs everything in the information era, and whoever has the best data analytics model wins. In education, analytics has played an important role in shaping instructional design and assessment processes for the best. 

2021 will see increased adoption of analytics tools into Learning and Development.

Here are some of the ways learning analytics will shape Education for the best;

• Behavior and performance prediction– Using predictive analytics, instructors can predict the performance of learners based on their present and past performances.
• Increased retention rates– By having a clear picture of what students are good at and what they are struggling with (You can identify this by analyzing their digital assessment results), one can shape the learning process to increase retention rates. 

• Support for personalized learning– This is the hot cake of learning analytics. By using data analytics, instructors can create personalized learning experiences for different students based on several metrics.

• Increase cost-efficiency– Education and training are expensive, and learning analytics can help improve the quality of learning outcomes while cutting out unnecessary costs.

• Helps in the definition of learning strategy– By understanding what you need to achieve, and the purpose of your goals, you can use data analytics to create a roadmap to help you in the process. 

8. Gamification

Gamification is not a new concept in education. It has been around for ages, but it’s expected to take a different turn through the integration of game mechanics in learning. Minecraft, the game everybody can’t seem to have enough of is a good example. This game has come in handy in teaching important concepts in society such as storytelling.  

Programming and game design, which are skills that are important in our digital world, has received a huge boost from the existence of games such as Roblox. The game attracts more than 100 million players each month.  

In 2021, we are likely to see the rise of more gamification strategies in the ed-tech space.

Part 2: Predictions

9. Accelerated EdTech Investments

Over the past decade, the global EdTech venture capital has seen exponential growth, from 500 million in 2010 to more than $10 billion in 2020). 

As the adoption of digital EdTech solutions rises, this number is expected to rise rapidly in the next decade. Some reports estimate an $87 billion increase in investments by 2030.

 With Asia being the leading adopters of EdTech, startups from other continents will be looking to up their game to capitalize on opportunities arising from the industry.

10.  EdTech Market Value Will Reach New Heights

The Covid-19 pandemic increased the adoption of Education technology solutions. The expenditure of the sector is expected to reach new heights ($404 billion) between 2019 and 2025. 

What acted as a source of short-term resort for the education sector will become the new norm. 

Many schools and colleges have not started their transition to the new models of learning, but most of them are laying off strategies to start the process. Integrating some of the trends discussed above may be a good way to start your journey.

Final Thoughts on 2021 EdTech Trends

The uncertainty that comes in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic makes it hard to predict the ed-tech trends that will lead the way in 2021. But, we believe that 2021 will be a year of many firsts and unknowns in the education sector. That said, there is immense power in understanding how the above-discussed trends and predictions may shape L & D. And how you can capitalize on the opportunities that arise from them. 

If you are interested in leveraging the power of digital assessments and psychometrics practices for your education and corporate campaigns, feel free to sign up for access to our free assessment tools or consult with our experienced team for services such as test development, job analysis, implementation services and so much more!

Today I read an article in The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist (the colloquial journal published by the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology) that really resonated with me.

Has Industrial-Organizational Psychology Lost Its Way?
-Deniz S. Ones, Robert B. Kaiser, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Cicek Svensson

Why?  Because I think a lot of the points they are making are also true about the field of Psychometrics and our innovation.  They summarize their point in six bullet points that they suggest present a troubling direction for their field.  Though honestly, I suppose a lot of Academia falls under these, while some great innovation is happening over on some free MOOCs and the like because they aren’t fettered by the chains of the purely or partially academic world.

• an overemphasis on theory
• a proliferation of, and fixation on, trivial methodological minutiae
• a suppression of exploration and a repression of innovation
• an unhealthy obsession with publication while ignoring practical issues
• a tendency to be distracted by fads
• a growing habit of losing real-world influence to other fields.

So what is psychometrics supposed to be doing?

The part that has irked me the most about Psychometrics over the years is the overemphasis on theory and minutiae rather than solving practical problems.  This is the main reason I stopped attending the NCME conference and instead attend practical conferences like ATP.  It stems from my desire to improve the quality of assessment throughout the world.  Development of esoteric DIF methodology, new multidimensional IRT models, or a new CAT sub-algorithm when there are already dozens and the new one offers a 0.5% increase in efficiency… stuff like that isn’t going to impact all the terrible assessment being done in the world and the terrible decisions being made about people based on those assessments.  Don’t get me wrong, there is a place for the substantive research, but I feel the latter point is underserved.

The Goal: Quality Assessment

And it’s that point that is driving the work that I do.  There is a lot of mediocre or downright bad assessment out there in the world.  I once talked to a Pre-Employment testing company and asked if I could help implement strong psychometrics to improve their tests as well as validity documentation.  Their answer?  It was essentially “No thanks, we’ve never been sued so we’re OK where we are.”  Thankfully, they fell in the mediocre category rather the downright bad category.

Of course, in many cases, there is simply a lack of incentive to produce quality assessment.  Higher Education is a classic case of this.  Professional schools (e.g., Medicine) often have accreditation tied in some part to demonstrating quality assessment of their students.  There is typically no such constraint on undergraduate education, so your Intro to Psychology and freshman English Comp classes still do assessment the same way they did 40 years ago… with no psychometrics whatsoever.  Many small credentialing organizations lack incentive too, until they decide to pursue accreditation.

I like to describe the situation this way: take all the assessments of the world and get them a percentile rank in psychometric quality.  The top 5% are the big organizations, such as Nursing licensure in the US, that have in-house psychometricians, large volumes, and huge budgets.  We don’t have to worry about them as they will be doing good assessment (and that substantive research I mentioned might be of use to them!).  The bottom 50% or more are like university classroom assessments.  They’ll probably never use real psychometrics.  I’m concerned about that 50-95th percentile.

Example: Credentialing

A great example of this level is the world of Credentialing.  There a TON of poorly constructed licensure and certification tests that are being used to make incredibly important decisions about people’s lives.  Some are simply because the organization is for-profit and doesn’t care.  Some are caused by external constraints.  I once worked with a Department of Agriculture for a western US State, where the legislature mandated that licensure tests be given for certain professions, even though only like 3 people per year took some tests.

So how do we get groups like that to follow best practices in assessment?  In the past, the only way to get psychometrics done is for them to pay a consultant a ton of money that they don’t have.  Why spend $5k on an Angoff study or classical test report for 3 people/year?  I don’t blame them.  The field of Psychometrics needs to find a way to help such groups.  Otherwise, the tests are low quality and they are giving licenses to unqualified practitioners.

There are some bogus providers out there, for sure.  I’ve seen Certification delivery platforms that don’t even store the examinee responses, which would be necessary to do any psychometric analysis whatsoever.  Obviously they aren’t doing much to help the situation.  Software platforms that focus on things like tracking payments and prerequisites simply miss the boat too.  They are condoning bad assessment.

Similarly, mathematically complex advancements such as multidimensional IRT are of no use to this type of organization.  It’s not helping the situation.

An Opportunity for Innovation

I think there is still a decent amount of innovation in our field.  There are organizations that are doing great work to develop innovative items, psychometrics, and assessments.  However, it is well known that large corporations will snap up fresh PhDs in Psychometrics and then lock them in a back room to do uninnovative work like run SAS scripts or conduct Angoff studies over and over and over.  This happened to me and after only 18 months I was ready for more.

Unfortunately, I have found that a lot of innovation is not driven by producing good measurement.  I was in a discussion on LinkedIn where someone was pushing gamification for assessments and declared that measurement precision was of no interest.  This, of course, is ludicrous.  It’s OK to produce random numbers as long as the UI looks cool for students?

Innovation in Psychometrics at ASC

Much of the innovation at ASC is targeted towards the issue I have presented here.  I originally developed Iteman 4 and Xcalibre 4 to meet this type of usage.  I wanted to enable an organization to produce professional psychometric analysis reports on their assessments without having to pay massive amounts of money to a consultant.  Additionally, I wanted to save time; there are other software programs which can produce similar results, but drop them in text files or Excel spreadsheets instead of Microsoft Word which is of course what everyone would use to draft a report.

Much of our FastTest platform is designed with a similar bent.  Tired of running an Angoff study with items on a projector and the SMEs writing all their ratings with pencil and paper, only to be transcribed later?  Well, you can do this online.  Moreover, because it is only you can use the SMEs remotely rather than paying to fly them into a central office.  Want to publish an adaptive (CAT) exam without writing code?  We have it built directly into our test publishing interface.

Back to My Original Point

So the title is “What is Psychometrics Supposed to be Doing?” with regards to psychometrics innovation.  My answer, of course, is improving assessment.  The issue I take with the mathematically advanced research is that it is only relevant for that top 5% of organizations that is mentioned.  It’s also our duty as psychometricians to find better ways to help the other 95%.

What else can we be doing?  I think the future here is automation.  Iteman 4 and Xcalibre 4, as well as FastTest, were really machine learning and automation platforms before those things became so en vogue.  As the SIOP article mentioned at the beginning talks about, other scholarly areas like Big Data are gaining more real-world influence even if they are doing things that Psychometrics has done for a long time.  Item Response Theory is a form of machine learning and it’s been around for 50 years!