Gates Package — page 1194

(Left) A college student does homework on her laptop. (Carol Yepes/Getty Images) (Right) A teacher records himself explaining a math problem to his students in Jilin, China. (TPG/Getty Images) If you're a teacher, you'll gain a deeper understanding of how your students are doing. A simple button click will show you that student X might need more help on a particular type of question while telling you that student Y is ready to take on a more advanced reading assignment. The foundation has been working on innovative new tools like this for years, and it's been great to see so much progress made over the last two years in response to the pandemic. Some of the biggest leaps forward have been in math curricula. A lot of kids develop a selfimage of not being good at math. They struggle with problem sets that are perhaps too hard for their current skill level, and they never catch up as classes become more advanced. It's a big problem that I'm optimistic we can solve with technology. The foundation is working with partners on new curricula that help kids beeome more confident in their math skills. I'm so excited about this work--and have so much to say about it--that I wrote a separate post detailing some of the most promising examples. You can read it here. The final area where digitization is here to stay is in health care. Telehealth isn't new, but its popularity during the pandemic was. Over the last two years, we've seen more people opting for virtual appointments instead of in-person care. The technologies that facilitate these appointments are already getting much better, and I expect huge improvements over time. Although some medical fields have gone back to mostly in-person visits, one area that I predict is forever changed is behavioral health. Virtual appointments have so many upsides that I think the new model is here to stay. Seeing your therapist is a lot less time-consuming and easier to fit in your day when you only have to turn your laptop on. Sessions can be as long or as short as needed--a 15-minute session might not feel worth it if you have to go to a doctor's office, but it makes a lot more sense from home. Plus, many people feel more comfortable in their own spaces than in a clinical setting. Other types of doctor's visits might become more flexible as new tools emerge, too. Right now, when it's time for your annual physical, you probably need to go into your doctor's office to get your vitals taken and your blood drawn. But what if you had a device at home that your