We are in a time when the pace of change driven by new technologies looks set to accelerate like no other time in recent history and it is widely recognised technology will be critical in driving the recovery of the global economy. A huge part of that recovery will involve the education sector.
A recent report from Deloitte showed that venture-capital investment in technology related to education jumped from a global US$500 million in 2010 to US$7 billion in 2019 and is estimated to grow to an astonishing US$340 billion by 2025. As we said in our last newsletter, this is the year for EdTech.
New Zealand has hundreds of companies involved in developing technological solutions to meet the needs of educators and businesses. Many of our schools, universities and private tertiary institutions attract overseas students who want to experience New Zealand education and part of our role at EdTechNZ is to work with those companies and the NZ Government to help promote these businesses and institutions to the wider, global audience. We are currently working on several projects with the Government on ways we can do this more effectively and in light of the travel restrictions that could be with us for the foreseeable future. We hope to be able to provide more details in the coming weeks and months.
One example of a success story to emerge during the COVID-19 crisis comes from Xero, who have seen a significant increase in adoption of cloud learning solutions through their EdTech tool, Xero Learn. Read more from the Xero Learn Lead Michelle Taggart here.
Adult education and retraining have always been important but with the rapid increase in local unemployment it is even more vital we find better and faster ways to get the resources needed to help our people gain the skills required to find high quality and well-paid employment. With the restrictions on international travel, we have an increasing skills gap in New Zealand. Many companies, such as AWS, Xero, Google and Microsoft, have programs designed to help retrain people and gain the skills and qualifications many businesses desperately need. EdTechNZ will work with these companies and our partner Tech Alliance associations to promote these programs. We will shortly be conducting a survey to determine where the critical skills shortages are and how we can best address the issue.
CORE Education, an EdTechNZ member, are a world-class professional learning and development organisation who have been providing a wide range of solutions to schools and learners for over 17 years. Each year CORE Education’s experienced staff of educators, digital technology experts and researchers combine their expertise, understanding and evidence of the emerging patterns influencing all aspects of education. The result is CORE’s list of the ten trends that are expected to make a growing impact upon education in New Zealand in the coming year with the intention of promoting informed discussion within the education community. It is an impressive piece of work and I would encourage everyone to visit their website and download the report. It is available here.
EdTech Executive Council nominations
EdTechNZ is looking for nominations for two open seats on our Executive Council. The first seat is to represent the K-12 sector. The term is for 12 months.
The second seat is to represent our Corporate members and the nomination should ideally have an education focus but may come from any of the small, medium or large corporate members of the wider Tech Alliance.
If you are interested in nominating yourself or someone else, please email info@edtechnz.org.nz.
EdTechNZ during Techweek2020
Finally, Techweek2020 begins on 27 July.
EdTechNZ is planning a showcase of local companies providing EdTech solutions to Aotearoa and the world. The showcase will be run as a series of one-hour sessions during Techweek, with each company presenting a three-minute video followed by five minutes of Q&A. Over 20 companies will be presenting during this week-long series. Don’t miss this chance to learn more about our fantastic local companies using technology to enable educators and learners around the world. Keep your eyes on the Techweek2020 programme for more details
Paul Johnston
Acting Executive Director
