This content was previously published by Blackboard, now part of Anthology. Product and/or solution names may have changed.

Over the past year, we’ve gained countless insights, learned numerous lessons, and discovered possibilities for how we can continue to transform education. The COVID-19 pandemic has sped-up an innovative process which has already been in action for years.

With this in mind, we gathered a group of industry experts to explore and discuss the impact the pandemic is having on trends in education during the recent Blackboard Asia Pacific Leadership Summit, in conjunction with Times Higher Education.

To kick off the webinar, Phil Baty, Chief Knowledge Officer at Times Higher Education, presented some intriguing findings of recent studies performed by T.H.E., as well as investigating statistical trends in global education.

In a 2020 T.H.E. study of 520 university leaders spanning 46 countries, Baty and his team found most participants believe their ability to effectively teach online is improving, and that many would like to retain certain “online operations” post-pandemic, including online meetings, lectures and conferences.

Participants also suggested a potential trend where students’ “consumer power” will increase, allowing them to dictate and acquire a more broad, robust, customised education at a lower price in the future. Additionally, remarks from those leaders also posit that the nature of education may adapt, including a focus-shift toward communication strategies, empathy, and other “values-based” paradigms.

The roundtable discussion paired Mr. Baty with Professor Cheryl R. Peralta of the University of Santo Tomas and Professor Simon Bedford of Western Sydney University. Check out the full recording to see Mr. Baty’s presentation, and hear these experts discuss how the delivery and effectiveness of education has shifted during this seismic year of disruption, as well as where this leads us moving forward.