Education will be a $7T global industry by 2025. Changing learner habits and the explosion of online education approaches means traditional learning models are being disrupted. The emergence of specialist digital only challengers offering fast tracked routes to learning at lower cost and shorter commitment and an abundance of free alternatives are saturating the market.

There will be 2 billion more learners in the world between now and 2050. Education providers already moving to modern digital technologies to deliver online learning courses are now looking to AI, ML and VR to tap into the rapidly growing global Edtech market to expand learner reach, win over competitors and improve educational effectiveness.

Most recently Facebook Reality labs (their virtual and augmented reality division) announced they will be investing $150m for educational programs to improvise training and tech development.

Navigating the new normal of digital education

Like many industries, Education is being disrupted. Accelerated by Covid-19, digital transformation and changing learner habits, Education Institutions and Learning providers need to be able to make more informed, data-driven decisions on current and future education needs based on a variety of data.

In this highly competitive and saturated Education sector, providers need to look at new ways to stand out, stay relevant, reduce workload and automate as well as deliver more personalised learning solutions. Here's how AI is solving some of the biggest challenges in education today:

How AI is transforming a new era of learning:

1. Tracking education trends and monitoring competition‍

Use AI to validate business decisions or a case for change by tracking and monitoring events, announcements, trends, top viewed content or competitor activity in near real-time. ‍

2. Predicting future skills demand or shortage and respond quickly‍

Use AI to ensure you are always up to date on shifting demands for technical and soft skills in response to multiple macroeconomic factors and technology advancements and pivot your education strategy accordingly.

3. Enhancing the learning experience‍

In a recent LinkedIn Survey, Deeper Insights asked the Edtech community: How do you see the role of Artificial Intelligence in the future of Education provision? 79% of 177 participants said improved learning experiences. There are multiple ways AI can support the learning experience:

• ‍Build custom learning paths at individual level - Tailor learning content to individuals based on their current and historical interests, skills, strengths and weaknesses, learning styles and preferences.‍
• Reduce Student fatigue and churn - Predict learning support needs or deliver advanced content as individuals progress at their pace‍
• Reduce staff workload - Use AI for assessing and evaluating learning progress and recommending actions based on the result.‍
• Improve content enrichment, engagement and real-world application - Immersive learning, virtual classrooms and virtual worlds are combining with AI to deliver custom, individual content and experiences that boost learner engagement and enable students to apply the knowledge gained in the real world.

4. Simplifying education administration and operations‍

Automate critical business functions such as student enrollment, onboarding, grading, surveys, direct communication messages, and standardisation of processes to make scaling key operations easier.‍

5. Expanding learner reach to a global audience‍

AI is enabling global education distribution at scale. Rapidly scale your services in response to learning demand regardless of geographical location.

AI is not limited to Academic Learning but also to Corporate Learning as organisations compete to attract and retain talent and pivot to changing market conditions where they may need to upskill their teams quickly. Using AI within the training industry means giving users more context, relevance and personalisation to the learning experience but also enables organisations to prove knowledge transfer and measure learning's impact on business outcomes.