Pandemic Drives Career Shifts -- Campus Technology

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Pandemic Drives Career Shifts

A new study of data generated by an education platform has found that college students and other adults spent at least some of the pandemic rethinking their career plans. The finding was calculated based on the number of visits for study activities (serving as a proxy for engagement in particular subjects) that students undertook on the software. Those activities might be use of flashcards, multiple choice or fill-in-the blank questions, games or something else.

Quizlet, an education technology company that produces study tools by the same name, analyzed data pulled in June 2021 from its platform. Quizlet said it has some 60 million users, including students, teachers and faculty members, and others who are studying any number of topics.

In 2020 during the recession, the GMAT, the entrance exam for business school, saw a rise in related studying 48 percent higher than 2019. The GRE, the admissions exam used by numerous graduate colleges, saw its own bump in studying of 6 percent compared to the previous year.

Over that same period, interest levels in healthcare careers rose:

Similarly, studying related to information technology certification increased as well:

As a final note, child development was another area of study that saw pickup, increasing by 56 percent in 2020 compared to the previous year.

"The pandemic has amplified the importance of self-learning resources needed for students to not only counter learning gaps, but also to encourage and support their long-term career goals," said Amanda Baker, director of data analytics at Quizlet, in a press release.

A report of findings, which also includes an analysis of users from K-12 environments, is available for download in a Quizlet blog post.