eLearning is not going anywhere anytime soon. Dusty blackboards, oversaturated photocopies, and smudged overhead projectors are things of the past now.
eLearning has taken over the education scene. For those unfamiliar with it, eLearning is the learning process that uses electronic means to help create a more dynamic and engaging learning environment. This kind of learning utilizes interactive whiteboards, online classes, etc.
Most Popular e-Learning Trends
Online learning has rapidly become the dominant means to pass on knowledge to students. So, here are the latest e-learning trends that are the future of education.
1. Video Learning
Usually, there are three types of learners:
- Visual
- Auditory
- Kinesthetic.
For example, the ones who excel best in education when faced with videos are visual learners. Those who learn through vocals are auditory learners, and those who require practical demonstration to succeed are called kinesthetic learners.
Despite this classification, auditory learners have gained the most attention for years and are best served by the standard lecture/note-taking classroom format.
However, with the development of eLearning, it’s no longer the case. Video learning is becoming more and more regular in classrooms around the world.
Video learning has undoubtedly come a long way and made its mark through video-based lectures and instructional videos. However, we bet you to name any application that video learning cannot improve. Therefore, it’s unlikely that this means of education would backslide anytime soon.
2. Social Learning
Social learning takes on the essential components of human interaction and group dynamics and then applies them to modern technology. With the advent of social learning in the electronic space (i.e., online forums, class-wide chat rooms, and file-sharing platforms), collaboration has become more efficient, productive, and seamless. It is one of the important strategies in online learning for learners to get more success.
Hence, teammates and learners can offer support and insights from the likes of their classrooms, homes, or any nearby coffee shops. Likewise, as long as social learning applications continue to develop, many more collaborative tools will emerge to dominate the market.
There’s more to it! When we consider social learning outside the realms of individual classrooms and group project scenarios, it can grow to become the backbone of school-wide curriculums everywhere.
3. Adaptive Learning
The style of education, where different resources, projects, activities, and assignments are tailed according to each learner’s needs, is referred to as adaptive learning.
The implementation of adaptive learning in the context of eLearning is usually performed by established algorithms and assessments rather than the potential arbitrary judgments of educators themselves.
So far, adaptive learning has been in the experimental stages, with organizations and competitors trying to figure out the kinks and are thus engaging in only small-scale executions.
As eLearning is on a roll, experimentation will soon end, and widespread adoption will begin. Many major online learning platforms already provide adaptive learning services, and there’s no reason to think this trend won’t last.
4. Artificial Intelligence
It’s not risky to say that artificial intelligence (AI) has left its initial reputation of being the evil impetus behind it. AI has experienced at-home integration worldwide with Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant on Android, and your simple text-based chatbots.
Beyond these simple smartphone commands, AI has also found its footing in the context of eLearning. Artificial intelligence would not only guide students through courses, but it can help predict learning and on-the-fly personalization.
The limitless potential applications of AI can offer more flexibility regarding alternative learning styles and needs, backed up by the concepts of adaptive learning.
5. Microlearning
Regardless of their age, many students are daunted by large, multi-phase projects. But, on the contrary, these students and other collaborative classrooms everywhere have found much greater success by breaking up lessons, learning materials, and projects into manageable chunks.
These manageable chunks are presented as video lectures, interactive activities, and readable text. This form of learning is called microlearning, and instructors around the globe have found that when 2-hour lessons are broken down into four 30-minute long sessions, in addition to online modules, they yield much better results and more excellent retention.
Online learners and instructors are yet to reap the benefits of microlearning. However, one such platform utilizing these modes of learning is SimpliTaught. It offers interactive video lectures from several educators worldwide and covers your key concepts.
6. Game-Based Learning
Whether you are a five-year-old or in your fifties, learning is always more intriguing when it’s fun. Game-based learning or gamification is the facet of online learning that attempts to make education more fun and digestible.
While most of us think that it’s just fun and games, there are proven benefits of introduction or review of lessons followed by the initiation of games. Firstly, it offers immediate application of the learned knowledge and provides an interaction with the material. It aids understanding, engagement, retention, grades, and overall classroom happiness.
Given its undeniable benefits, both digital and traditional classrooms will continue implementing game-based solutions in classrooms for the foreseeable future. Moreover, gamification is ideal for the somewhat impersonal nature of eLearning.
7. Augmented & Virtual Reality
An explorable interface, graphic overlays, and 360-degree visuals are just a few augmented and virtual reality applications. As a result, the pre-existing notion of teachers scribbling on the blackboard is outdated, and now educators are exploring new and up-to-date ways to enhance learning. One such trend is augmented and virtual reality in online classrooms.
The augmented and virtual reality applications allow eLearning practitioners to fully immerse their students into the subject, whether mathematics, accounting, science, history, or literature.
Thus, AR and VR are serving to take the other factors of eLearning to new heights. Video learning, gamification, and mobile learning become very immersive when paired with augmented and virtual reality. As there continue to be advancements in the field of technology, AR and VR in online education are here to stay for the foreseeable future.
8. Mobile Learning
Although currently, mobile learning is not strictly a part of traditional eLearning, its evolution (also called mLearning) is definitely an appropriate trend to watch out for.
Just recently, the concept of doing almost anything on your phone was a pipe dream. But now, about everything has become a possibility, and everyone loves the opportunity to do things while on the go.
While mLearning is still in its nascent stages, the past couple of years has been very kind to it. Many online learning platforms have launched phone-based language-learning applications proving to be torch-bearers for mobile learning in the online learning community.
While it’s a decent step forward, the mLearning architecture requires much work to become widespread and commonplace. Undoubtedly, mobile learning will grow to be huge in the coming years.
9. Learning Management Systems
Previously, employers and managers commonly implemented content management systems to create collaborative environments and workplaces and help produce and store digital content. Read detailed info on classroom learning vs online learning for a better decision.
This very concept has expanded into the realm of eLearning. Learning management systems (LMS) is an excellent choice that assists instructors and other online learning practitioners in developing, documenting, and administering the courses and curriculum created.
Also, thanks to the behind-the-scenes nature of LMSs, simultaneously planning ahead and course-correcting has become easy-breezy. Finally, the content curation it offers has made it easier for users to share information and integrate materials at the last minute.
As modern forms of education and learning are becoming increasingly digitized, LMS will make lesson planning and management more effortless. This will let us get rid of analog methods for good.
10. Learning & Development
LMS isn’t only about lesson planning, management, and implementation, but it aids teachers and other behind-the-scenes figures in collecting actionable data and other analytic factors.
Hence, the practitioners will be able to properly evaluate the effectiveness of a lesson or an overall course. Not only this, it plays a critical role in Learning and Development. Also, it helps educators to increase learners’ engagement in online classes.
L&D (learning and development) is commonly applied in industrial contexts because it correlates individual performance with overall organizational goals. However, it can also be used in the context of eLearning. Implementing L&D benefits teachers in applying gathered data to improve the overall learning experience for students.
Video learning, microlearning, social learning, adaptive learning, gamification, and augmented reality are all the products of data-driven indications of success. As eLearning trends continue to soar, the role of L&D, data, and analytics become increasingly vital because it would be hard to move forward and improve without the facts to back it up.
Final Thoughts!
The benefits speak for themselves no matter what edTech trend you choose to implement in online classrooms. Giving students a fun and engaging environment is essential and provides the opportunity to learn best and be happy with the overall educational experience. These popular e-learning trends are becoming a must to have.
So, if you are ready to implement these trends in your classroom, check out our edTech solutions on SimpliTaught. We conclude that the future of e-learning and online learning trends 2024 is on the rise.
