Education is evolving rapidly. The question, really, is where is it heading? We can’t know for certain, of course, but there are definitely some trends on the horizon that we should pay attention to and that might very well shape the educational field for the next five years and for decades afterward as well.

It’s good to know about these now, for, as they say ‘forewarned is forearmed’ and in terms of the educational field that is doubly true. After all, we’re not just speaking about our own futures, but those of our children. Therefore, being prepared is vital, so that we can be educated and prepared to use the technologies and their possibilities to full effect.

So, with that in mind, let’s look at some of the big trends and what they will mean.

Deep learning

It wasn’t so long ago that all our texts were flat. No, I don’t mean in terms of story or content, but in that, you could not click through from what you were reading to supporting material. The hyperlink has changed that. It has allowed us to offer explanations of complicated concepts, without slowing down those who already know about them. 

Now, something similar is going on in the classroom. It’s called deep learning. And it means that classrooms are no longer confined by the walls that they’re in. The idea is that classrooms can reach out to experts and opinion formers in different places around the world and hear from the horse’s mouth how things actually work.

Now, this can be done by the teacher in support of the arguments they’re making. And it certainly has proven very effective in that regard. The thing is, that it works even better when it is deployed straight by the students.

By allowing students to use the online sphere to research information and present it in different ways and different forms, not only are they becoming better researchers, but they can also be guided easily and effectively to separate fact from fiction.

Flipped classrooms

Another thing that’s becoming more interesting is the idea of the flipped classroom. Before modern tech, the classroom was filled with lectures because that was the only way to impart the material to the students.

Nowadays, with the internet making it a cinch for students to consume content anywhere, that’s no longer the case. And so, some schools have flipped the learning process. They now allow students to follow the lectures from the comfort and the privacy of their own room, even while they do their actual homework together in the classroom.

The great thing about this technique is that in this way, students don’t have to wait for the next day to find solutions to a problem that they can’t solve. They can immediately connect with the teacher about the problem and therefore keep moving forward. This helps keep students motivated and learning.

Collaboration

Other schools haven’t taken things quite so far, but still, use technology to help students collaborate even when they’re not in school. The advantage of collaborative learning is that it places the student at the center of the learning process and gets them to learn by actually doing, discussing and creating meaning.

This can be accomplished through many different techniques and ways. Some teachers have experimented with their students maintaining blogs about what they learn and what it means for them. This hasn’t just taught students to synthesize information and turn it into something meaningful but also how to write more effectively. Instead of they decided to order their papers, if so, they need a reviews website like Bestessays.review.

Others have created other collaborative efforts, such as online slideshows, presentations or even short videos – something that can be more effective than presenting in front of a class, as it requires a further range of skills and doesn’t penalize those who find public speaking difficult.

Subject shift

Another unexpected effect that technology has had is that as it has allowed us to re-envision how teachers and students interact, it’s also allowing us to re-envision the very subjects being taught. More and more, teachers are moving away from traditional subjects such as ‘math’ and ‘humanities’ and looking at ways to embrace different subjects into a cohesive whole. In this way, science and art can be offered together, as well as history and technology.

By creating a more holistic approach to the subjects students learn, they come to realize that they are not dry distant subjects that have a little real-world application, and instead come to see their uses for them as people, which increases engagement and interest.

It will take time for the traditional barriers to come down, but once teachers have clued into the artificiality of the way subjects and topics have been divided up, this change will start to seriously gather pace.

Gamification

In fact, engagement and interest are finally taking the place they deserve, after we’ve come to understand how much they can benefit the educational process. One of the preeminent ways that this will happen is through gamification.

Now, it should be noted that for this to be effective the movement shouldn’t just aim at making things fun, but using elements of gaming to engage the actual learning process. The reason that’s important is that simply adding fun elements to a learning experience can sometimes be effective, but can just as easily end up being distracting, with the child paying less attention to what they’re actually supposed to learn and instead of seeing what they’re doing as entertainment.

To correctly use gamification, we’ve got to realize the powers lie in immediate feedback (so that children know when they’ve done something right and wrong) as well allowing children to fail without making them feel bad about doing so. This allows gamification to combine two powerful elements of the human mind – namely experimentation and reinforcement – to teach a lesson in far less time than other forms of learning do.

Adaptive learning

Another interesting thing that technology can do far better than a teacher can gives student-specific feedback continuously. This allows the program to adapt itself to the speed and the need of the student so that they learn at the speed that best suits them. This avoids that big danger that hangs over every classroom where some children are struggling and other students are bored.

Adaptive learning can sidestep that entirely so that the students can learn at the speed they’re most comfortable with. What’s more, this feedback can go both ways, with technology now making it possible for teachers to understand which students are struggling and where. In this way, instead of them having to spend time finding out what the problem areas are for the different students in their classroom, they can focus on solving the problems that already have been identified.

Last words

Society is changing rapidly. Nowhere more so than in the classroom. This gives our future generations access to possibilities, knowledge, and ideas that we can’t even begin to dream of. There is a new revolution going on that might well be just as profound as the revolution for universal education.

Only time will tell. But when it does so, I expect it to do so resoundingly.