Educational Technology Development in Foreign Countries: An Overview

Introduction

Education technology (EdTech) is rapidly evolving across the globe, transforming how education is delivered and accessed. This article explores the development and implementation of educational technology in various foreign countries, highlighting key strategies, challenges, and successes. It examines how different nations are leveraging technology to enhance learning outcomes, reduce educational inequalities, and prepare students for the future. The article also analyzes the role of governments, private sector partnerships, and international organizations in driving EdTech initiatives.

The Global EdTech Market

The EdTech market encompasses technology used in early childhood education, K-12, higher education, and workforce development. It consists of three major product categories:

Hardware: Interactive white boards, displays and tablets, student response systems, laptops, desktops, stylus pens, wireless slates, classroom wearables, wrist-worn equipment, head gear, projectors, and sound systems.
Software: Learning Management Systems (LMS), Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS), adaptive learning platforms, and assessment systems.
Content: Audio-based content, video-based content, text content, and multimedia content.

The EdTech market is attractive in terms of its size and growth rate. In 2019, the United States exported an estimated $2.3 billion in Education Services.

Leveraging EdTech for Resilient Hybrid Learning Systems

Many countries are now thinking about a dual role for remote learning: as an insurance policy against future calamities, especially in a world experiencing climate change, as well as a way to reach out to out-of-school children and provide lifelong education to all citizens.

Addressing the Digital Infrastructure Divide

The World Bank is working with countries to identify how to address issues of affordable connectivity, device procurement, cloud solutions, and multi-modal delivery of education.

Recovering Learning Loss and Personalizing Learning with Technology

The World Bank is deepening its work on adaptive learning systems, remote assessment, and how education systems can more effectively use learning analytics to personalize education. A major part of this work will be developing a new strategy for Education Management Information Systems (EMIS 2.0) to support more effective use of data.

The Changing Roles and New Skills for Teachers in Hybrid Learning Systems

The World Bank is exploring teacher competency frameworks, teacher networks, and communities of innovative teachers to support countries to empower teachers. Teachers are still central to learning, especially in an environment rich with technology. Evidence is growing that bypassing teachers and not engaging them with technology does not lead to student learning improvement.

Leveraging Open Technology Ecosystems to Expand Access to Quality Content

The World Bank will collaborate with partners developing open global public goods and strategies to engage the large ecosystem of innovators in client countries to support the design and development of new educational content and curriculum. The team will develop communities of practice around EdTech innovation hubs and creative talent to develop new open educational libraries. A key content area of focus will be climate change.

Supporting the Development, Measurement, and Accreditation of Future Skills

The World Bank will support countries to define 21st-century competencies in students and teachers and explore ways to more effectively measure these skills and accredit these skills in collaboration with external partners, sharing knowledge and experience in communities of practice on hard-to-measure skills and blockchain for education.

Country-Specific Initiatives and Strategies

Bangladesh

Bangladesh has made significant strides in leveraging EdTech to improve education. Key initiatives include:

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English in Action Programme: This program focuses on the professional development of primary and secondary school teachers through mobile learning and an adult learning component using BBC Janala broadcasts to teach communicative English.
Educational Television: Education television provided privately through the Sesame Workshop, which is aimed at pre-school and the early grades of primary school.
Cross-Government Collaboration: The establishment of Access to Information (a2i) in the ICT Division of the Government of Bangladesh, along with the work completed under the English in Action program, has resulted in cross-government collaboration. This was demonstrated by the government’s rollout of education television content for students within a week of Covid-19 school closures.
Investment in National Digital Capacity: Sustained external investment has been required to build the infrastructure and capacity required for governments to support the mass rollout of virtual learning. In Bangladesh, this involved a ten-year £50 million external investment in the education and media sector, as well as external investment to establish a2i.
Support for Parents: A2i is planning to provide guidance to parents to help engage their children in remote learning. UNICEF is supporting Bangladesh in this and is conducting similar work in Pakistan.
Reduced Internet Access Costs: BBC Janala negotiated with all six mobile phone networks to ensure reduced data costs for educational material, providing a key lesson that can be applied to other countries as they roll out remote learning.

South Korea

South Korea has been a leader in integrating technology into education, with a strong emphasis on government support and infrastructure development. Key strategies include:

Collaboration between Government and Telecommunications Companies: Strong collaboration has enabled the creation of smart learning systems and services.
Investment in ICT: The Government of Singapore and the Government of South Korea have both prioritised investment in ICT, and specifically education technology, through a series of national plans over the last 25 years, which have enabled both countries to use remote learning quite extensively to supplement face-to-face learning.
Guidance for Teachers on Remote Learning: The MoE guidance includes its expectations of teachers, as well as advice on how to set assignments and give feedback on work. The MoE has also established a remote community of practice for teachers, ‘Teacher On’, in which teachers can exchange ideas and examples of good practice.
Support for Disadvantaged Families: As part of the Covid-19 response, the government of South Korea has supported low-income families to reduce the cost of internet connectivity, as well as supporting third sector computer equipment-lending services.
AI-Based Systems: South Korea has implemented AI-based systems to adapt homework and assignments based on students’ educational levels and tendencies and learning behaviors. Each child will have a personalized AI tutor and access to an online learning platform, allowing teachers to focus on social-emotional and hands-on lessons.
AI Coursework in National Curriculum: By 2025, the country aims to have AI coursework in its national curriculum across all grade levels, starting with high school. The Korean ministry of education’s Keris unit is designing and piloting extensive teacher development around AI and other technologies.

Singapore

Singapore's "Smart Nation" strategy aims to position the country as a world leader in AI by 2030, bringing together researchers, government, and industry.

Investment in ICT: The Government of Singapore and the Government of South Korea have both prioritised investment in ICT, and specifically education technology, through a series of national plans over the last 25 years, which have enabled both countries to use remote learning quite extensively to supplement face-to-face learning.
Guidance for Teachers on Remote Learning: In Singapore, a pilot approach was used before nationwide school closures, enabling the government to gather valuable feedback before ramping up the program.
AI Literacy: Singapore recently announced a national initiative to build AI literacy among students and teachers to ensure they understand the risks and benefits of the technology. By 2026, training on AI in education will be offered for teachers at all levels, including those in training.

United States

The United States has a diverse EdTech landscape, with initiatives driven by both the public and private sectors. Key aspects include:

Sesame Workshop: The US-based Sesame Workshop demonstrates the importance of education experts and media production experts working together, alongside child psychologists, to produce high-quality broadcasting of high-quality and relevant content.
Inclusion and Representation: The Sesame Workshop worked hard from the outset to promote inclusion and to have strong representation from different racial and ethnic groups, as well as from children with disabilities and other types of disadvantage.
National Standards for Quality Online Learning: The National Standards for Quality Online Learning have been created and made publicly available for teachers to access.
AI in Education: Several countries began positioning themselves several years ago to invest in AI in education in order to compete in the fourth industrial revolution.

Finland

Finland, long admired for its high-quality education system, has embraced AI with a bold national commitment to educate its citizens with free online coursework. Roughly half of schools use the ViLLE platform to give students and teachers immediate feedback and analytics on student assignments.

China

In China, the government has invested heavily in tools, such as the adaptive tutoring platform Squirrel AI, which rely on large-scale data sets and camera surveillance. Most of these products focus heavily on improving performance on standardized tests, so students whose families can afford it get ahead.

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India

In India, ed tech company Embibe uses AI to clarify complex math and science concepts. Students can use a smartphone to scan a passage from a textbook, and the app uses 3-D imagery to help with visualization. AI is also being used in India to predict student performance, enabling early intervention.

EdTech Trends

Increased competition in higher education
Classes being taken from massive open online courses (MOOCs)
Adoption of mobile devices

Challenges and Considerations

Digital Access Divide: The pandemic has starkly highlighted the inequalities in digital access. To close the digital divides in Education and leverage the power of technology to accelerate learning, reduce learning poverty, and support skills development, a focus must be placed on bridging the gaps in: i) digital infrastructure (connectivity, devices and software); ii) human infrastructure (teacher capacity, student skills and parental support); and iii) logistical and administrative systems to deploy and maintain tech architecture.
Teacher Training and Support: Evidence is growing that bypassing Teachers and not engaging them with technology does not lead to student learning improvement.
Content Quality and Relevance: The extent to which educational content is relevant, quality-assured and linked to national curriculum, as well as how it is linked (assessment, attainment, topics covered, etc.) and how it includes recognition of education attainment.
Inclusion and Representation: Ensuring broadcasting presenters and content are inclusive and representative of the audience.
Ethical Considerations: In countries like China, ethics, equitable access, privacy and other concerns are not high priorities, however.
Implementation at Scale: A central policy challenge is implementation at scale.

The Role of International Organizations

The World Bank Group is the largest financier of education in the developing world, working on education programs in more than 80 countries to provide quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all. The WBG works in partnership with governments and organizations worldwide to support innovative projects, timely research, and knowledge sharing activities about the effective and appropriate use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in education systems -- "EdTech" -- to strengthen learning and contribute to poverty reduction around the world, as part of its larger work related to education.

The Importance of Human Connection in Technology

Education at its heart is about human connections and relationships. While we can never replace the magic that happens between great teachers and students in an in-person environment, we should focus on the social aspects of technology to enhance connections from a distance.

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