Early in the new year， it is already clear that a majority of industries around the world still face an uncertain road to recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. For the online education industry， however， the chart is inverted.

Rocket Rise

The pandemic catapulted online learning into the spotlight. The outbreak forced 194 million Chinese elementary and middle school students to dive head-first into online learning for the first time. According to Chinese market consulting firm iiMedia Research， the total sales volume of China’s online education sector is expected to reach 485.8 billion yuan（US$74.47 billion） in 2020， a sharp increase from 387 billion yuan（US$59.17 billion） in the previous year， with the total amount of users surpassing 351 million.

The opportunities provided by the pandemic for China’s education technology （EdTech） sector are clearly being seized. By October 2020， the country had 82，000 new profit-seeking players， accounting for 17.3 percent of the entire industry， according to data technology service company Tianyancha. Start-ups targeting K-12 education have been particularly popular. For instance， Yuanfudao and Zuoyebang， China’s leading online education start-ups， announced respective fundraising of US$2.2 billion and US$750 million in their most recent rounds of financing.

During the “l(fā)argest online education experiment in human history，” many online education companies have found themselves in the enviable position of grappling with soaring demand from users. According to internet data provider URORA， the pandemic prompted the industry’s penetration rate and monthly active users to the peak in February 2020， with figures arriving at 39 percent and 340 million， respectively.

Just a few short years ago， the industry was still in its infancy and navigating a completely uncertain market. Now， the sector is orderly， standardized， and capitalizing on huge market potential.

The future of education has become clearer with the introduction of numerous state-ofthe-art digital technologies. Such digital trends have fostered online education featuring wider accessibility， greater flexibility， more affordable fees， and increasingly personalized tutoring. From test prep to gamified content and niche skill development courses， China’s online education industry is loading up on a robust variety of digital learning products.

Better Experience

Studying has always been a burden for most students. The ability to inspire learners to acquire a good command of knowledge through competitive activity has always been a game changer.

Gamified learning， a method seeking to kindle greater interest in learning through enjoyable delivery of conceptual knowledge in the form of games， will become more common in the future. Gamification promotes greater engagement and inspires and motivates children to perform better.

“The careful and skillful construction of gamified courses was built on years of research into human motivation and psychology，” said Yang Lina， a 31-year-old Changsha-based language teacher.“Game-based scenarios make courses more meaningful， tangible， and fun for students. Future application of lessons learned through gamification could change the business world and the way people learn and teach.”

Studying will become more meaningful when learners can apply theories to practical scenarios. Technologies like artificial intelligence and big data enable students to experience real-world application and forecast the differing results of various choices.

Technology is also poised to play a bigger role in solving education equity issues by facilitating access to quality urban educators for China’s rural children. EdTech’s ability to bridge the urban-rural learning gap is now closer to a near-term achievable goal than pie-in-the-sky idealism.