In 2020, 1.5 billion children (87% of the world’s student population) and more than 60 million teachers around the world pivoted from the classroom to teaching and learning from home as a result of the global pandemic.
They lost access to social interactions, physical learning materials, and experiential learning like field trips, outdoor education, and community events. Using solutions like learning management systems, digital content, virtual collaboration tools, gamified learning activities, and authoring tools, as well as digital scheduling tools, became key. Collaboration and alliances with educational institutions and corporations that develop eLearning software solutions were essential, highlighting the importance of technology in education.
Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, we worked to provide more opportunities to improve the education landscape and answer the novel demand for technical knowledge that arose with the pandemic.
It’s within this context that the EdTech industry made huge leaps at a rapid rate. EdTech, (education+technology) is the practice of utilizing technology to develop and implement innovative educational approaches to effective and engaging learning. With EdTech tools, the learning horizon is broadened, as new technologies are applied, and more effective ways of teaching are discovered, replacing many traditional teaching methods that were around for decades.
We know that uniting technology and education can lead to great results. In our recently published white paper, “The next wave of EdTech: How next-gen technologies are evolving education,” we highlight how the evolution of learning will benefit from key technology trends and innovation, reinventing the global education industry. As part of Globant’s efforts to continue refining the entire process of teaching and learning through technology, we’ve created partnerships that help make our vision a reality.
Globant’s vision and approach
We work with companies ranging from those that offer digital learning programs, to higher education institutions, to corporations that want to improve their workforce development. Our interdisciplinary teams help them use cutting-edge technology to create more accessible, scalable, and safe, learning solutions.
Globant’s focus is on bringing state-of-the-art technologies to empower learning experiences, developing educational technology tools, projects, initiatives, and efforts that strive for more inclusive and equitable access to quality education. An example of this effort was the creation of the Learning and Technologies Forum led by Deborah Quazzo and Maria Spies, both Education and Technology leaders, focused on how the landscape of learning technology is evolving.
Additionally, Globant supports companies that sell and provide EdTech solutions, as well as educational institutions in their efforts to scale. The endeavor is to build high-quality, scalable technology solutions that allow school systems to maintain student privacy, internet safety, and access to critical student services by enabling the growth and responsiveness required in this new reality.
Globant also offers training, mentoring, inspirational workshops, and scholarships to promote IT-related studies for Globers, granting access to employment opportunities in a high-demand market.
Today, the technology industry generates millions of job opportunities, even faster than the education system provides. This represents an unprecedented opportunity, as well as a big training gap worldwide. To reduce this gap, we have created educational possibilities for young talent around the world by means of scholarships. Notably, 80% of the allocated scholarships focus on women to help reduce the gender gap in the IT industry.
Our efforts revolve around these three pillars:
- Advocacy for education
As part of this commitment, Globant launched the Be Kind initiative, a framework that encompasses all the sustainability initiatives that we carry out as part of our core values. Be Kind is a call to action to build a more balanced and fair future together and multiply the positive impact of all our initiatives promoting the educational, social, environmental, economic, and cultural good of humanity.
- Community development
It is vital to increase access to opportunities for top global talent. Globant has focused on promoting opportunities in IT education through scholarships and aid in developing successful careers. We are located in diverse locations around the world with development centers in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia.
In Argentina, for example, we will hire more than 1,000 people in Chaco, one of the most underserved and economically depressed provinces, over a period of five years. We will also be investing 800 million pesos during the next two years, including the construction of a new office in the new Technology Park of the province. Since the pandemic began in March 2020, we have opened 10 new offices in Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, and other countries, and will end 2021 with 60 Globant locations. We will have also granted 35,000 scholarships in Latin America during 2021 for students to learn programming and software development.
- The impact we have on our clients
Partnering with our clients has been key to achieving our EdTech vision. By combining our knowledge and skills, we’re creating solutions that are impacting millions of children every day. For example, our work with Stride focused on making high-quality, seamless learning experiences available to students, teachers, and learning coaches around the world. We wanted people to be able to instinctively interact with learning content, using technology to reinvent the educational experience.
We were also a part of the B20 Education and Future of Employment task force, the business chapter of the G20. Through this engagement, we were able to both provide recommendations and receive valuable insights to help prepare people worldwide for the challenges of the current labor market.
Conclusion
All of these efforts work to strengthen many facets of the global educational system and its future as it continues to adapt to the post-pandemic world. Through these educational projects and initiatives, we’ve come to realize all the benefits that online and personalized learning can bring.
One of the insights through our experience was that combining human interactions with digital tools leads to significant engagement, which is key to achieve successful learning results.
Without a doubt, digitalization is part of the present and future educational landscape, and it includes technologies such as AI, blockchain, and gaming that are reinventing the way we learn with innovative creative paths. All the technological possibilities will compel organizations, institutions, teachers, and students alike to reimagine what the future of learning could be.
If you’d like to discover more about how Globant is boosting education through technology solutions, contact us here
