In the evolving world of educational technology, 2024 promises to be a big year. To understand what these upcoming transformations might look like, we reached out to a panel of experts.
So what did they say? Let’s get into it…
Our Experts
- Anton Pavlovsky, CEO and Founder at Headway EdTech Startup
- Lux Narayan, CEO and Co-Founder at StreamAlive
- Daisy Hill, Co-Founder and Co-CEO at Zzish
- Lauren Wakeling, UK Country Manager at CoursesOnline
- Sanya Bhambhani, Lawyer at Humphreys Law
- Stewart Watts, VP EMEA at D2L
- Sergey Toporov, Partner at LETA Capital
- Jamie Wray, Business Mentor and Founder & CEO at Ways to WOW
- Nimesh Patel, CEO and Founder at Kabuni
- Eve Dullabh, Director of Education at Law Training Centre
- Mayank Batavia, Head, Marketing and Partnerships at QuickEmailVerification
- Graham Glass, CEO and Co-Founder at CYPHER Learning
- Sarah Gilchriest, Chief People Officer at Workforce Learning
- Louise Clayton, Managing Director at Talk Think Do
- Hywel Carver, CEO and Co-Founder at Skiller Whale
- Mel Parker, Educational Technologist at RM Technology
- Dr. Chibeza Agley, CEO at OBRIZUM
- Carl Morris, Co-Founder at The Online School
- Simon Bacher, CEO and Co-Founder at Ling
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Anton Pavlovsky, CEO and Founder at Headway EdTech Startup
“It’s no surprise that the rise of Generative AI will keep shaping EdTech in 2024. However, this won’t be limited to developing AI-powered tools and solutions. Generative AI highlights the need for more personalized and seamlessly integrated learning experiences. The rapid technological advancement and shifting future of work also fuel the demand for continuous learning and easily accessible knowledge.
“AI-powered personalization will democratize all forms of education through adaptive learning, interactive formats, conversational interfaces, and real-time feedback. It will improve the learning process by providing highly personalized and carefully selected content adapted to a particular user’s real needs and challenges.
“At the same time, the accessibility of educational content will take concise formats and just-in-time knowledge to the forefront. So, microlearning will prevail, helping time and attention-constrained learners retain more information with minimum effort.
“The need for upskilling and reskilling will prioritize the EdTech tools for adult learning that provide flexibility, enabling them to adapt flows, formats, and schedules, fitting education into busy routines.
“Delivering up-to-date knowledge as quickly as possible is crucial for education at all stages. Right now, the demand for knowledge changes faster than any educator manages to create, and learners finish a long-term course. So, the main challenge for EdTech in 2024 will be shortening production cycles while preserving the quality of the material, where microlearning formats can also come in handy.”
Lux Narayan, CEO and Co-Founder at StreamAlive
“In 2024, one of the biggest changes in the EdTech sector will be how AI penetrates education in an embedded format. Instead of using AI in an external platform to automate tasks, we will soon see it in-workflow while creating text, images, videos, etc, resulting in increased productivity and improved engagement. While digital tools are regularly being leveraged in educational settings, we will begin to see an expansion of this as GAI models like OpenAI and Gemini become more ubiquitous and offer new ways to engage with learning materials.
“One specific example will be AI’s ability to help conduct engaging and interactive presentations and automatically record students’ responses or answers. Clickers are common tools used in academic settings, but they are close-ended and require students to choose a response from a predetermined selection. AI will enable interactions to be more free flowing, and for students to demonstrate more individuality. The responses won’t have to be entered manually but will instead be interpreted in real-time by AI and automatically added into existing workflow systems. This would save educators time and resources and enable more students to involve themselves in conversations, thereby improving their educational experiences.”
Daisy Hill, Co-Founder and Co-CEO at Zzish
“Generative AI is going to have a transformative impact on the education space in 2024. A number of companies are building on Open AI and Gemini to enable any teacher anywhere to create their perfect teaching and learning content in seconds. For example Curipod lets teachers create a beautiful interactive presentations in seconds, Diffit lets teacher create beautiful printables in seconds and Quizalize lets teachers create perfect quizzes in seconds.
“On the other side, generative AI is transforming marking and is now able to automatically score essays as well as complex handwritten multipart maths answers for GCSE and A level questions. Teachers spend a significant amount of their time creating lesson materials and marking student work and this workload will be eliminated by new tools in 2024.”
Zzish are currently fundraising to accelerate their global growth: visit their new investment round on Crowdcube here. Already supported by 15 angels from Google, they also have teachers and investors backing their venture from 58 countries.
Lauren Wakeling, UK Country Manager at CoursesOnline
“I think that what we’re most likely to see in the next year is an increase in virtual AI tutors, implemented to provide personalised teaching to course learners who are in need of greater support rather than simply being left to their own devices. These virtual tutors are not just glorified search engines; they’re intuitive guides which can identify an individual’s learning style and learn about what they respond best to. For learners who may start strong but then fall off due to a lack of motivation or simply finding their learning material difficult, having this extra form of support in place could be essential for seeing them through to completion of their studies.
“Furthermore, the technology driving this is far from a fictional future idea. Big money has been earmarked to drive ventures of this nature citing the importance of the “human touch” in education and I don’t think that’s going to change at all anytime soon. The big barrier however for smaller course providers would be the cost of leveraging this technology for themselves and integrating it into their existing setups. However hopefully as it becomes more widespread the cost to do so becomes more manageable.”
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Sanya Bhambhani, Lawyer at Humphreys Law
“There is no doubt that EdTech plays and will continue to play a crucial role in creating increasingly dynamic and personalised learning environments. The role of artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming ever more vital in the effort to create such learning environments and ChatGPT should be recognised in that light. The user-friendly and interactive nature of ChatGPT allows it to integrate well into numerous educational platforms, enhancing students’ communication skills and providing them with the means to have their queries answered in real-time while also saving educators vast amounts of time in generating tasks and checking for plagiarism.
“Though with Euan Blair, founder of EdTech unicorn Multiverse, reporting near-tripled losses and redundancies equating to a 5% reduction in global headcount, the theme of this long winter will likely be preservation with a number of EdTech ventures trying to survive. While there has been plenty of activity in the EdTech market, the number of larger-scale funding rounds, particularly past Series A, are falling with EdTech ventures in the UK struggling to find a route to exit.
“Advances in EdTech will undoubtedly continue to evolve in 2024, though the amount of funding that the EdTech ecosystem will receive remains to be seen.”
Stewart Watts, VP EMEA at D2L
“Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education has already transformed the way students learn, making courses more accessible and personalising learning paths. Looking ahead, the benefits of AI for lecturers could include improved lesson planning and student progression insights.
“AI also makes it possible to access and analyse vast amounts of data and implement blended learning strategies. This means lecturers and professors have more insight than ever into the progression of their students. With access to more data, lecturers can identify where students are struggling and adjust their courses to increase engagement levels. They can see average grades more easily, and combined with other data points this can provide a holistic view of how students are progressing across each of their modules.
“There are many different types of people studying at universities across the country, and the combination of AI and a blended learning approach could really benefit them. They could be parents studying part-time, those studying alongside their careers, or people who have a learning difficulty or disability that makes it easier for them to learn from home. In 2024, broader adoption of technology could make education more accessible and allow students to explore different learning pathways. In time, universities will be able to deliver a fully asynchronous learning experience.”
Sergey Toporov, Partner at LETA Capital
“In my opinion, there are 3 huge trends for the next year in EdTech: personalised education, implementation of AR/VR/XR, and all types of AI advancements in educational processes (like speech-to-text, dynamic content creation, etc.)
- Personalised learning emerges as a transformative force, tailoring educational experiences to each learner’s unique needs and preferences. Personalised education transcends the traditional one-size-fits-all model, offering dynamic and adaptive approaches to cater to individual learning styles, pace, and interests. Data analytics and smart learning platforms will collaboratively create a holistic understanding of a student’s strengths, weaknesses, and learning preferences.
- Technologies like VR, AR and XR offer exciting potential in education. These immersive technologies have the power to revolutionise the educational landscape, providing remote students with experiences that transcend traditional boundaries.
- AI will have far-reaching implications for the EdTech sector. AI-powered applications like educational copilots, summarisations, and speech-to-text are opening new avenues for enhancing the learning process. AI will also help to create educational materials, making it more cost-effective to produce high-quality video content or translate written content into multiple languages. AI-powered tools like synthetic avatars have the potential to replace a significant portion of traditional teaching, making content creation more scalable.”
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Jamie Wray, Business Mentor and Founder & CEO at Ways to WOW
“In 2024, educational technology is poised to evolve with a continued emphasis on adaptive learning tools, virtual classrooms, and the increasing integration of artificial intelligence to enhance workplace learning.
“There will be a heightened focus on immersive and interactive learning experiences. Virtual reality will continue to revolutionise the way we interact with technology in educational facilities and on the corporate front, enhancing productivity, efficiency, and growth.
“We will see a sustained emphasis on adaptive learning tools, virtual classrooms, and the integration of artificial intelligence – as this advances, personalised education processes will thrive and tailored learning experiences that suit the needs of both individuals and workplaces, will improve productivity and long-term success.
“Overall the landscape of EdTech will become far more dynamic and engaging, empowering learners through innovative and immersive approaches, and making learning more accessible and effective.
“As a business that recognises the importance of educational technology, in 2024 Ways to WOW we will be introducing immersive training spaces, leveraging advanced lighting, sound, and visual elements to enhance educational development, training, and data visualisation for our learning partners and clients. Our immersive office spaces will allow us to tailor each experience in a way that fosters memorable lessons and exceeds expectations to magnify our WOW ethos for customer experience and personal and professional development”.
Nimesh Patel, CEO and Founder at Kabuni
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“As we enter 2024, here at Kabuni we believe that education will continue to become more immersive, expansive, and multisensory. As technology becomes more deeply integrated into learning environments, personalized and adaptive learning platforms are expected to flourish.
“Currently we’re crafting a future where each educator is a beacon of inspiration, each lesson is a leap into the extraordinary. The paradigm shift we’re championing is not merely technological; it’s a fundamental reimagining of the educational narrative. Our mission is to ensure every child has the opportunity to unlock their full potential, and every teacher has the tools to become a superhero in their student’s journey.
“Here, students ascend virtual space elevators to study astrophysics, navigate through time to live history lessons, and connect with AI mentors for personalized learning experiences. Kabuni is trailblazing this reality, where education transcends physical boundaries and becomes universally accessible.”
Eve Dullabh, Director of Education at Law Training Centre
“Students are increasingly unable to afford a university education, and the situation isn’t helped by maintenance grants that haven’t kept up with the cost of living or exorbitant rents in city centres. I expect edtech to see rapid growth next year as it fills that gap.
“Edtech enables students to study remotely and on-demand, allowing them to study from anywhere and work around their class schedule. That flexibility is what modern students want and universities will need to adapt the ‘traditional’ model to that reality.
“Ultimately, the future of education lies in flexibility. An approach that is online-by-design and embraces the potential of remote learning can reduce costs and boost accessibility without impacting the high quality of teaching that all students deserve.
“AI is going to have a big role to play in the years to come. But that should not be a cause for concern. AI has huge potential to increase comprehension and retention for students. It can help provide students with one-to-one support, spending as much time as is needed with those struggling with concepts without getting frustrated or needing to move on to a student’s peers. With advancements ongoing, I expect to see significant adoption of AI next year.”
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Mayank Batavia, Head, Marketing and Partnerships at QuickEmailVerification
“1. Accountability: EdTech will focus towards establishing a clearer relationship between the teaching / coaching and better results. That means EdTech will have to come with stronger, more objective evidence that their tutoring brings success. One can also look at it from the funder’s perspective: as EdTechs continue wooing investors, they will have to keep their success stories in shape such that they please the investors and show a distinct nature of continued success in trainee results.
“2. Organizational outlook: Employees need training, no matter their experience or current skill level. The growing capabilities of generative AI is gradually taking away repetitive tasks from white-collar employees. That’d leave these employees more time during which to engage in more creative and fulfilling activities. We expect the year 2024 to see more organizations actively seek education, training, and certification in order to re-skill their teams and prepare them for a significantly different workplace.
“3. Communities: Many communities also perform like self-help groups. So it is not unusual to discover communities that bond so strongly that the internal support of fellow community members obviates the need for paid training for some members. EdTechs can expect to spend more time thinking about how to leverage communities and improve the brand experience.”
Graham Glass, CEO and Co-Founder at CYPHER Learning
“We’ll see more instances of AI autonomously assisting you. The iterations we see now operate in reactive mode. For instance, if I have a query, I might approach ChatGPT or the CYPHER Learning platform. But the initiative is all mine. Soon AI will proactively suggest, “Graham, have you considered this?” Or offer, “Would you like me to arrange this for you?” In moments it might confirm: “Graham, I’ve organized that for you and will remind you in 10 days.” This represents a shift towards a more interactive and bidirectional relationship.
“In 2024 the focus will be on reimagining education with AI at its core. It’s not about merely repackaging traditional learning methods with AI; it’s about innovatively leveraging AI to transform the educational experience. Virtual learning assistants, or mentors, will, with human overseers, autonomously support personalized development: imagine personalized learning journeys powered by AI agents that bring relevant topics to your attention, based on your interests. You might be taking a coffee break, and the AI, understanding your preference, suggests a new topic to explore. 2024 will witness the rise of proactive AI that actively engages with users rather than wait for user inputs.”
Sarah Gilchriest, Chief People Officer at Workforce Learning
“The business world is undergoing a transformative shift at the moment, driven by rapid advancements in technologies such as AI and XR, the umbrella term for VR (virtual reality), AR (augmented reality) and MR (mixed reality). We can expect both of these technologies to have a significant impact on EdTech over the coming year, with them having the potential to revolutionise the way businesses train and operate.
“XR has the ability to provide an immersive and interactive learning experience that is unmatched by conventional methods, and unlock a new dimension of employee development. Trainees can be transported into simulated scenarios, replicating real-world environments and situations with unparalleled realism. This immersive approach allows for hands-on learning, enabling trainees to develop critical skills, gain confidence, and make mistakes in a safe and controlled setting.
“In the healthcare sector, for example, XR is revolutionising training and patient care. VR simulations provide medical students and professionals with hands-on experience in realistic, risk-free environments, allowing them to practice complex procedures and hone their skills. Other sectors too, such as architecture and engineering, are leveraging XR to support training of teams, and we can expect to see this paradigm shift become more widespread, as it starts to bring textbooks and classroom lessons to life.”
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Louise Clayton, Managing Director at Talk Think Do
“AI, and with that EdTech, is constantly evolving at a remarkable rate, so I expect 2024 will see us playing catch up as we attempt to harness and utilise the very best of this rapidly changing technology. There has been so much innovation – which will only continue as it becomes smarter – that we will all have to ensure that AI performs for us as best it can.
“With an ever-increasing demand for EdTech solutions, the role of AI will become more integral to our engineers in 2024 as we strive for greater productivity and efficiency. In the EdTech sphere, this will allow us to become more creative and deliver even better solutions as the technology evolves in capability.
“In the EdTech sector, safety is of paramount importance, so in 2024 I would like to see proper robust regulations around the use of AI and how it is governed. We must increase frontier AI safety, introducing the appropriate measures, so that AI can be utilised to our advantage. If it is not, and iron-clad sanctions are not introduced and imposed by governments globally, we run the risk of this technology evolving to a point that will be to our detriment.”
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Hywel Carver, CEO and Co-Founder at Skiller Whale
“Improvements to the delivery of EdTech and tech learning will become a key priority in 2024 as the technological landscape evolves at an unprecedented rate. Every year, skill gaps cost global businesses up to $4 trillion in employee productivity, and as tech widens it’s parameters, so too will the skill gap. The explosive popularity of AI this year showed us just how unprepared the tech sector is to deliver meaningful and impactful learning at scale, and 2024 will be an opportunity for us to prevent the impending skills gap crisis. Tech leaders will start to recognise that hiring alone cannot resolve the skills gap issue, and instead they must focus on empowering and upskilling their existing tech teams.
“Tech teams and companies will take more responsibility for the evolution of their teams’ abilities and invest in approaches designed to have a noticeable strategic impact, such as live team coaching. In addition, AI will play a significant role in the future of learning and what EdTech looks like. “
Mel Parker, Educational Technologist at RM Technology
“AI has been the buzzword of the year, and I don’t expect that to change as we go into 2024. However, the way it is used and treated will drastically change. Up until now, it has been used sparingly, with teachers trialing tools like Chat GPT out of curiosity, but with budget cuts and teacher shortages, it will become an essential tool to support teachers in their day-to-day role.
The responses to the Department of Education’s call for evidence on the use of generative AI in education shows that early adopters are already using AI to support with lesson planning and creating questions for mock exams and this will only increase in 2024 across all schools, from primary to higher education.
As such, it is important educational leaders get on top of this trend quickly, creating clear guidelines for how it can and should be used in an educational setting.”
Dr Chibeza Agley, CEO at OBRIZUM
“The future of EdTech promises more adaptive and streamlined learning experiences that break from the constraints of linear content delivery.
“Rather than dragging learners through standardised click-by-click modules, we need smart systems that deliver the essence of concepts while measuring uptake and understanding on the fly. With advancing AI and data science enhancing personalisation, 2024 will be the year that really challenges the status quo of linear, ‘one size fits all’ learning pathways.
“The future of EdTech will be about delivering useful building blocks of knowledge in a highly efficient, non-linear way, and faster than ever before so that learners can actively construct their own knowledge frameworks and develop competency across a huge variety of fields and subjects. By providing humans with the ingredients rather than the finished dishes, human beings can collaborate with AI to learn at a depth, breath and pace that previous generations could only have dreamt of.
“There will be many attempts to utilise the advances in AI to deliver better learning experiences, however, only truly effective AI integration will shape the future of learning over the next decade. The vision is for EdTech to make learning sustainable amidst growing demands on attention and time. Well-designed systems will remove distractions and deliver what is truly needed in the moment – bite-sized, impactful, and elegantly integrated with each individual’s learning needs. In short, true empowerment of human learning will come from developing AI systems that can provide us with good quality educational ingredients, rather than pre-made fast food!”
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Carl Morris, Co-Founder at The Online School
“There’s never been more interest, rapid change, and investment in a sector so fundamental to thriving communities.
“So where does EdTech go from here?
“Personalisation: AI’s immense power to digest and parse big data will reduce teacher workloads. This will empower educators to focus on what they do best – engage and inspire (which most AI tutoring companions are still lacking). While the majority of educators have yet to explore AI tools, there’s a growing focus on personalisation at scale which means we will see an increased adoption of AI and Machine Learning tools to provide vital information to educators about what’s working and what doesn’t in real-time.
“Decentralisation: Personalising the education system will be facilitated by decentralisation. Providers like schools and universities with their own curriculum, ethos and learning style will offer their own qualifications thus giving learners more freedom and flexibility. We’ll see learners hop between providers which will enable personalisation en masse.
“Power of Pedagogy: We’ll see a shift towards learning through different pedagogies so the learning experience becomes more about how (rather than what) you learn. The Online School has developed its own schooling system called SIMPL that provides students with a variety of learning experiences throughout the day. Instead of Maths at 9am then English at 10am, students are in ‘Acquiring Knowledge’ at 9am, ‘Consolidation’ at 10, ‘Peer-to-peer Skills’ at 11, then ‘Skill Application’ in the afternoon. “
Simon Bacher, CEO and Co-Founder at Ling
“In 2024, EdTech, including Ling App, is set to evolve with AI-driven personalized learning experiences, adapting to individual styles and paces. Immersive technologies like AR and VR will enhance engagement, while a focus on accessibility and inclusivity will ensure wider reach. Collaboration tools will advance, supporting remote and hybrid learning models.
“Additionally, data security and privacy will remain paramount, as platforms handle increasing amounts of sensitive user data. These developments will shape a more interactive, accessible, and secure EdTech landscape.”
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