Education in the time of COVID-19

Who would have thought that we would have a global pandemic in 2020 that would last for two years (or more)!  Sheltering in place, masks, and hand sanitizers have all been front and center. Learning from home and “Zoom education” was the norm in 2020 and has re-emerged in 2022 due to the Omicron variant. The pandemic has caused a paradigm shift in education as well as a significant acceleration in online programming.

Can you imagine if the pandemic had hit before the internet? Thank goodness for tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meets, Discord, What’s App, and Signal. Technology has truly helped to connect people who could not otherwise be together.  While we are all hoping to get back to normal, Covid may have other plans. But regardless of what happens, education has been transformed. 

While there had previously been a move toward more online programming, the change was slow and steady. The pandemic threw gasoline on the fire. While it was a bumpy transition for many, schools built online programs using tools like Zoom and Discord to deliver education to our kids. The number of education platforms has grown quickly. And now, 75% of  schools say they plan to operate online, at least in some capacity, going forward.

Issues facing education

This paradigm shift has shined a bright light on a couple of very important issues facing education.

• The first is the high cost and how digital technologies
  can bring those costs down. This is at a time when young people
  have already been questioning the cost of education.

• The second is that online programming can offer an exceptional
  opportunity for students and parents seeking the highest quality
  education, regardless or borders and boundaries.

• The third is the inequity and digital divide that exists. Studies
  show that upwards of 33% of students have limited access to digital tools
  or broadband, or both.

If, as a student, you had access to digital tools and broadband during the pandemic, you were probably ok. At least, you were starting with a solid foundation. For children who did not have access to digital tools, they had greater difficulty and many fell far behind.

Post pandemic, most experts believe that this shift in education will continue. We will continue to have a hybrid environment from kindergarten on up. Education choice will become more important to individual parents and students. Ensuring that students can get access to the education they want for an affordable cost will become a critical driver in the future.

But how do we make sense of the massive number of online education programs available? Do a search on 6th grade math. On Google, you will see over 130 million results. This is insane.

Enter iSPY Education. iSPY Education is a powerful tool to help make education accessible to all. It is an AI drive, intuitive SaaS platform that allows the user to search across education platforms, and collaborate with their trusted advisors to find the programs best suited to their needs.

So why are there no aggregators currently?

• The task is complex
• Supply is not sufficiently modularized
• Success requires significant effort from the user

iSPY Education addresses each of these difficulties using a combination of  advanced technologies and human resources. iSPY Education will simplify the complexity and make the process more user friendly. Click here to learn more about iSPY Education.

iSPY education grew out of the pandemic and a real need that parents and learners have to be able to make sense of the massive number of online education programs. Online education will continue – for supplemental programs, for core programs that need to offer students an at-home alternative, for homeschooling, and even for schools who want to supplement their in school classes.  If you would like to learn more about iSPY Education, email hello@ispyeducation.com to be added to our mailing list and to get on the invitation-only list for beta access.

Leslie Hughes is the CEO and Founder of iSPY Technologies, Inc. 
She has expertise blending content, creative and technology to build new companies that deliver for users. Her strategy, operations and P&L experience spans start-ups to $100MM+ corporations.  Public and Private Board experience. MBA.

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