Online education ‘gets popcorn’ in two years of pandemic – El Financiero

The more than two years of the coronavirus pandemic, which forced nearly 32.9 million students in the country to adopt virtual education models, became the engine that drove the penetration of companies edtechor of online education, such as Class Technologies, Sicom, Kurios, Odilo, Lottus, Lernit, Aristotle, Academy and Lalabum.

“Before the pandemic, only 11 percent of Mexican students were interested in learning through hybrid models, however, by 2023 it is estimated that 41 percent will prefer this model and 35 percent will choose to study only online,” David said. Monson, head of Class Technologies for Latin America and the Caribbean.

In the country, the revenue of online education firms is projected to reach 653.7 million dollars this year, with 18.7 million students using a platform edtechaccording to Statista.

“The trigger for edtech It was the COVID-19 pandemic and after two years the potential it has for student learning has been demonstrated,” explained Salvador Ortiz de Montellano, general director of Comprehensive Education Solutions for Educational Institutions (Sicom), during the forum. E-Tech Evolving Education.

Statista anticipated that the average income per user (ARPU) will close this year at 361.6 dollars, which means that each student spends around 7,890 pesos on this type of platform.

“Before the pandemic, the teaching models for online courses were very basic, to the point that student understanding barely reached 7 percent. Today there are new schemes that allow up to 90 percent understanding of knowledge”, explained Carlos Lau, CEO of the edtech Which.

DESERTION, THE CHALLENGE TO OVERCOME

The most important challenge for this type of business is to design teaching models that allow for higher levels of understanding online because, for example, in the first year of the pandemic, five million students did not enroll in the school year, in many of the cases for considering that the model was not effective.

Now, between 2022 and 2026, the average annual growth rate of this business in the country is expected to be 10.26 percent, which means that in four years the market value will be 966.20 million dollars, according to Statista. .

Currently, in Mexico it is estimated that 34 percent of the country’s students have access to platforms edtech and that 77 percent of teachers are eligible to provide education online.

Rodrigo Rodríguez, CEO of the digital teaching platform Odilo, stated that, although it is true that there have been great advances in the edtechthere are still some challenges to overcome.

“The main advantage of online education is that you can take your courses from anywhere and through mobile devices; however, there are platforms that only allow access through a computer, becoming a barrier to the advancement of the edtech”, explained Rodriguez.

He added that teachers also have challenges, since students on digital platforms have different ways of learning and while some prefer to read, others are more attracted to listening to audio or watching videos, so they must design different teaching strategies.

COMPANIES COMMIT TO ONLINE TEACHING

The COVID-19 pandemic forced many companies to transform training for their employees, according to Odilo’s CEO, and what will prevail from now on will be hybrid courses.

“Companies return to their face-to-face activities; however, hybrid preparation courses will now prevail, a scheme that has proven its effectiveness and is here to stay. It is proven that there are parts of education that can be taught online and others in person without affecting the learning of the workers,” Rodríguez pointed out.

For his part, Carlos Lau stressed that more and more companies see education as an investment and not as an expense, since they have understood the need to improve the digital skills of their employees to meet the challenges of a market that is increasingly supports more in a digital ecosystem.

Last week, the first edition of E-Tech Evolving Education was held in Mexico, bringing together companies from the sector with operations in Latin America, where more than 4,700 virtual and face-to-face attendees participated.

“I am certain that through the collaborative schemes that we design now and in the future among all those who are passionate about education and by adopting technology as a mediator of teaching and learning, we will be able to make rapid progress so that education in our region is more resilient, inclusive and sustainable”, said Hugo Romero Gracia, director of E-Tech Evolving Education, during his closing speech.

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