This is the second of the series of three articles discussing education market trends. The previous article highlighted five trends namely; social media, online learning, MOOCS, GBL and homeschooling. This article will discuss about other such growing trends.
More trends in the education market that edupreneurs must know are listed below:
- Flipped Learning
Flipping the classroom gives students access to lectures before they come to class and allows them to use their class time for more engaging activities. More colleges and universities are growing comfortable with the idea of recording lectures and making them available online. Lecture capture is considered as an important tool to deliver instructional content. Flipped classroom reforms the role of teachers from being mere instructors to being mentors and guides. It helps blend direct instruction with focused learning and help students assume greater responsibility for developing their own learning track. A major benefit of flipping is that overall interaction increases. Teachers can now address to students’ doubts more effectively, work with small groups, and guide the learning of each student individually. Students can help each other learn instead of relying on the teacher to learn anything new. Various flipped learning models, from flipped lessons to fully flipped classrooms, will continue to gain momentum and will strengthen effective connectivity. High-resolution tablets and smartphones, combined with higher-speed wireless networks, will contribute towards flipping a classroom. As a result, students will have more opportunities to use and share videos, images and other multimedia learning materials. - Mobile Technology
Students increasingly use mobile technology to personalize their digital learning environments. They combine multiple tools and resources to address their own needs. Mobile devices undoubtedly make learning much easier, by providing immediate access to a host of electronic learning resources and data. Students can access and save information, collaborate and participate in discussions with fellow students, and gather additional resources to help them focus on the subjects they may individually need to master. The rising trend of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) in classrooms requires learning materials to be made available and functional in a variety of formats. Content is primary to learning and analysts have predicted that in the consumer and education industries companies will start thinking about mobile first for content delivery. Mobile learning technologies offer teachers and students a more flexible approach to learning. Mobile technology and applications will continue to evolve in the future and it is expected that more students and teachers will be using these tools to assemble their own personalized digital learning and teaching environments. - Cloud-based technology
Cloud-based collaborative technology creates interactive learning experiences for one-to-many teaching and learning. Due to the rise of social learning, schools are looking for cloud-based content management systems so that material, assessments, data, reports and all of the school operations can be accessed with ease when and where needed. In higher education much of instruction is now being offered online. They are blended or web-enhanced, including courses and programs that continue to grow rapidly. Alongside the growth of e-learning, higher education has witnessed the explosion of cloud-based technologies. Cloud allows teachers to post assignments online. Students are able to access these assignments, complete them, and save them to review later. Cloud computing has many advantages in the school system and implementing this kind of technology in schools will save the school money and would help students. - Tablets
With the low cost of tablet PCs, they are becoming very affordable for individuals. Many companies have also come up with tablet PCs embedded with educational contents like Lecture Series, Tutorials and Assessments for the exam preparation. Such innovative methods reduce the cost of education and make it affordable for everyone including in the rural market. The trend isn’t just about the rise of tablet computing but how the tablets are used and how they have changed user expectations. Kids expect touch screen capabilities, small device sizes, voice interaction, and other functions based on the newer technologies. Content developers need to think about the dynamics of the tablet experience. Tablets bring a whole new level of interactivity to learning. - Android
Android is a great operating system with a lot of great features and apps for education. Most of the students have Android phones and these make up more than 50% of the smartphone market, which shows how widespread they are. With most of the younger generation increasingly using Smart Phones, Android App market is picking up. The use Android apps will increase in the coming days since students and teachers find it convenient to find educational apps right from schooling to higher education.
The next and final part of the series will discuss about more such trends.
