There are as many definitions of e-Learning. We like the one that says e-Learning is the acquisition of knowledge that takes place through electronic technologies and media. Even though a lot of people are skeptical about e-Learning, this method has many proven benefits.
They become more than obvious during the COVID-19 pandemic. People around the world were locked in their homes and that was a big opportunity for the global rise of e-Learning.
We dare to say that with the end of the pandemic e-Learning is here to stay.
The development of new digital technologies, coupled with the incentive to improve learning, has revolutionized e-Learning. Here’s what we can expect in the near future.
1. Gamification
Gamification refers to the process of taking elements of games and incorporating them into an online course or an entire e-Learning platform. It can be anything ranking from leaderboards to progress badges and rewards.
It makes online learning more fun and engaging, thus facilitating reinforced learning, knowledge retention, student engagement, and motivation.
Gamification has already paved its way into the e-Learning industry. It’s safe to assume that it will continue to be one of the most popular niche trends.
2. Artificial Intelligence
AI has disruptive potential as a technology. We can see it being implemented across industries. It can help automate processes, provide deep insights, and process data efficiently.
In e-Learning AI can be used to deliver personalized lessons to learners.
Also, thanks to AI, the e-Learning industry can now completely automate the assessment of students. That doesn’t just help the course creators but can also facilitate learning. AI can provide instant results and learning suggestions to students.
It can also analyze student data and offer personalized learning paths to students. There are already some schools leveraging AI to offer flexible and personalized online programs for students.
3. Harnessing the Power of Big Data
Learning materials coupled with student information, performance, and learning habits are making a huge data set. This data set is too large and complex to be handled by educational institutions. Big data can help organizations:
- Systematically extract relevant data from big data sets
- Analyze it
- Compile it in a meaningful manner
Thanks to big data insights, educational institutions can create, adjust, and personalize training courses.
4. Virtual Reality
The e-Learning industry has been struggling to bridge the gap between theoretical and practical learning for quite some time now.
Course creators use all types of media to diversify learning materials and facilitate learning. Until recently, it was borderline impossible to create immersive learning experiences.
Virtual Reality tech offers the solution to this problem. VR enabled online courses to allow students to learn hands-on. Golf simulators, flight simulators, and other devices create a VR space to let users learn through their experience of an artificially-made environment. Schools can now deliver immersive experiences and enable students to learn complex operations while keeping the costs at a minimum.
5. User-Generated Learning Content
User-generated learning content is just formal jargon for something that has been around for decades. It refers to spreading relevant personal knowledge to peers. It’s something that often takes place during meetings, team building, and conferences.
In the future, we can expect to see course creators using the natural creation of user-generated learning content within e-Learning courses. Thanks to Tin Can API, it has become easier to track, record, and store the learning efforts of every individual.
Incorporating these materials in courses can help deliver the most relevant information to students.
6. Microlearning
Microlearning refers to the process of learning small units or participating in short-term learning activities. Microlearning-based training delivers short content. The content can come in many forms ranging from text and images to videos, quizzes, and games.
Why is it one of the major trends? Because it offers several benefits.
Microlearning has a high engaging potential. It allows us to better understand, retain, and apply the concepts. Since microlearning-based courses deliver short content, it’s convenient to deploy them across mobile devices.
7. Automated Enterprise Learning
The rise of global e-Learning has the power to transform business and education. Enterprise learning’s primary challenge is deploying relevant courses to hundreds, if not thousands of employees.
New software solutions and AI will be able to assign learning courses automatically for a large number of employees. Thanks to AI-based automation, big enterprises will be able to benefit from e-Learning on auto-pilot.
Conclusion
The e-Learning industry evolution is rooted in technological advancements. While these are currently the seven major trends to know, the new developments in the near future should not come as a surprise. We look forward to seeing what the future will bring to this field.
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