Ed-Tech Comes of Age — Overnight!

At Edgio, we believe our innovations democratize access to information and this has the power to enrich and transform lives on a global scale.

Nowhere is this truer than in the Ed-Tech sector — a group that has been transformed almost overnight during the 2020 pandemic.

In just a few short months, remote learning went from a burgeoning business to a virtual lifeline for students and families everywhere. The demand was unprecedented. In our recent global market research, 83 percent of those surveyed said they believe video-based learning is here to stay, even after the global pandemic subsides.

Three key takeaways from conversations with Limelight customers:

1. Ed-Tech can change the trajectory of a student’s life.

The innovations built-in to educational technology are often designed to help students in ways traditional approaches cannot.

Learning Ally is a perfect example. As a leading nonprofit education organization that works with children with reading challenges, Audiobook Solution offers an award-winning reading accommodation used in approximately 19,000 schools.

The rapid closure of U.S. schools in response to COVID-19 seriously disrupted education and profoundly impacted already vulnerable children. But because Learning Ally had the infrastructure and support of the Edgio global private network, they could absorb a wave of new subscribers and expand their offerings.

“In a matter of weeks, we added 13,800 educators and more than 130,000 new students to the Learning Ally Audiobook Solution. The Limelight CDN was able to support us in meeting the requirements for the surge of audiobook listeners,” reports Cynthia Hamburger, CIO & COO, Learning Ally.

Another game-changer is Disney’s BYJU’S. At $5.5 billion, BYJU’S is considered the world’s most valuable Ed-Tech company. They reach more than 57 million users and their educational content is viewed on virtually any device and any location in India, giving students opportunities they might not otherwise have.

Delivering broadcast-quality educational video content to children in remote regions is no small task. Connectivity issues are often a barrier to access in India and BYJU’S goes to great lengths to ensure that the viewing experience is never compromised by buffering or latency issues.

Even with the 4X surge in activity when schools abruptly transitioned to online learning in early 2020, BYJU’S remained a constant in students’ lives, aided in part by Limelight’s powerful edge services platform and one of the world’s largest private IP networks.

2. Ed-Tech connects people in ways we never imagined.

When in-person learning is impossible, educational technology is a lifeline for students, teachers and parents.

Ed-Tech companies already provided a virtual learning experience before the pandemic, but their expertise suddenly became critical when school closures sent millions of children home in early 2020.

In Canada, Groupe Média TFO (TFO), an Ontario-based French-language public media company, was tapped to create educational content for the online portal the Ontario Minister of Education opened to serve more than 2 million students and 135,000 educators throughout Canada during the pandemic.

TFO quickly created and streamed a tremendous amount of content and handled a nearly 60 percent increase in traffic during the stay-at-home order by leveraging the Limelight Video Platform to manage and distribute their online video at scale.

This was a moment to shine for many Ed-Tech companies. Micaël N’Goran, Director of Solutions and Products, Groupe Média TFO, agreed, saying, “As a result of COVID-19, we had a very short turnaround to support the Ministry of Education’s learn at home initiative and play an important role in the move to online learning with our rich collection of educational videos. As we reached an unprecedented number of visits on our sites, we were hit with massive bandwidth growth. Thankfully, our CDN infrastructure was built on Limelight, so we were not only ready, but we were also able to expand the initiative nationwide to support as many families and students as possible.”

3. Ed-Tech transforms how and where we consume content.

Reaching students where and how they like to learn helps educators engage more learners, no matter what barriers they face.

For an iconic children’s book publisher, pivoting to an online delivery model was critical to serving their vast audience in the “new normal” imposed by the pandemic.

As the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books, it has a 60-year heritage in the education sector and reaches children in 165 countries.

In early 2020, they responded to the outcry for educational content by creating new e-books, print and technology-based learning programs for pre-K to grade 12, and video teaching guides that support children’s learning and literacy in school and at home.

For Edgio, it’s been gratifying to be part of the overnight success of so many of our Ed-Tech customers and to see our mission to enrich lives become a reality. We’re also inspired by the innovative spirit of those in the media and entertainment sector who partner with educators to deliver an Ed-Tech solution when needed.

To learn more about the important role CDNs play in improving the performance of Ed-Tech platforms, checkout the interview with Data Quest.