How will technology transform education in the post-COVID-19 world?

The pandemic brought enormous changes to people and businesses around the world.  Many industries were impacted and had to reinvent themselves during this period, and our education system has been one of these affected victims of the pandemic. The most noticeable transformation that schools worldwide had to endure was the change from in-person classes to remote Learning, impacting students of all backgrounds and ages.  

As school systems and teachers were forced to adhere to a remote learning model, this new experience gained traction and, depending on the specific scenario, brought positive results. Consequently, many key decision-makers in this space have considered implementing a remote learning hybrid model into their school systems. 

However, remote Learning is not the only change in our education system that resulted from the pandemic, and that is here to stay in the post-pandemic world. The mass implementation of technology in education, the autonomy to learn independently online, creating your learning paths, and personalizing your individual learning goals, is a reality that we should start getting used to in the next five years. 

How will our learning experiences be impacted in the post-pandemic world?  

Skill-building courses focused on career paths.  

With a focus on building skills that land students an opportunity in the job market, courses and classes are tailored to specific professional goals. Education becomes a true catalyst for employment in the digital age.  

Lifelong Learning as a new approach to “life.”

Traditional learning experiences have a beginning, middle, and end. A student could begin an MBA and finish it in under two years to apply that learned knowledge into securing a job. Lifelong Learning is a new concept and buzzword gaining popularity. By definition, a lifelong learner never ceases to learn and evolve their skills. This concept combines continuous Learning for personal and professional development. 

Artificial Intelligence 

In this new world of Learning, educational tools will be working hand in hand with Artificial Intelligence to bring increasingly personalized and individualized experiences to students. According to the World Economic Forum, our education will be based on four main pillars: virtual teaching, learning assessments, matching opportunities for internships and jobs, and peer/expert mentoring. 

More autonomy for students

Students will become the protagonists of their learning journey. With remote Learning, teacher’s become educational mediators and develop a new role based on content curation and support. Still, it’s up to students to decide what exactly they want to learn.  

How can you implement these changes into your employee development and recruitment processes?

All these new changes in education will also impact how companies recruit, reskill, qualify and develop their potential candidates and employees. Here are some quick tips on how to ride this new wave of learning transformation and implement these changes to your company for the benefit of your employees and candidates: 

Make a current diagnosis of your company’s L&D efforts: 

It’s essential to understand what your company does to train and develop its employees and if these processes are aligned with the new learning trends that are beginning to appear.  

Some questions to answer to diagnose your internal L&D efforts: Do you offer a career path development program to your employees?

• How do your employees build new skills in their careers? Independently or through your company? 

• Do you qualify candidates for potential job opportunities through external company courses?  

• Do you track, manage and analyze your company’s intellectual capital (aka employee skills)? 

• What experience do you offer your employees if they’d like to switch career paths within your company? 

• How personalized are your company L&D efforts to employees/teams? 

Define your goals

What do you aim to achieve with the changes that you have identified? Begin by creating short, medium, and long-term goals with possible results and metrics so that you can keep yourself accountable. 

Here are some long term goals to think about: 

• Do you want to improve internal employee mobility?

• Do you need to attract more qualified candidates to your positions? 

• Do you want to increase employee retention?

D- o you need to invest in skills-data management?  

Engage with your team

Communicate with key leaders and educate them about the importance of implementing L&D strategies in your company. Working side by side with managers to create clear goals is essential, also give them the resources to identify what is working and what is not. Managers should work directly with team members to develop a personalized learning and development plan based on each employee’s professional goals and aspirations. 

 Additionally,  speak to your recruiting or HR team to work hand in hand with them and understand their hiring needs. Can roles quickly be filled by internal mobility, or should external hires fill them? It’s essential to understand the types of skills needed for open positions in your company and if you can quickly identify these skills internally or recruit externally. 

In the post-pandemic world 

Remote Learning, access to technology, and the rise of innovation in educational tools are catalysts to the abrupt transformation we witness in learning experiences worldwide. The life-long learning concept and the autonomy students now have to develop their learning paths is a trend that is here to stay and disrupt education and the future of work. 

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