Academic research was greatly challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic. It often relies on close interactions between collaborators on projects, whether they are working together in a lab or co-authoring a research paper. Although remote collaboration on research is possible, there were not great tools to support academic research pre-pandemic. Many researchers would still use fax machines, or they would email revisions and drafts of research papers back-and-forth. The result of this was a confusing email chain where nobody quite knew which draft of a research paper was the most recent.

During the pandemic, innovative educational technology companies arose and fixed the problems that researchers were facing. One of the main EdTech companies that benefits researchers are Jinso. Jinso helps researchers in many ways. First, it has an online collaboration tool for researchers to connect, share work, and track their revision history. The goal is to more clearly show the list of versions to get rid of the email problem in research.

Research Opportunities

Another research-related problem that Jinso addresses is the difficulty of finding research opportunities in the first place. Academics are beginning to get involved in research earlier than ever. Whether it is a summer research program for high school students or an undergraduate research advisor that one seeks, Jinso has a simple solution. It has created a network of researchers, students, and advisors, so everybody can make the connections they need in the research community. Students can find mentors, researchers can find collaborations, and experienced researchers who need research funding or want to work with the next generation can be research mentors.

Open Access

Technology is changing the world of research in ways beyond Jinso. Open access repositories are slowly gaining ground on academic journals, signaling the beginning of the end for a publishing industry that has long been seen as exclusive and bureaucratic. Open access scholarly work is more accessible to everyone, so it benefits researchers by reaching a wider audience and students by allowing them to discover more sources. Technology’s goal is to increase access to services for everyone. Academia is one place that has remained difficult to access as other industries have opened up. Now, that may finally be changing.

Online Coursework

There are several companies that are leading the way in transforming universities themselves. Coursera and EdX are two large providers of online coursework. They each partner with many colleges and offer digital versions of their real classes. Since these are the classes that the universities really offer, the digital versions are accredited, too. They are open for everyone to enroll, so there is no element of selectivity. The online courses also have flexible start dates, and they let learners go at their own pace. This makes online learning available to everyone, regardless of what their schedule may look like. Someone that works full-time can take online courses at night, and they can safely fall behind if they have a busy week. These are benefits of educational technology that the traditional university is not able to provide. If the trend towards a more equal education continues, we will live in a more just and meritocratic society.