10 Trends in Education Technology
One of the factors that contribute to achieving an excellent university brand is the quality of a university’s educational program. Educational institutions do their best to improve their educational systems to earn a high university ranking; it could be locally, nationally, or even globally. Due to the changing landscape of the education industry, many technological trends are being observed by institutions to keep up. We’ve listed and explained ten of these timely trends in this article, and we proudly invite you to know and learn about them.
10 Trends in Education Technology
Virtual Education
You’ve probably heard of virtual education at least once. It’s the most common trend in education technology and will undoubtedly continue being so in many years to come. In a virtual education setting, the teacher and students will do their classes via video chat or video conference, instead of being in a classroom. Virtual education makes it possible for students and teachers to conduct classes from the comforts of their home or any place of their preference.
Student and Teacher Wellness
The traditional ways of educating students can burnout the capabilities of teachers due to their repetitiveness. The students as well can get discouraged or bored in dealing with similar educational activities day in and day out. Those factors, indeed, can potentially degrade education quality. For that reason, many educational technology innovations were formulated to reinvent education techniques for the wellness of students and teachers.
Data Privacy
In a university, data regarding the students and faculty are mostly considered as confidential. They must be kept secure and private. With the convenience of technology in education, data protection or privacy became an important trend. Software tools and programs are being used by educational institutions to safeguard records and information of students and teachers embedded in the system. Those data must not be disclosed to other entities aside from the students and teachers who own them.
Online Learning
The internet, as we all know it, has taken over all most every aspect of humanity’s activities, that includes education. Due to that, online learning (also called e-learning) is a constant trend in the education industry. With online learning, education is brought straight to the personal desks and fingertips of students and teachers alike. All they need is access to the internet. Online learning makes education convenient to achieve without having to deal with the hassle and expenses of traveling to campus every day.
Collaborative Learning
Collaborative learning refers to a scenario wherein two or a group of students learn something together and help each other in doing so. Thanks to technology, collaborative learning is made possible even if students are far away from each other geographically. Subsequently, collaborative learning became one of the top trends in education technology. Various marketing strategies by schools and universities emphasize collaborative learning as a part of their teaching methods. Most of them took advantage of technology to truly integrate collaborative learning into their educational system.
Data Management & Analytics
University educators and registrars deal with student-related statistics and data in their line of work, with test scores and grades as the most notable. If you assess their task, you can say they’re difficult to accomplish manually because they certainly are. For that reason, they use software tools for data analytics and management. Such tools help educators and registrars in arranging student records accordingly. For educators, they specifically utilize software tools to evaluate performance and calculate the grades of their students accurately. Managing bulks of data and information will never be a struggle for educators and registrars.
Gamification in Education
Gamification is the process of integrating a competition factor into any type of activity, which inclines individuals to be more engaged in them. In the education industry, gamification has already been adopted by some educational institutions and establishments. They use game applications and software to encourage the learning of the students. Gamification in education makes learning more fun for students and learners. It’ll be just like having leisure time. According to an infographic from LearnDash.com, 80% of students suggest that they are more productive if the learning methods and atmosphere of their campus is game-like. After all, we all love to do things through fun and games.
Artificial Intelligence
It may sound like science-fiction to you, but believe it or not, artificial intelligence (AI) has made its way into the education industry. However, they won’t take over as the primary educators of the students. AI will only aid students and teachers in classes. For the students, they can use AI systems as their tutor for their self-study sessions, projects, and term papers. For the teachers, they can use the assistance of AI tools to discuss complex lessons during their lectures. No matter how widespread AI will become in the education industry, it can never replace actual teachers. Teaching and learning require genuine social interaction and human connection.
Automated Systems
Universities accept thousands of students on their campuses each semester. That said, registering and evaluating each of them will be near-impossible to do manually. That’s why automation tools are a never-ending trend in education technology. Automation tools or automated systems quicken a university’s student application and student enrollment procedures. However, automation tools don’t stop there. They can also be used for lectures and learning processes between teachers and students. Automated systems can help in creating learning roadmaps and curriculum structures to better help students in attaining the skills and competencies of their course.
More Accessible Education
Technology made our world a smaller place where people can connect despite vast distances. When it comes to education, technology made various forms of learning more and more accessible to everyone. Learners and educators can simply open their computers, laptops, and tablets, and then the class is in session. Other than that, technology broke barriers that hindered learners and educators from finding and gathering educational resources and information. The possibilities of discovering and learning are abundant thanks to education technology.
Education will never stop in our world. We need it to further our civilization and our capabilities as intelligent beings. Only time will tell if new trends will arise regarding education technology. Whatever the future holds, the goal will remain the same, which is to share and spread knowledge.
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