Blackboard, a leading global education technology company, has seen an increase in the move towards digitisation of teaching and learning in markets such as India as the education sector undergoes a major digital transformation, reinforcing a trend that started before Covid-19 and was further accelerated by the ongoing pandemic.
As indication of this shift, Blackboard reported a 39 per cent increase in mobile app use in 2020, a 400 per cent jump in the deployment of its pioneering online teaching and learning platform, Blackboard Learn, and a massive 4800 per cent increase in the use of its virtual classroom solution, Blackboard Collaborate.
Philip Murray, Regional Vice President Asia, said Blackboard’s mission is to advance learning by enabling higher education institutions to continue to provide instruction to their students, even while India continues to struggle with the impacts of the coronavirus crisis. “Allowing learners to have access to ongoing higher education, regardless of location, and to have continued learning that creates personalised experiences during times of disruption such as the ongoing pandemic, is mission-critical,” commented Murray at a regional media briefing recently.
As the global pandemic began to take hold in 2020, India’s edtech sector experienced a substantial increase in demand for online learning solutions due to the Coronavirus crisis. The Indian National Education Policy, which was announced in 2020, stressed the importance of leveraging technology in education.
“We are currently working with higher education institutions in India that have successfully harnessed the technological capabilities of Blackboard solutions to transform the way they develop, share and deliver curriculums online,” said Murray. “We are pleased to see higher education institutions that have migrated to Blackboard’s Learning Management System, Learn, and virtual classroom solution, Blackboard Collaborate, successfully continue to deliver quality education to their students through the ongoing disruption of the pandemic,” he added.