The role of education technologies in Colombia

Abstract: According to the UNESCO, the COVID-19 outbreak has forced millions of students to take virtual classes. For that reason, more than 80% of Higher Education institutions expect a big disruption in the sector in the next five years and 60% of them in the next 24 months (Holon IQ,2020). In Colombia, the big disruption is much needed. Currently, Physical Higher Education holds the lead regarding the performance of its students measured in the results of the Saber Pro test of 2018. However, this performance is strongly connected to the socioeconomic conditions of the students. On the other hand, the students that take Virtual Education programs perform in average 10% worse than students from Physical Educational Institutions. This study provides insights, using an OLS regression, about the socio-economic conditions that are affecting the learning outcomes of students from Physical, Virtual, and Blended Higher Education Institutions in Colombia. It demonstrates the responsibility that education technology has in the country to expand the good quality education of physical educations to more students and to improve the quality of education of virtual institutions. In addition, it opens the discussion to use a transition framework to understand the way in which this big disruption could take place.