Globalization, the development of new technologies, the total transition to digital, and the COVID-19 pandemic determine the trends in the development of not only the society of the future but also the education system in the 21st century.
What are the main trends in the education of the future that are already being actively implemented in schools and universities around the world? In this article, we have collected our top 10 technologies that have come to us seriously and for a long time.
10 trends in future education
The main trends in the future of education are associated not only with the search for new learning formats but also with new roles for all participants in the educational process. Here are the trends that seem the most important to us:
- Lifelong Learning.
- Total digitalization.
- Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).
- Gamification.
- VR and AR technologies.
- Active project work.
- Agile and Scrum technologies.
- Adaptive learning.
- Integral approach.
- Changing the role of the teacher and chatbots.
The clique mentality of today’s youth, their commitment to entertainment content, Tik-Tok, and new technologies is no longer compatible with the translational paradigm of learning, where students passively receive information.
Lifelong Learning
There is a reason we gave the notion of Lifelong learning the first position in our rating of future educational trends. After all, this is a given, without which it is impossible to imagine a modern person’s life. Information is updated at an enormous rate, new technologies appear, robots replace people, and the demand for previously unknown professions is growing. Sad but often a fact: you have not yet graduated from university, and your knowledge is already outdated. All this forces us to constantly learn just to maintain the right level of competence.
If previously a university graduate got a job and worked honestly until retirement, now changing jobs and even areas of activity every five years is the normal way of professional development.
Total digitalization
Another important trend in modern education, which is sure to stay with us for a long time – is digitalization. This phenomenon includes not only the transition to distance learning but also the increasing role of mobile technology and the creation of a digital environment for students. The main reason for learning going digital is globalization and students’ significant growth. It’s much easier for universities to launch courses online than it is for them to enroll everyone who wants to study face-to-face. It is also good for foreign students, who no longer have to travel huge distances to get a degree from a prestigious university.
According to the latest statistics, there has been a steady growth of Internet users around the globe.
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
This global change in education flows smoothly from the previous two. Massive Open Online Courses effectively accomplish two tasks:
- Provide access to relevant education to as many people as possible.
- To make the process of gaining knowledge open and interactive.
Such educational platforms are where courses from even the most prestigious universities in the world are available. For example, on a single MOOC platform, you can find modern training programs in data analysis, design, marketing, IT development, English, and management. There are even free courses and courses for children.
Gamification
“Our whole life is a game, and the people in it are actors.”
The words of William Shakespeare in the XXI century take on special significance because now the game is becoming an essential element of education. There is even a special term – Edutainment, which combines the concepts of “education” and “entertainment.”
The practice of gamification of the educational process involves schoolchildren and students in learning, helps them develop creative thinking, “flexible skills”, or soft skills, which are so important in today’s world, as well as find ways to interact with other participants in the process.
Interesting fact. Kidaptive develops educational games for children. The most popular of these is Leo’s Pad. In it, young participants are invited to go on a journey into the world of science and art, performing tasks guided by Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo Galilei, and Marie Curie. Observations of the children have shown that they begin to apply the skills learned in the game in real life.
VR and AR technologies
Another trend that logically comes out of gamification is the use of virtual and augmented reality technologies. This allows us to look at the educational process in a new way, to make it more voluminous and fascinating. The virtual reality methods not only increase the visibility of the studied material but also expand the boundaries of perception, helping to bring theory and practice as close as possible.
The effectiveness of VR and AR technologies is confirmed by various experiments actively conducted.
Active project work
Thanks to modern technology, we can access any information with one click. At the same time, real life and business do not expect theoretical knowledge from yesterday’s graduates but practical skills. These two facts require a significant restructuring of the educational process.
Thus, the role of students’ independent work is increasing. Now they can find the information they need before the class and study it by themselves. Teachers spend less and less time explaining and more time organizing group activities and project work. Case-solving, problem-solving, project development, brainstorming, and creative solutions come to the fore.
Pros of this approach:
- Students get a lively experience;
- they learn to think critically;
- they practically work off the received knowledge and skills;
- they get a better understanding of information;
- they learn to communicate and cooperate with others;
- maintain a high level of motivation for learning.
Project work is an excellent alternative to boring lectures, after which students leave their alma mater more motivated and prepared for real life.
Agile and Scrum-technologies
Among the trends of modern education are not only new formats but also approaches to the methods of organizing the educational process. One of them is the introduction of Agile principles and Scrum technologies.
Agile and Scrum allow for dividing the educational process into short segments, strengthening teamwork over projects, and constant monitoring of training results. Agile methodology teaches students to give themselves constant feedback, treat each stage responsibly, and maintain high motivation. And considering that Agile and Scrum are, as a rule, the main working methods in IT companies, students get useful skills that will definitely be useful for rapid professional growth.
Adaptive Learning
Adaptive learning is gaining more and more popularity in the world. The fact that education should adapt to the needs of the student spoke of in ancient times. But the real idea became with the development of artificial intelligence, which is also actively used in the essay helper free such as WowEssays. Adaptive systems allow you to create the most individualized way of learning, which takes into account the cognitive characteristics of the student, his ways of perceiving information, and the initial level of training.
So far, adaptive programs have limitations: they are not very suitable for the humanities, and those areas are subject to constant change. But these are areas for further technological development.
Integral Approach
The integral approach in education and in life involves interdisciplinary learning. In classical medicine, a disease is a physical ailment that must be treated with medicine or surgery. A specialist who uses the integrative approach looks at the disease not only from the perspective of the physical body but also takes into account the patient’s psychological state, his relationship with others, and family history and knows alternative treatment methods.
The founder of the integral approach is a contemporary philosopher and writer Ken Wilber. He has been called Buddha and Einstein all in one. His all-inclusive AQAL system is suitable for personal development and professional competencies growth.
The Changing Role of the Educator and Chatbots
An important trend that will only intensify over time is the changing role of the instructor. He is no longer the sole source of knowledge. He is now becoming the director who creates and supervises the educational process.
The teacher has such tasks on their shoulders:
- Engage students in learning;
- to keep them motivated;
- inventing and directing interactive projects;
- to teach how to think and critically absorb information.
And who will be in charge of checking knowledge? So far, this is also a teacher’s task. But there are already services for the development of chatbots that can automate the process and ease the teacher’s work.
Bonus: Neurotechnology and Big Data in Education
We just can’t help but talk about neurotechnology and big data systems. After all, they don’t just work in marketing and economics, helping sellers create more compelling products and consumers buy more. They’re making modern education better.
So, neurotechnology answers the question: how to structure the educational process to keep students’ attention longer? And Big Data is processing tons of information about student behavior while studying courses and telling us how we learn better. All of this helps make adaptive learning and other technologies more effective.
Thanks to neurotechnology, we know that students do better on tasks presented in simple, clear language and are not overwhelmed by visual garbage. So minimalism and crisp lines are not only the choice of fashion designers but also of progressive educators.
