Edtech has been gaining robust momentumowing to the shelter-in-place restrictions and social distancing protocols in place worldwide on account of the coronavirus pandemic.
Moreover, schools, colleges, universities and other education institutions, which are still locked down in most parts of the world are driving the edtech industry courtesy of growing proliferation of online classes.
Given the upbeat scenario, tech giants including Alphabet’s GOOGL Google, Microsoft MSFT, Amazon AMZN and Adobe ADBE are leaving no stone unturned to capitalize on the booming online education space. Per a report from Research and Markets, the online education space is expected reach $350 billion by 2025.
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Per the latest report from UNESCO, there are 1.1 billion learners globally who have been affected by school closures as of Jun 24. Further, the report shows that schools are completely shut in 117 countries as of this date.
In such a scenario, online learning has emerged as the only resort for the education industry. In fact, technology, which simplifies the process of teaching and learning, has been witnessing solid adoption amid the pandemic as it is making education accessible remotely.
Currently, the increasing number of K-12 schools adopting online education in a bid to continue 2020 education curriculum remains a major positive for the edtech providers. Growing proliferation of video lectures, online seminars, animations, online reading materials and online tests has been aidingthe educators to sustain the process of learning worldwide.
Let’s delve deeper and seehow these tech giants are integrating AI, AR/VR, ML, cloudand IoT technologies into the education system to deliver an enhanced learning experience. Thus, in the process of helping the education space to sustain itself amid this challenging time.
Year-to-Date Price Performance
Google has been a frontrunner in the edtech space, courtesy of its hardware and software portfolio. In terms of hardware, the company’s Chromebook laptops and Chrome OS-based tablets for schools are gaining solid traction. A Statista report shows that 20 million Chromebooks are expected to be shipped globally in 2020, reflecting growth of 17% from 2019.
In terms of software, the company is making every effort to capitalise on the growing demand for online learning amidthis pandemic. Google has introduced YouTube Learning Destination, which helps students, teachers, parents or anyone to acquire knowledge on various subjects including physics, mathematics, and biology and photography.
Apart from this, Google is catering to the needs of students and teachers on the back of its video conferencing software —Meet— that is well-equipped to accommodate 100 people in a single call. Further, access to the company’s G Suite for Education is delivering streamlined learning experience.
Additionally, its acquisitionof Socratic, which is a mobile learning app remains a major positive. The company’s Workbench buyout that provides an online library of lessons and projects to be used in classrooms is another positive.
Google’s parent Alphabet currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Amazon is banking on its robust cloud computing platform AWS in the edtech space. The company’s AWS Educate, which enables the education institutions to offer free of cost online learning modules on cloud computing to students and virtual cloud labs to faculty members remains noteworthy.
Further, Amazon AppStream 2.0— a fully managed streaming service — aids in virtualizing the computer labs of the campuses to promote online learning.
Additionally, AWS offers an open education resource platform, Amazon Inspire, which is a warehouse of digital resources for teachers, parents and students.
We believe Amazon, which carries a Zacks Rank #3, is well-poised to capitalize on the rising adoption of cloud technology in the education field.
Microsoft has launched key initiatives to facilitate remote learning backed by its e-learning provider Bigger Brains. Its popular learning app, Brainbot powered by AI, allowsteachers to enable the delivery of workflow training and training reinforcement through Teams, Slack, Facebook and email.
Additionally, the company’s partnership with UNICEF remains a tailwind. Microsoft in collaboration with UNICEF recently expanded the Learning Passport app globally to deliver education uninterrupted to children at their home.
Further, this Zacks Rank #3 company’s robust lower-priced Surface laptop for students and Surface Go tablet are helping it to rapidly penetrate the edtech market.
Additionally, the company’s Flipgrid buyout remains encouraging. The startup is an interactive social learning app for teachers and students with a collaborative approach.
Adobe recently introduced its distance learning support via Adobe Creative Cloud. The students and teachers of the company’s higher educational and K-12 institutional customers across the world are getting the at home access to Adobe Creative Cloud desktop apps.
Further, Adobe is striving to inspire educators to continue developing innovative projects and new ideas with the help of its resources. Also, the Zacks Rank #3 company has extended Adobe Connect support in order to help the educational institutions and businesses in continuing their operations virtually amid this coronavirus-induced crisis.
Further, Adobe is helping the educational institutions to create Adobe Connect virtual classrooms amid this pandemic.
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