It's 2020 and it’s a game-changing year, isn’t it? According to the World Economic Forum, up to 1.2 billion children in 186 countries have switched from familiar learning patterns to a completely new way of studying: e-learning, blended, and digital learning. This sudden shift has had a dramatic impact on educators all over the world.
Just to make it crystal clear, even before the COVID challenge the education industry was booming! Global demand and adoption of edtech led to the growth of investments that reached $18.66 billion.Moreover, it was expected to rocket to $350 billion by 2025. Even now plenty of tech platforms and apps, such as Learning Management Systems (LMS), language learning apps, virtual reality training, augmented classrooms, video conferencing tools have emerged since the start of the pandemic.
But how to create a perfect match product for the education industry? One of the best ways to come up with ideas is to immerse yourself in a targeted environment!
In this article, I have collected all necessary virtual and online events that are the must-go if you are looking for edtech insights, a better understanding of education gaps and needs, and valuable networking opportunities. Enjoy and participate.
The 5 edtech conferences to attend in 2020:
1. OLC Accelerate
Date: 9 - 18 November 2020
Format: Virtual
OLC Accelerate is holding a 10-day Virtual Conference in November. The OLC Accelerate event tailored the program to meet goals and discuss issues of the ed-community bringing together educational administrators, designers, and tech chiefs.
The 10-day program will include about 425 sessions. Attendees will participate in the following activities: summits, lightning talk, collaborative spaces, workshops, and key figures presentation.
The key topics and subtopics for discussion:
innovative researches and practices in the field of online learning,
digital and blended learning,
research, evaluation, and learning analytics,
engaged and effective teaching and learning,
technology and future trends,
access, equity, and open education.
2. OEB Virtual Experience
Date: 30 November - 4 December 2020
Format: Virtual
OEB Global Virtual Experience is an annual 5-day international conference. The event program’s main aim is to share insights and knowledge on how learning is developing and what trends we are going to face. It boosts cross-industry exchange and network in the education, corporate, and public sectors. The conference will bring together participants from big enterprises, small and medium-sized companies, local authorities and NGOs, ministries and global IGOs, schools and universities.
Attendees will enjoy the following subjects and key topics:
hyper-interactive media: text, video, serious games,
integrating the immersive: mixed realities, AR, and VR,
podcasts, webcasts, webinars, and vodcast,
mind blogging tech: invasive technologies for learning, robotics,
AI and learning analytics,
data protection,
student-centered data models.
The OEB Conference valuable takeaways:
global learning opportunities and challenges insights,
technologies choice and deployment,
key findings of top educational organizations,
networking with C-level experts,
discussion of case studies and cutting-edge approaches.
3. EDUCASE Annual Conference
Date: 27 - 29 October 2020
Format: Virtual
The EDUCAUSE Annual Conference is a virtual place that brings together educators, professionals, and tech providers. The Conference’s main aim is to build a solid network, share experience and case studies, think outside the box to find solutions to current and future issues.
Attendees will participate in:
general, breakout, and on-demand sessions,
virtual exhibits,
community day,
peer-to-peer connections,
learning labs,
numerous networking opportunities,
experience summits.
4. IETC EdTech Virtual Conference
Date: 15 - 21 November 2020
Format: Virtual
The Annual IETC EdTech Virtual Conference is a 7-day professional development event that unites top education leaders, teachers, administrators, and top tech providers. The main goal of the conference is to broaden ed-knowledge and emerging trends within the community and to come up with fresh insights and innovative ideas.
Attendees will focus on:
technology integration strategies,
engaging instructional practices,
digital tools and resources,
emerging trends.
5. Momentum Virtual Forum
Date: 9 - 10 December 2020
Format: Virtual
Reuters Events is holding a 2-day professional development conference Momentum. Momentum will bring together the tech community from around the globe in order to rethink the role of technology in our fast-changing environment and to reimagine the model of modern society.
A cutting-edge 2-day program is designed around key topics: tech strategy, adoption & vision, and understanding how technology is transforming the world based on the key pillars: society, sustainability, economy, and trustðics.
Momentum brings together only C-level top tech speakers from companies such as Google, Ford, Slack, Zoom, and others.
