Intelligent CIO Europe Issue 09 | Page 36

EDITOR’S QUESTION IS THE EDUCATION SECTOR UTILISING TECHNOLOGY TO ITS FULL POTENTIAL? ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// T he impact of technology can be seen in every sector and education is no exception. It is easy to question whether educational institutions are utilising technology to their full potential, or whether they could be doing more to make the most of the technology being offered to them. “ WITH PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS AND VISUALISATION OF DATA, TEACHERS ARE ABLE TO LEAD SMARTER AND PROVIDE PARENTS WITH MORE THAN A TEST RESULT ON A PIECE OF PAPER. 36 INTELLIGENTCIO Finland has held the unofficial title as the country with the world’s best education system, since 2000. The repeated success in rankings by The Global Education Report which uses data that comes from six international educational monitoring organisations confirms this title, with the small Nordic country ranked number one again in 2017. With the £6.18 billion that global investors staked in EdTech companies in the first 10 months of 2017, the future for education is looking bright. For Dmitri Adov, Technical Director at Arcadia SoftwareCountry – who works extensively with Fortune 500 companies designing and building custom software – the message is clear. “We started working with EdTech customers 12 years ago and the trend of growth of digitalisation in this area is very clearly visible. I think the key factor of the growth is that computers are not rare animals in schools anymore and what is even more important, tablets and handsets are powerful, useful, cheap and widely available. e-Learning and e-Assessment are the biggest and fastest growing sectors for us (21% YoY growth), not only in terms of revenue but also innovation.” The tech innovation that Finland is known for, is now becoming the next big reason and a game-changer. School Day, a Finnish EdTech company that recently struck a collaboration with Arcadia SoftwareCountry, has captured the need for streamlined analytics in its Smart School Administration platform. With predictive analytics and visualisation of data, teachers are able to lead smarter and provide parents with more than a test result on a piece of paper. “Digital solutions and new learning methods are the keys in a renewing school environment. The best learning outcomes are made possible by creating a strong communion between a student, teachers, school and parents. Wellbeing and knowledge are key factors in understanding and creating better learning outcomes,” said Kari Kasanen, Chairman of the Board at School Day and a serial training entrepreneur. The School Day Wellbeing App enables positive interaction that will help everybody in the school community feel motivated and realise their full potential via wellbeing surveys, feedback and class chats in hopes of fading social exclusion, marginalisation and alienation from society. Technology meets humanity . . . that’s topnotch. www.intelligentcio.com