A learning machine with functions such as video explanation and synchronous exercises, a printer focusing on the wrong question sorting, a word card for intelligent repetition at any time, and a reading pen that can be followed by clicking a point... More and more educational intelligent hardware products are "flying into ordinary people's homes" and becoming an indispensable part of students' learning life.
According to the "Personal Consumer Education Intelligent Hardware Development Report (2023)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") released by the Internet Society of China, the scale of the mainland personal consumer education intelligent hardware market continues to expand, and it is expected to reach 50 billion yuan this year, at the same time, the category of educational intelligent hardware products is also constantly enriched, in addition to learning machines, dictionary pens, reading pens, smart watches and other products, but also emerging new products focusing on specific functions and scenarios.
The Internet Society of China released the "Personal Consumer Education Intelligent Hardware Development Report (2023)". Photo courtesy of interviewee
"Not only LLM (Large Language Model) technology, but also XR (extended reality) and image generation technology, the digitalization of education will usher in a new scene change." On July 19, at the main forum of the China Internet Conference, Luo Liang, CTO of Homework Help, shared the changes brought by digital transformation to education with the theme of "Digital Leads the Future of Education", starting from the importance of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and big data in promoting the development of education.
The rapid development of educational intelligent hardware, learning machines "occupy the lion's share"
With the implementation of the strategic action of education digitalization, as a key carrier to promote the digital development of education, education intelligent hardware has entered the fast lane of development. The "Report" pointed out that at present, there are many types of educational intelligent hardware, which can be divided into two categories: school institutions and personal consumption according to different object-oriented. Among them, personal consumption education intelligent hardware refers to intelligent interactive hardware products used for consumers to carry out independent learning, including learning machines, dictionary pens, intelligent early education machines, intelligent work lights, wrong question printers, reading pens, etc.
The "Report" said that there are many personal consumption education intelligent hardware products, starting from the degree of relevance to learning, can be divided into two categories: learning guidance, quality training and companionship, covering a variety of use scenarios such as at home, at school and out, including learning machines, dictionary pens, wrong question printers, reading pens, early education machines, children's smart watches, etc. At the same time, new products focusing on specific functions and scenarios are emerging, such as oral computers, AI learning desks, and audiotablets.
Among the many personal consumer education intelligent hardware products, which product is the most popular in the market? The "Report" shows that learning machines/student tablets are currently the most important personal consumer education intelligent hardware products, with a variety of functions, large market space, accounting for up to 30% of the overall market share of personal consumer education intelligent hardware.
The reporter searched on an e-commerce platform with learning machines as keywords, showing that there were more than 900,000 products, with prices ranging from 1,000 yuan to nearly 10,000 yuan, and the main functions were also different. The "Report" shows that the market scale of mainland personal consumption education intelligent hardware continues to expand, and is expected to reach 50 billion yuan this year.
Deeply cultivating the field of education, enterprises have entered the education intelligent hardware track
From 24.9 billion yuan in 2019 to 25.1 billion yuan in 2020, and then to 35.3 billion yuan in 2021 and 43.1 billion yuan in 2022, the scale of China's personal consumer education intelligent hardware market continues to grow at a visible speed. There are also more and more entrants.
The "Report" pointed out that education enterprises have actively transformed after the "double reduction", and most of the leading enterprises have turned to the education informatization track, relying on years of massive content resources such as teaching and research, profound education and training experience and user accumulation, providing high-quality content and service resources for personal consumption education intelligent hardware, and creating ecological barriers for products.
For example, Homework Gang carries out a multi-product line layout, and has launched a variety of products such as learning machines, dictionary pens, and wrong question printers, according to Magic Mirror e-commerce data, in the field of personal consumer education intelligent hardware, Homework Gang hardware shipments in 2022 are the first, with the richest product coverage scenarios and the most complete categories.
At present, there are many players in the field of personal consumer education intelligent hardware, and the product types and forms are rich. Taking homework help as an example, its educational hardware products involve more than a dozen categories such as learning machines, learning pens, dictionary pens, wrong question printers, A4 learning printers, laser printers, word cards, AI learning desks, children's smart watches, tutoring machines, oral computers, smart desk lamps, learning headphones, children's eye protection devices, label machines, etc.
The "Report" proposes that different types of enterprises, such as traditional education hardware enterprises, education enterprises, Internet enterprises, education informatization enterprises and equipment vendors, based on their respective advantages, strengthen collaboration and complementarity with upstream and downstream partners in the industrial chain, and head enterprises accelerate the creation of a closed-loop ecology.
For example, the products in the product matrix of the same manufacturer can achieve convenient data exchange, and the practice questions made wrong in the learning machine can be transmitted to the printer, quickly sorted out and printed, and the wrong questions taken by the wrong question printer can also be transmitted to the learning machine to view the corresponding knowledge point explanation video.
The development of cutting-edge technologies will drive the digital transformation of education
While the market scale of personal consumer education intelligent hardware products is expanding day by day, its development is also facing certain challenges.
The "Report" pointed out that at present, there are many manufacturers in the field of personal consumption education intelligent hardware, large and medium-sized enterprises, the market has entered a state of white-hot competition, similar products of different manufacturers are also converging, and homogenization competition is fierce. At the same time, market awareness still needs to be improved, and users' usage habits and acceptance need to be further cultivated. The third is that the standards for personal consumption education intelligent hardware are insufficient, and the overall lack of industry standardization guidelines.
In terms of promoting its healthy development, the report proposes to improve product characteristics and strengthen technology accumulation; Improve product functions and cultivate user habits; Strengthen the development of standards and promote the development of norms.
"In the context of the digital transformation and upgrading of education, personal consumption education intelligent hardware has broad development space as a key entrance and important equipment for accessing educational resources and services." The report analyzes the future development trend of personal consumption education intelligent hardware, which mentions the imagination space and innovation opportunities brought by AI technology represented by ChatGPT.
The reporter noted that Luo Liang also mentioned the future prospects of digital transformation of education in the sharing.
Luo Liang, CTO of Homework Gang, mentioned the future outlook for the digital transformation of education in the on-site sharing. Photo by Beijing News reporter Yang Feifei
For example, ChatGPT based on LLM (Large Language Model) technology. Luo Liang said that this represents a new round of technological breakthroughs in AI technology, human knowledge acquisition methods and education models are more diversified, and the digital needs of more dimensional teaching scenarios have been met. Luo Liang said that in the field of education, LLM is expected to be combined with digital human technology, when students encounter learning problems, in addition to entering text, they can also use sound, images and other means to interact with AI, AI companion learning robot through guided inquiry to inspire students' thinking, and then give tips and suggestions.
"Not only LLM technology, but also XR (extended reality) and image generation technology, the digitalization of education will also usher in new scene changes." Luo Liang added that as a new form of human-computer interaction, XR technology can restore real teaching scenarios and help students better understand the content of professional training in areas that are difficult to reach in real life, such as mechanical maintenance and medical surgery; Image generation technology in teaching and research teaching, such as courseware, lecture illustrations, teaching animation production and design, can quickly generate the required content, significantly improve the work efficiency of teachers.
Text/Yang Feifei
Edited by Miao Chenxia Proofread by Zhao Lin