A biology student may use 3-D virtual reality in the future to see the working of the digestive process or the action of a drug inside a vein and a physics student may use simulation and gaming to witness how atoms morph into alloys. Such scenarios are not a figment of imagination, but the likely face of education by 2025. There is a paradigm shift in the way teachers are teaching and students are learning in the 21st century and this trend is likely to grow exponentially in coming years, aided by the force of emerging technology.
Technological future
Technology is transforming education on an unprecedented scale by allowing sharing of information, facilitating learning collaboration and granting instant access to learning programs anytime and anywhere. Smart phones, laptops, gaming devices and internet are ubiquitous today. These technological devices have the potential to change the role of a teacher from a mere transmitter of information to a facilitator of the learning process as youngsters tend to embrace learning when technology is incorporated in the knowledge experience.
Learning platforms
Emerging learning platforms will be game changers in the educational landscape. HackReactor and General Assembly are already offering high-touch experiences, Codecademy is making hands-on coding learning possible and the likes of Coursera and edX are bringing advanced knowledge into people’s living rooms. In fact, Coursera certificates are gaining popularity on LinkedIn profiles, while Google and other companies are specifying online courses as qualifications for technical positions.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will change the educational pedagogy in the future. AI-driven algorithms will study individual data sets, create behavioral models and develop learning strategies that are tailor-made to a student’s situation and learning capabilities. Taking off from its success in helping Facebook to make friend recommendations and powering Siri to answer queries, AI will create virtual mentors to assist learners in the future.
Apps
Mobile learning Apps or m-learning will be the future of education. Such learning takes place through portable devices such as smartphones and tablets. For instance, Unimersiv teaches history by transporting the students to ancient Greece and MIT App Inventor provides a platform for students to create their own apps.
Cloud technology
Cloud-based technology takes the student-teacher collaboration beyond traditional classrooms. The students can learn from anywhere in the world by accessing the educational content that is centrally and readily available on the cloud servers. Some teachers are already using cloud-based storage systems such as Google Drive to share information about projects and schedules, with the students.
Personalization
Personalization will drive the future of education. The one-size fits-all educational degrees of today will become redundant and be replaced by modules to suit different learning and teaching styles. Short-term courses will become fashionable as changing technology and demand for new knowledge and competences will drive people to upgrade their skill sets at regular intervals.
Creative Learning
There would be a shift from teaching in an insular classroom to establishing connections with the real world. For example, students will be guided to see the impact of science in all spheres of life, right from making pancakes to measuring music beats.
Interactive Education
Hands-on activities will make learning more tangible and fun for the students. Interactive games such as mobile app-based quizzes will reinforce the learned concepts. Tinkering with equipment and design will provide insights into the actual world of science and engineering. A learning that cuts across the boundaries of a science lab, crafts corner, computer lab and art room will foster new and creative learning.
Active learning
Students will have a first-hand, interactive and engaging learning experience, thanks to technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality and gamification. Simulation will boost retention ability of the students, animation will help them to understand difficult theories and virtual reality will bring the outside world into the classroom.
Self-Learning
Self-directed learning will become the new normal. The students of the future will be less dependent on conventional learning tools such as books and classroom lectures due to the presence of online databases and e-books. Interactive online webinars and streamed content will help both educators and learners to constantly upgrade themselves in tune with the changing world.
Collaborative Learning
Classroom teachers are becoming more innovative and interactive, thanks to the availability of new applications. Google Docs, interactive whiteboards and new applications that create quizzes and activities, is making this an exciting time for collaborative learning in education. Active participation in the online social world will further set the stage for collaborative learning across schools and regions.
Practical Learning
The internet-connected smartphones and other devices will help the students to learn anywhere and anytime, thereby breaking the restrictions and monopoly of the classroom and narrowing the boundaries of learning itself. Moreover, the demise of rote learning will help the students to better understand the concepts before moving to the next topic.
Competency-based education
Competency-based education will focus on equipping students with the necessary knowledge and skills to thrive in a globalized and technological world. The instruction, assessment and grading in a competency-based educational approach would be such that students would be able to advance to the next stage based on their ability to master a skill and competency.
Micro-learning
Micro-learning will be a transformative trend in learning in a world where multi-tasking will reign supreme. Students will learn focused bursts of information through micro-learning tasks such as viewing a flashcard, memorizing a word and watching a video.
Digitized Parenthood
The parents’ engagement with the school and involvement with children’s studies are becoming digitized as parents will receive constant communication and feedback from the school through sms’ and school management softwares.
To conclude, we have come a long way from innovating GP tuition classes. Advancements in educational technologies, innovative learning approaches, and mature and diverse educational pedagogies will transform the education system as we know it today. Teachers will not become redundant in the new scheme of things; in fact many companies provide teacher discounts in recognition of the yeoman services rendered by teachers towards molding of young minds. But the interaction between the teacher, learner, learning environment and learning mechanisms will undergo a metamorphosis.
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