GVR Report cover Digital Education Market Size, Share & Trends Report

Digital Education Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Course Type (Business Management, Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics), By Learning Type (Self-paced, Instructor-led), By End-user, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2021 - 2028

  • Report ID: GVR-4-68038-294-5
  • Number of Pages: 101
  • Format: Electronic (PDF)
  • Historical Range: 2017 - 2019
  • Industry: Technology

Report Overview

The global digital education market size to be valued at USD 77.23 billion by 2028 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.5% from 2021 to 2028. Digital education is defined as an inventive method of using digital technologies and tools, which is carried out during the whole process of teaching & learning and is specifically known as Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) or digital learning. Digital education comprises two major aspects named blended and virtual learning. Blended learning can be defined as a combination of online educational materials and opportunities with traditional brick-and-mortar schools, which requires the physical presence of both teacher and student. However, the traditional face-to-face classroom activities are carried out in the presence of computer-mediated actions related to content and delivery.

Digital Education Market size, by course type

The growth is majorly driven by the increasing adoption of smartphones, rise in internet penetration across the globe, engaging teaching patterns, accessibility to global content, and educators' prominent factors driving the market growth. The key attributes of digital education for students and professionals are personalized learning, effective self-directed learning skills, sharpen critical thinking skills, self-motivated, and expanded learning opportunities.

Cutting-edge technology such as Augmented Reality (AR) is expected to play a significant role in fostering the growth of the digital education market. AR amplifies the real environment with text, sound effects, graphics, and multimedia. Augmented reality is marking its space in the education sector and rushing in popularity in schools and universities worldwide. Its presence in digital education offers features that tend to enhance learning capabilities such as problem-solving, collaboration, more focused on technical knowledge and proficiencies, and building students for the future. AR’s seamless projection of digital objects within the real world promotes engagement and interactivity. It maximizes the student’s ability to devote time towards learning curricular subjects and stimulates empathy in an individual. For instance, in July 2020, The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) joined hands with Facebook, Inc., a U.S.-based online social media and social networking service company, to launch augmented reality, digital safety, and online safety prospectus in India. The initiatives aim to provide certified programs in augmented reality for teachers and digital safety and online welfare for students.

Digital education paved the way for micro learning. Micro learning refers to e-learning in small doses with just an adequate amount of information to help individuals achieve their goals. For instance, micro learning content includes images, text, videos, audio, text, and games. Organizations are embracing micro learning owing to attributes such as fast deployment, cost-effectiveness, and updated easily. According to the study in the Journal of Applied Psychology, it is found that microlearning is 17% more efficient in gaining knowledge than traditional classroom training. For instance, in May 2020, Blinkist, a Berlin-based micro learning app, joined hands with Monte Carlo, Inc., an American data reality platform, to gain more reliable data from data observability. Monte Carlo, a data platform, offers automated monitoring and intelligent alerting that helped Blinkist data engineers to focus on innovation and product and reclaim up to 120 hours per week.

However, some challenges associated with digital education include lack of social interaction, limited access to the internet, cheating is unavoidable, self-motivation and proper time management skills, and focuses primarily on theory. Students spend most of their time listening to podcasts, looking at slide presentations, and watching videos. This creates a lack of opportunity for educators to conduct experiments. This modern way of education requires only smart devices and a good internet connection. For instance, in India, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has created three pertinent issues with the whole digital education schemes, including worsening inequality among the society, the informative issues leading to lousy quality education, and unjustified thrust on digital education, post COVID-19.

Digital Education Market Trends

The ease of availability of information under a pre-defined strategical approach, virtual reality convergence, and the incorporation of cutting-edge advanced technologies are the driving forces to the market. Moreover, the increased popularity of online courses acts as a catalyst for market development. In several countries, education is conceived by the government, as a basic responsibility to ensure that the civil residents have access to learning facilities.

Lack of awareness in low-income countries, unwillingness, and other factors such as lack of basic learning infrastructure is expected to confine the digital education system. Furthermore, the lack of access to the Internet and seamless connectivity in various parts of the globe is expected to create development challenges in the global market. In addition, copyright and ownership issues are prevalent.

On contrary, the workforce in the market possesses enormous growth opportunities owing to the increase in the availability of online platforms for education, access to social media, and the choice of multiple languages to develop the learning content.

Course Type Insights

The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) segment led the market in 2020, accounting for over 70% share of the global revenue. Based on the course type, the market is categorized into STEM, business management, and others. The STEM segment comprises all the sub-disciplines within these fields, and there is a high demand for STEM graduates across various industries. STEM content helps children develop a natural tendency to understand and explore the world around them, improve scientific reasoning, enhance understanding related to the engineering design process, and use mathematics and critical thinking. As technology advances, incorporating it in the classroom and multimedia materials helps understand complex STEM concepts easier for students. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has paved the way and has considerable influence on all industries, including the education industry. STEM educators will be using AI in the classroom to ease their workflow. The technology is expected to help STEM educators in streamlining education tasks such as AI can automate administrative tasks instead of educators spending time on grading exams and homework, personalized learning, and feedback on course quality. For instance, Hubert.ai, a recruiting platform, has launched a chatbot that helps teachers and students give feedback regarding both the class and the professor; filling out the questionnaire classifies the comments and data and sends it back to the professor. The quality of feedback is more efficient than the traditional one as the chatbot integrates AI technology, which is like communicating with a human. As a result, the business management segment is anticipated to register the highest CAGR over the forecast period. 

Learning Type Insights

The self-paced segment led the market in 2020, accounting for over 65% share of the global revenue. The attributes related to self-paced learning include less pressure during existing live training, creating own schedule, less distraction, convenient for different learning patterns, and less expensive. For instance, YouTube is a significant provider of self-paced learning content. Other tools that promote self-paced learning include Brain Pop and Brain Pop Jr., Education Galaxy, Gimkit, GrammarFlip, Kialo Edu, and Knoword. 

The instructor-led segment is anticipated to expand at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. By learning type, the market is segmented into instructor-led and self-paced. The instructor-led learning type refers to training that includes one or more instructors that offer teaching to person or via lectures, presentations, demonstrations, and discussions. Mostly the instructor addresses group, but one-on-one training can also take place, and it's expensive comparatively. The attributed instructor-led training includes addressing the large group at once, numerous techniques such as games, exercises, and role-playing to improve the digital learning experience.

End-user Insights

The academic institutions and individuals segment led the market in 2020, accounting for over 80% share of the global revenue. By end-user, the market is bifurcated into individuals and academic institutions, and enterprises. It gives them more edge for academic institutions if they adopt digital education as one of their offerings. During the pandemic times, the restrictions imposed impacted the institutes that were operating offline only; those who took this as an opportunity and started offering online services will naturally rise above others.

Digital Education Market share, by end-user

For enterprises, the adoption of the digital medium is a matter of survival. Enterprises must cater to all the evolving customer expectations and provide them the best services. Also, in the wake of the pandemic, expectations have evolved a lot. Therefore, the ability of enterprises to fulfill these expectations and adapt to the new environment of operations will be very critical to thriving as an organization.

Regional Insights

North America dominated the market in 2020, accounting for over 35% share of the global revenue. This is due to market vendors' rapid product and geographical expansion strategy to gain an edge in the market. On the other hand, the European market is expected to witness a steady growth pattern over the forecast period. Furthermore, the rising focus on infrastructure, network, and connectivity is anticipated to enhance digital education in the European region.

Digital Education Market Trends by Region

The Asia Pacific market is anticipated to register the highest CAGR over the forecast period. Emerging economies in the Asia Pacific hold significant potential for the widespread adoption of digital education due to large smartphone holders. This is one of the prominent factors anticipated to boost the demand for digital education in this region in the near future. For instance, in May 2020, the launch of the PM eVidya Programme in India, which intends to promote digital education in India, was originally launched by union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The initiative was taken to provide unlimited access to digital learning for students and teachers.

Key Companies & Market Share Insights

The global market is a rapidly growing sector with companies spanning from early-stage start-ups to publicly traded organizations. The market is gaining a lot of attention not only from seasoned industry participants but also from generalist investors primarily across the three main categories, i.e., K-12, higher education, and corporate learning. Each sector is unique and has different funding mechanisms, end-users, and buyers. Vendors in the market are taking several strategic initiatives, such as collaborations, acquisitions & mergers, and partnerships with other prominent players in the market.

The market players focus on raising funds for product launches and geographical expansion. For instance, in July 2020, Coursera raised USD 130 million in Series F funding and updated its valuation to USD 2.5 Billion. The additional funding is expected to enhance its job-relevant catalog and further help it grow in the international market space.

Recent Developments

  • In June 2023, edX partnered with Raspberry Pi Foundation, a global education charity. This partnership incorporated students and educators of similar backgrounds for future generations.

  • In June 2023, edX launched an innovative new Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence program. This program is designed to quickly adapt technology with the core skills required to flourish in the dynamic fields of machine learning and artificial intelligence.

  • In September 2022, Udemy collaborated with RBL Group, a global leader in human capabilities. This collaboration strengthens Udemy's commitment to providing organizations and individuals with flexible and effective skill development by increasing their competencies.

Some of the prominent players operating in the global digital education market are:

  • Coursera Inc.

  • edX Inc.

  • Pluralsight LLC

  • Brain4ce Education Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (Edureka)

  • Udacity, Inc.

  • Udemy, Inc.

  • Miriadax

  • Jigsaw Academy

  • Iversity

  • Intellipaat

Digital Education Market Report Scope

Report Attribute

Details

Market size value in 2021

USD 11.95 billion

Revenue forecast in 2028

USD 77.23 billion

Growth rate

CAGR of 30.5% from 2021 to 2028

Base year for estimation

2020

Historical data

2017 - 2019

Forecast period

2021 - 2028

Quantitative units

Revenue in USD million and CAGR from 2021 to 2028

Report coverage

Revenue forecast, company ranking, competitive landscape, growth factors, and trends

Segments covered

Course type, learning type, end-user, region

Regional scope

North America; Europe; Asia Pacific; South America; MEA

Country scope

U.S.; Canada; Mexico; Germany; U.K.; France; China; Japan; India; Brazil

Prominent companies profiled

Coursera Inc.; edX Inc.; Pluralsight LLC; Brain4ce Education Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (Edureka); Udacity, Inc.; Udemy, Inc.; Miriadax, Jigsaw Academy; Iversity; Intellipaat

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Free report customization (equivalent up to 8 analysts working days) with purchase. Addition or alteration to country, regional & segment scope.

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Global Digital Education Market Segmentation

This report forecasts revenue growth at global, regional, and country levels and provides an analysis of the latest industry trends in each of the sub-segments from 2017 to 2028. For this study, Grand View Research has segmented the global digital education market report based on course type, learning type, end-user, and region:

Global Digital Education Market Segmentation

  • Course Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2028)

    • Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)

    • Business Management

    • Others

  • Learning Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2028)

    • Self-paced

    • Instructor-led

  • End-user Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2028)

    • Academic Institutions & Individuals

    • Enterprises

  • Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2028)

    • North America

      • U.S.

      • Canada

      • Mexico

    • Europe

      • Germany

      • U.K.

      • France

    • Asia Pacific

      • China

      • Japan

      • India

    • South America

      • Brazil

    • Middle East and Africa (MEA)

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