The revolution of mobile and internet technologies has led us beyond traditional methods of education. Today, each person with access to the internet can visit a place like Wikipedia and get the right information from one or thousands of sources. Online courses like Coursera have made education and even basic science available nearly to everyone.
For the last decade, the educational environment has significantly changed thanks to computerization, internet access, and new technologies. Teachers can use chatbots to answer students’ questions on an educational channel or create an online stream of the lesson for students who are unable to attend the class in person.
Education has undergone significant changes in the past hundred years. It is now more individualized, digitized, and accessible than ever before. What should we expect for the future? In this article, we want to share some insights on the educational technologies of the future.
Distance Learning Technologies
While traditional methods of learning are still widely popular, people are more and more interested in gaining knowledge online. Self-education has become a new model of life. Now, only young people may learn new information in an easy way. The pace of innovations gives us no alternative but to become a perpetual student. To remain an expert in your field and keep up with the latest technologies and information, you need to look for new knowledge.
The expanded possibilities of self-education and distance learning technologies has dramatically changed the prospects of receiving and transferring new knowledge. It requires a new type of teacher who is able to work remotely, effectively cooperate with a student without close personal contact, use the latest technologies, and create courses with accessible information.
Today, we have already had a great number of online universities and courses: Coursera, Canva, Khan Academy, Udemy, edX, Alison – the list may be expanded nearly every month. The quantity and quality of the material is increasing in progression. In the near future, this trend will steadily increase. This trend will require a specialist (a service or algorithm) in online education to create an individual program for a particular purpose or become a mentor in the online educational sphere.
Personalized Learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
New technologies in online learning allow us to see the statistics and analytics of every particular lecture and course. You can see when people stop watching the lecture and define the problem in the educational material. For example, it may occur that the information may be boring or incomprehensible. Such options lead us to the path of personalized learning.
Why is it so important? For example, you were given one week to read and analyze one philosophical book and write a literary analysis, but you couldn’t understand it within the given time frame. The student is literally forced to use a college essay writing service to avoid being kicked out of school, whereas an additional week and communication with the teacher would help them successfully do the assignment.
Personalized learning will help us collect information about every student and create a program that will fit their abilities. It will facilitate choosing the pace and information that is suitable for the student. One of the most popular projects is Knewton, which uses a system of adaptive learning. The program tracks the student’s activity and analyzes a massive amount of data to give personal recommendations about the learning pathways.
Immersive Technologies Education: AR and VR
Experience with the latest presentation systems will also be useful. The creators of the VR and AR helmets hope that in the future their creations will be used beyond the scope of entertainment. The implication of AR and VR in education may be different, but their advantages over traditional methods of teaching are obvious.
A good example is in an anatomy or biology class. For example, the teacher tries to explain the functions of lungs and how they work. Now imagine that, thanks to VR, you will be able to visit the inside of the lungs and see them with your own eyes. It is unlikely that you will ever forget what alveoli look like and what purpose they serve.
Yale University has successfully conducted a double-blinded study using VR training for gallbladder surgery. The research has shown that the students who used VR worked faster and made fewer mistakes in comparison to the non-VR group. Researchers from Beijing have tested two groups of students by using VR and traditional teaching methods for the same discipline. As a result, the VR group has shown better test results.
For example, the project ClassVR has gained success in Europe. Its creators offer a comprehensive set of VR tools (device and software) as a complex solution for mass-scale training. The project allows the use of VR both in small groups and in classes with a great number of students.
In the near future, practically every school and university program will use immersive technologies and programming.
Gamification
All people like to play. So, why should it not be used as an additional source of learning? Interactive learning will help involve students in the studying process and make it more fun and engaging. Also, the format of a game helps to increase motivation, and high motivation helps to increase success in the face of difficult material.
The developers have already created games that allow students to use their knowledge in a particular discipline to play games. Sometimes students need to learn something outside the school program to pass the game level.
For example, CodeSpells teaches students to create code, where a student needs to become a wizard and make spells with programming code. MinecraftEdu teaches elementary math, coding, and chemistry.
Final Thoughts
New technologies have already influenced numerous industries, and it’s only the beginning.
The educational sector is no exception. Technologies have entered education and may completely change it in the near future. Perhaps our children or grandchildren will be able to study with the help of artificial intelligence as a private tutor, and higher education will become commonplace. One thing we know – learning will be interesting and engaging as never before.
Talha Ali is your tech generalist, covering a wide spectrum of topics within the ever-evolving world of technology. With a curiosity for the latest innovations, industry trends, and breakthroughs. Whether it’s hardware, software, emerging technologies, or the intersection of tech with daily life, Talha’s articles provide readers with a well-rounded perspective on the dynamic landscape of the tech industry.
