How the pandemic accelerated the Gulf’s edtech revolution

Blended learning 

Although the longer-term impact of Covid-19 on regional education is yet to fully unfold, learning models are set to become more tech-centric and incorporate a range of blending techniques. 

According to Simon Hay, founder of UK-headquartered Firefly – a company that creates technology for learning continuity and parent engagement in the Gulf and globally – the concept of hybrid learning (mixed online and in-person education) has been accelerated rapidly by the pandemic. 

Partnering with more than 600 schools, Firefly is used by more than a million students, teachers and parents, including in the UAE, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia. The company saw its normal peak usage increase by 12 times as schools moved learning online during the pandemic. 

“Hybrid learning has definitely become more prevalent in schools, with students only in school for part of the week in many cases as schools looked for ways to maintain social distancing and reduce the numbers in school,” said Hay.  

“Firefly provides a platform which allows schools to extend learning beyond the classroom, with online access to the same learning resources, straightforward assignment management, feedback and tracking, and, crucially, the ability to engage parents in the learning conversation.”

The arrival of a regional vaccine programme will hasten the transition back to more “in-school” teaching, said Hay, but adoption of new technology means “schools are now in a better place to manage disruption, and keep the learning process going whatever the situation”.

Simon Wensley, export sales and product development administrator at blended learning solutions firm HME, which provides futuristic artificial intelligence labs to UAE universities, the Gulf has demonstrated a “strong uptake” of edtech systems, compared with other global regions. 

“The region has shown a quicker adaptation to edtech learning, with students being given greater access to IT hardware and communication systems, so they are able to fulfil their curriculum learning in an engaging environment,” said Wensley. 

“I believe the edtech delivery process will become endemic within schools, allowing students to develop in a conducive learning environment that suits them. This has been practised in our higher education establishments for many years, but now school educators will also work with a more flexible approach to engage with students using an online and traditional teaching matrix.” 

Baptism of fire 

According to Edu Alliance’s Nathan, the region’s teachers witnessed first-hand the tangible benefits that digital technology can bring to the classroom during the Covid crisis. 

“For many faculty members, it has been a baptism of fire,” he said. “The majority of faculty members in early learning, as well as higher education in this region, have been resistant to even blended learning.  But they had to embrace this change in a matter of few weeks. 

“Increasingly, in public schools and colleges, teachers have also come under stricter scrutiny for the effectiveness of their online teaching. They have had to make choices to sink or swim. And almost all of them have learnt to swim in this new online education environment. 

“As I have known for over a decade, digitally native students of the region have always been more than ready for fully online education. Our challenges have always been first with faculty development. Today, there has been a fundamental transformation of both groups in this region.”