With schools around the globe forced to shut down as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, online teaching took over as the main channel of teaching for millions of children for much of this year, leading to major changes on how classes were conducted.

This phenomenon was especially apparent in Asia. For instance, Byju’s, a startup in India, allowed free usage of its online teaching app in March and generated a staggering 47 million users additionally, prompting its market valuation to surge to $8 billion. Meanwhile GSX, a New York-listed Chinese online teaching provider, attracted 15 million more new students for its online courses and almost doubled its share price in February alone.

In recent years, education technology has transcended online teaching and is now immersed in every facet of education to improve teaching diversity and efficiency. The future of education technology in Hong Kong will depend on how the city can adapt to major education technology trends, and whether it can leverage the technological strengths of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area

The lockdown has certainly accelerated the rise of online teaching but the truth is this trend has been becoming more mainstream for years. But is it really effective? Can the computer monitor or smartphone screen truly replace real classrooms and face-to-face teaching?

As early as 2015, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development conducted research about the effectiveness of online teaching in different countries. Interestingly, the results of students in countries where online teaching was heavily promoted were unsatisfactory. Hau Kit-tai, professor of education psychology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and national project manager of Hong Kong PISA 2018 (Programme for International Student Assessment), acknowledged to Our Hong Kong Foundation that the use of technology in education had not been too successful.

More recently in May, CUHK released a set of survey results on this topic based on a sample size of 1,168 secondary school students. It found that only 23 percent found that online teaching materials or videos fully explained curriculum and homework requirements, while 70 percent of junior secondary school students expressed their hope that there would be more individual guidance.

It is clear that online teaching has plenty of room for improvement, but that does not mean the usefulness of technology in education should be discarded. In fact, technology has a wide range of applications in education, with online teaching being just one of them.

Take artificial intelligence for example — it can now help improve curriculum design, test marking, problem-solving for students, and more. Khan Academy, a US non-profit organization, uses AI to identify the strengths of students, as well as their learning gap, so as to adjust the teaching materials. AI assessment programs, such as Measures of Academic Progress and Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, are able to manage a large volume of homework simultaneously.

These new technology tools can all help to ease the burden on teachers. According to a report by management firm McKinsey, 20 to 40 percent of the work of teachers can be automated using AI in the future. That means they will free up to 13 hours per week, which can be redistributed to other educational activities, such as helping students plan their future in light of technological developments.

As education technology continues to develop, how can schools in Hong Kong benefit?

The government has been encouraging the use of information technology in education in recent years with various supporting measures, including the setting up of e-learning platforms and “flipped classrooms” to enable students to continue their learning at home, while also promoting “Bring Your Own Device”, which means mainly notebook computers or iPads in secondary schools.

But making the best use of technology involves more than providing a medium, and that is why the government should take reference from overseas. For instance, Estonia’s Association for Information Technology and Telecommunications is working with education institutions to provide training programs and bring cutting-edge technology to schools. While in Australia, the government has earmarked A$1.5 million ($1.07 million) specifically for supporting AI integration in schools.

In recent years, education technology has transcended online teaching and is now immersed in every facet of education to improve teaching diversity and efficiency. The future of education technology in Hong Kong will depend on how the city can adapt to major education technology trends, and whether it can leverage the technological strengths of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily. 

The author is a researcher at Our Hong Kong Foundation.