Teaching has evolved significantly over the last couple of decades, and technology has played a huge role in that. Various new trends have emerged, including some that have completely transformed the concept of teaching in some places. Anyone involved in the educational system has a duty to stay informed about these trends and keep exploring ways they can integrate them into their own work. If you want to be innovative and push your own teaching to the next level, here are some of the hottest trends on the market right now.
- Outsourcing
Outsourcing is a trend that has taken many industries by storm, and it’s not hard to see why. It offers many benefits compared to traditional business interactions and makes it much easier for companies to find the talent they need for specific jobs. Education wasn’t initially seen as a sector that would benefit from this, but those notions have quickly started to change. As it turns out, many jobs in the field – including those of teachers themselves – can be outsourced with great effectiveness, and without compromising anything in terms of education quality for students. This has been a controversial topic due to the job market conditions for teachers in some places, but it’s clear at this point that it’s a trend which is not going anywhere, and people should start adapting to it as soon as possible.
- Remote Learning
And that brings us to the next huge trend on this list – remote learning. This was already happening in many places before the pandemic hit, but the last two years really sped up our progress in this area and forced institutions to take more active measures in this area. At this point, remote learning is not only a viable option, but also the preferred path for certain specialisations. Even teachers themselves can benefit from it – an online master’s degree in education from the University of Exeter can significantly boost a person’s prospects on the job market, and it can be easily obtained even by someone with a busy schedule.
- Strengthening Student Support Networks
We’re seeing more and more effort going into improving students’ abilities to support each other, instead of having everyone rely on their teachers exclusively. This might have been a side effect of the pandemic, but it can be argued that it was already happening in some circles before that. Universities in some countries have been promoting this approach for a long time now, particularly in some parts of Europe like Germany. And it’s certainly good to see this trend becoming more common, because studies show pretty much universally that it has a good potential for boosting the performance of everyone involved. Not only that, but it provides many students with additional confidence, which can be an important factor in their success.
- Gamification
Gamification is a controversial topic in some circles. Some claim that it’s being pushed too far, while others see it as a great solution to problems that have been looming on the horizon for decades, particularly in environments involving children. It’s already showing great success in the context of education though, so it’s definitely something that deserves additional research. Even if it turns out that excessive gamification is ultimately harmful to students, we will at least have some actual data to back that up. This is not something that should be handled based on hunches and gut feelings.
- Self-guided Learning
As a bit of a counterpoint to what we mentioned above about student support networks, we’ve also seen significant attempts to enable students to guide themselves through their studies at their own pace. This has proven to be a crucial factor in enabling some students to progress towards higher accomplishments and a deeper understanding of some subjects, and it’s a concept that will hopefully continue to evolve. This approach has been aided in no small part by the internet, and many students today grow up with better research and critical thinking skills than their counterparts from just a couple of decades ago. And when it comes to preparing students for what life has in store for them, few things work better.
- Social Media
Given the prevalence of social media in pretty much every aspect of our lives, it should be no surprise that it’s also seeing some level of integration into education. It’s not just about Facebook groups and group chats anymore – kids today are using the tools available to them quite extensively. Platforms like Discord have facilitated the sharing of materials, ideas, and presentations in those circles, and we’re seeing more students using social media as an aid in the tasks they complete as part of their studies. While it can definitely be argued that social media as a whole is not something kids should be exposed to from an early age, now that the cat’s out of the bag, we can at least attempt to use those platforms for something useful.
- More Personalisation
With the huge push towards personalisation in everything right now, it was only natural to see that trend in education as well. Which is certainly a good change, because the field has traditionally always had a problem in this regard. Students often have to work with content produced to be as wide-reaching as possible, even when that comes at the cost of making it less accessible to specific students. Nowadays, many students can enjoy a more personalised approach to the creation of their study materials and their interactions with teachers. It will be interesting to see how this develops in the long run.
Those trends are already reshaping the landscape of education in very noticeable ways. We’ve seen a lot of progress in just the last two decades and looking at the way some fields of technology have been evolving, it’s exciting to think about what the next decade could have in store for us. And those who feel like they have something to contribute are in a better position to make a difference than ever before. If you’ve been on the fence, take a look at what the field has to offer!
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