While it’s nearly impossible to predict the future, there are some hints that help us understand what educational trends to expect in 2016.
Living in the digital era, the educational process is focused on the implementation of modern technologies. Modern masterful teachers are not afraid of using technologies in the class, and it helps to develop modern educational trends to give students an opportunity to become not only smarter but tech-savvy as well.
Here’s the kicker:
Technologies start running the world and affect the educational process as well.
Most teachers and learners have their predictions for education in 2016, and we’ve collected a list of modern educational trends, too.
Here comes a list of modern trends:
MOOCs
A Massive Open Online Course (or a MOOC) is an online course provided by some university to give students an opportunity to obtain knowledge on the Internet. MOOCs are aimed to provide free access to the educational material and, therefore, the possibility to enroll any course you are interested in.
The number of students who want to enroll MOOCs is growing annually and more and more universities start providing different online courses. Observations show that there will be a positive dynamics in this trend as students (and post graduates) find MOOCs both interesting and useful.
Find More Articles Related to MOOCs
As the variety of MOOCs is big, it’s easy to find a course that suits your needs. However, once you pick a course, explore how many people have already signed it up. The more people enrolled it, the more likely it is worth studying.
The best online course providers are the following ones:
All in all, online education is getting more and more popular, so predictions about MOOCs are logical: the more people want to sign up for MOOCs, the more popular this trend is.
M-learning
‘Generation Z’ is tech-savvy, and statistics shows that 73% of teens have their own phones. This tendency has changed not only personal life but the educational process as well. While it’s nearly impossible to stop growing the importance of e-learning, m-learning starts grabbing students’ attention as well. You might ask what makes m-learning different from e-learning, and this question would be logical.
Here is a short summary about m-learning:
- it’s personal and fun
- it’s just-in-time learning
- mobile access
While most websites are mobile-friendly, it’s easy to surf the Internet from your phone to find an article to read. Plus, mobile phones can be used to complete home tasks and much more.
The most common reasons to implement m-learning as it helps to:
- keep in touch with students wherever they are
- develop creative thinking (audio/video/photography)
- obtain knowledge from any place
- save time while studying
- keep students interested and enthusiastic
Once you found a suitable mobile task, suggest students to give it a whirl. Growing their interest is important, indeed.
General Technologies in the Classroom
There is no need to say that students use modern gadgets daily: smartphones, tablets, and laptops are high on their list. Thus, using technologies in the classroom can be beneficial for both students and teachers. Living in the digital era, modern gadgets help us a lot. If you use computers in the classroom, that’s great. However, you can go beyond it.
Cloud storage services. Create, save, and share materials among students. It’s also easy to edit and proofread tasks, leave comments, and collaborate online with the help of cloud storage services. Get access to your files whenever you need it.
Wearable technologies. Most of these gadgets include tracking information about the health of a person who wears them. It helps to control the impact of physical exercises on health, so students can prevent health problems.
A digital highlighter/smart pen. Let’s call a spade a spade: most students write a lot. Using these gadgets can help to save time, as students can create handwritten copies to transfer them to their laptops or other devices. Thus, there are some functions to translate texts, so it can be used while studying foreign languages, as well.
The technological progress keeps on developing, so the number of useful devices is growing day in, day out. Thus, teachers should track these changes and try to get the most out of the digital era.
Offline Educational Events
Although people use the Internet to obtain knowledge, it’s hard to stop attending offline educational events as it is useful, too. No matter who you are, whether a student or a teacher, you might find events that will be not only interesting but useful as well. Once you decide to find an offline educational event, pay attention to the list of upcoming events at Lanyrd.
Making ‘Friends’ with Teachers
One of the most important trends in education is balancing being a strict and friendly teacher. Most students would agree that collaborating with positive teachers inspire and motivate, so they can achieve more. If you want to become a guru for your students, make friends with them, and it doesn’t mean being ‘friends’ outside the college; just put their needs first and be attentive.
If you implement most of these trends on a regular basis, it’s more likely your students will be involved in the educational process and achieve success. Plus, chasing educational trends gives the opportunity to self-development and motivation boosting.
Once you analyzed all above-mentioned trends, think about the best ways to start using them. The educational process is eternal, and it is developing all the time. So, don’t forget to get the most out of its development.
Give it a try, and see how your students’ enthusiasm is growing. They are children of the digital era, after all.
