EdTech Mondays: Education in the 21st Century, The Place Of Technology

EdTech Mondays, broadcasted every last Monday of the month, has become a platform for EdTech Entrepreneurs, Education stakeholders, and Government representatives to rub minds on pertinent education issues and examine how we can leverage technology to advance the cause of education in Nigeria.

The program is part of Mastercard Foundation’s strategy to find solutions to Africa’s youth employment and poverty challenge over the next decade.

This strategy will ensure that 30 million young people in Africa secure dignified and fulfilling work, particularly young women.

The EdTech Mondays session themed “Gender inclusion and equality; Promoting young women’s leadership roles in society” arrived at a consensus that excluding girls from getting a good education is not sustainable.

It was agreed that easily accessible platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook should increase accessibility for girls with loaned devices.

At the same time, technology companies should develop more accessible and affordable technology using more diverse developer teams and testing these technologies on a more varied audience.

In addressing prevailing challenges in the education sector, EdTech Mondays spotlighted the top five education challenges EdTech can address.

This edition posited that EdTech could improve access to teaching and learning aids, reduce exam malpractice, improve assessment and monitoring for students, revive outdated curriculums and provide continuous learning and opportunities for teachers.

Recent editions of EdTech Mondays reviewed policies to enhance STEM education while highlighting its importance for the future of work.

A subsequent edition discussed ‘Open Educational Resources’ and if EdTech should harness open licenses.

Another set of panelists who discussed the topic – How are parental perceptions of EdTech evolving” concluded that monitoring screen time and cyber security formed the pressing concerns parents faced over the adoption of EdTech learning
recommending restricting screen time & monitoring sites visited, driving down costs, and offering freemium models as preferred solutions to parental concerns.

Summarily, the role of technology in education includes more productive individualized learning, better opportunities for collaboration, engagement borne out of a different learning style, improved teacher productivity and efficiency, enhanced creativity, and enabling future-focused learning.

All these and more are what Mastercard Foundation hopes to inspire through critical conversations around the use of technology in improving education – the EdTech Mondays series which continues in 2022.