Education was already transforming before COVID-19 threw the sector into turmoil. Online classes were common at higher education levels, and many were adopting flexible, stackable learning models. The difference is that the coronavirus forced remote learning to become part of the educational structure from kindergarten classes to doctoral level research. And that’s not going to change.

“Digital learning is here to stay,” said Paul Grist (pictured), head of education sales, worldwide public sector, at Amazon Web Services Inc. “We’ve seen the rapid adoption of technology and the growth of flexible online learning — learning that can take place anytime, anywhere.”

Grist spoke with John Furrier, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during the AWS Public Sector Summit Online event. They discussed the digital transformation of education and research. (* Disclosure below.)

Technology helps students ‘stay honest’ during remote exams

New research from AWS shows seven key emerging trends in the remote learning environment, with flexible learning and the new world of employability taking the top two spots. One major area where digital learning has traditionally hit a brick wall is exams.

“Assessment is the one big area of education that remains to be made available at scale at low cost,” Grist said.

The problem is trust and identity verification. It’s easy to see how the temptation to have someone else take an exam for that hated subject could be pretty strong. So, while teaching has been transitioning to online and remote, assessments have stayed in-person and onsite.

But COVID has forced educational institutes to look at ways to assess students outside the classroom, with technology such as remote proctoring and credential verification helping to resolve trust and identity problems.

“It’s a time of incredible change but also incredible opportunity,” Grist said. “We’re seeing organizations who have wanted to change, who’ve wanted to deliver more to their students, who want to deliver a greater experience, who want to access more students and have much greater reach, now have the appetite to do that.”

Watch the complete video interview below to learn more about the seven trends in the remote learning environment, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the AWS Public Sector Summit Online event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the AWS Public Sector Summit Online event. Neither AWS, the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE