An alumnus of IIT Roorkee, Vishal is a startup enthusiast who had founded Instabike (a bike rental service in North) and Patturn.in (printed t-shirts, mugs, photo frames and more) startups during his college days. He holds experience of working in different fields, from product management to sales & marketing.

EdTech or the Education Technology is a vast field and it can be described in different ways depending upon whether we are addressing fundamental issues of learning, teaching, and social organization or facilitating learning processes and increasing performance of the different educational system(s). The primary goal of Educational Technology is to enhance the teaching & learning process. It can act as both an enabler and a catalyzer through which change can happen.

EdTech is a cost & time-effective solution to many challenges & physical limitation in this field. We can look around and see the use of technology in carrying-out online assessments, digital classrooms, cloud-based content delivery, ebooks, and VR & AR. The global educational technology market is expected to grow up to $40.9 billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 18.3 percent. Still, there are lots of challenges faced by educators & industry experts. Some of these are:

. Lack of Accessibility: We have close to 50 percent worldwide internet connectivity. Mostly reaching only the Tier-1 or Tier-2 cities, rural & remote towns get left behind.

. Diversified Content: Lack of uniformity & responsiveness of the content across all internet-enabled devices.

. Unskilled Staff & Low Adoption Rate: Half of the teachers are not trained to utilize tools at their disposal, and many simply resist. They are happy with old traditional ways of teaching.

. Costly & Confusing Choices: It is not economical and the options are huge, as there are lots of vendors in the market. This makes it difficult for end users to select on which one would be the best and cost-effective option to choose from.

. Lower Engagement Rate: MOOCs typically have completion rates of less than 10 percent. With the help of Adaptive learning, we can bridge this gap.

Now let's talk about the recent trends & practices that are still relevant in 2019.

1. Mobile Learning Space: It was & still is the biggest reason for the rapid growth of the EdTech market. It is a cost-efficient and convenient solution. So, almost all companies have this `mobile-first' approach with their products & content deliveries for personalization. Penetration of the internet by telecom giant like Jio is the reason that we have seen massive inter-net users from these technologyically backward places.

2. Advanced Learning Management System (LMS): LMS is the convenience of teaching & learning that is guaranteed through a flexible & smart application tool. LMS industry is expected to see an exponential growth at a CAGR of 24.7 percent by 2021.

3. Virtual Reality (VR): It implies a complete immersion experience that shuts-out the physical world. With the arrival of VR in the education sector, educators would be empowered to engage with their learners at a more personalized level.

4. Augmented Reality (AR): Adds digital elements to a live view often by using the camera on a smartphone. It is a very intuitive & engaging tool and little cheaper as compared to VR.

5. Internet of Things (IoT): It won't be an exaggeration to say that it is the next big thing in the field of consumer technology, and EdTech companies can definitely take lots of advantage from it. The number of wirelessly connected devices is expected to reach 40.9 billion in 2020, as per a recent re-port by ABI report.

6. Artificial Intelligence: Adaptive learning has the potential to solve a crucial challenge in learning - that is how to engage learners of different abilities in the same classroom.

7. Gamification: Gaming technology makes learning difficult subject-matter more exciting & interactive. Games are designed to provide immediate feedback, and students are intrinsically motivated to keep playing them, honing skills throughout.