WHAT IS TREND? • According to Oxford Learners' Dictionary, the direction of change or development of a situation is called a trend. Thus, trends in education are teaching and learning methods being highly applicable and bringing great value to people. CURRENT TRENDS AND ISSUES IN EDUCATION 1. Mastery-Based Grading Many teachers are looking for alternatives to letter grading. Some worry that traditional grading methods do not accurately measure student progress. Mastery-based grading measures how well students have developed the skills they learned in class and allows opportunities for resubmission 2. Personalized Learning This is going to be a notable trend of the year as students can learn without worrying about device, location and timing constraints. This even changes the way of education delivery or learning process and students can learn without a barrier of their strength, weakness or pace of understanding. 3. Trauma-Informed Practices Refer to any intervention designed to respond to the unique needs of children who have experienced trauma. Because more than half of all children will experience a traumatic event before adulthood, it is essential to conduct training and implement strategies that support these children. 4. Genius Hour is a fairly new educational technique that allows students to work on self-paced and self-chosen projects for an hour each day Students should be given a chance for ‘genius hour’ during which they can choose to learn and explore their favorite and interesting subjects. 5. Brain Break Brain breaks are short, five- to ten-minute activities—like dancing or standing up to stretch— that allow students to stay refreshed after focusing in class for a long period of time. These are most effective when scheduled throughout the school day. By taking these breaks, students are less likely to feel stressed or anxious, and they will be better able to focus on their next lesson or task 6. Experiential Learning Experiential learning is a strategy that, according to Western Governors University, allows students to learn and develop skills in a setting outside of the classroom. For elementary students, options for experiential learning may be limited. But you can still make the most of this strategy by taking students on field trips (virtual or otherwise) and providing students with assignments that encourage them to learn outside of school 7. Blended Learning Incorporate both face-to-face and online learning opportunities. The strategy of blendeing online learning with school based instruction is often utilized to accommodate students’ diverse learning styles and to enable them to work before or after school in ways that are not possible with full-time conventional classroom intruction. TRENDS IN K TO 12 EDUCATION SYSTEM The computer and the internet’s evolution these past few years have been staggeringly fast. A computer that used to fill an entire building in 1965 has about the same computing power as a modern-day cell phone. Most popular forms of media like TV, radio, and print are slowly being nudged from their pedestal by the internet. Everything changed drastically these couple of years, and this includes the K-12 education system. Thankfully educators are starting to change with the times. The trend in K-12 education these days is the learning institutions should try their best to keep up with the recent advances in technology to better teach their students. Here are some of more popular trends in K-12 education today. 1. The use of the Internet and Social Media as Teaching Tool. All students these days know how to use a computer and internet, most of them are using social media networks to share their thoughts and to support each other. Educators know how harness the power of the internet and social media to get in touch and hear their students thoughts. 2. How the Condition of Educational Facilities Affect Performance. Basically the better the building’s condition, the better the students and their teachers perform. Some results point out that better facilities led to less truancy, smoking, and substance abuse in the students. With better school buildings test scores rose up significantly . Even the behaviour of the teachers and how well they instruct their students seem to increase along with improvements in school. 3. Students Teaching Teachers Students perform better when they have the opportunity to tell their teachers what things in the classroom needs improvement. Giving the students the chance in contributing and even revising the classroom rules gives them the feeling that they actually have a say on what goes on the classroom. Students tends to follow the class rules now since they had a role in making the rules and regulations. 4. Paying Close Attention to Each Students’ Needs Educators are not looking at their class as a collective; they see them as different individuals with different needs , which is why some students lag behind the others when it comes to the lectures. Educators can help these students keep up by giving them personalized attention. These are just some of the resent trends in K-12 education system. These are promising signs that show the educational system in the country is improving and no longer stagnant. TRENDS IN CREATING MORE EFFECTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT Society and the professional world continue to evolve and change with the growth of technology. This, in turn, has had a tremendous impact on the educational sphere, leading to a number of growing trends in the world of education. For educators to properly engage their students, they must remain abreast of these latest changes and key factors that affect learning in the classroom. 1. Technological trends in teaching and learning Computers and the internet have changed how students can not only access information but even classes themselves. The growth of technological capabilities means that a variety of media and learning-support tools now exist to help students receive a high-quality education through the Internet. This trend presents a number of benefits and drawbacks for teachers and institutions who want to continue to offer their students the rigorous education they need to thrive. 2. Soft skills training: a major trend in higher education Some of the most important skills in the workplace include critical thinking, problem-solving, people management, and creativity. Employers want to see emerging professionals who understand how to make hard decisions and showcase their leadership abilities. In an effort to prepare students for their future careers, schools must have the training in place to help students nurture and grow in these skill areas. 3. Student trend: decreasing attention spans As the prevalence of technology has grown, attention spans have also changed for students. They found that attention spans decreased by an incredible 4 seconds-- from 12 seconds to 8. This drop has largely been blamed on the nature of technology and the constant stimulation it offers viewers. The changes in attention span can also be used as an excellent way to differentiate between the different generations. Millennials, for example, who have largely grown up with this technology at their fingertips, have distinct characteristics from the Gen X and Boomers who came before them. To keep the attention of Millennials, the content presented to them must have excellent visuals and dialogue along with an interesting storyline that will hold their attention. This younger group cares more about the narrative and the visual nature of the content that interests them than other age groups. This change in attention trends also has a tremendous impact on how instructors adjust their classes and keep students engaged with the material. Teachers need to find ways to design classes that will catch the attention of their students. 4. Facilitating learning versus teaching As technology has grown, it has also changed how teachers relate to their students and their classrooms. With a wealth of information at their fingertips, students today have the tools they need to uncover a tremendous amount of facts and knowledge independently This can present some challenges for teachers, who must work on their own soft skills of leadership and problem-solving. They must learn how to foster conversations and create an environment that values team-work. 5. Life-long learning trend Each industrial revolution has changed the nature of work and jobs in astounding ways. The current 4th Industrial Revolution may impact an incredible 50 percent of jobs as tremendous technological progress leads to changes in how people do their jobs. Professionals who want to remain competitive in their environment will need to constantly re-skill themselves. They cannot assume that an education they earned in the first half of their professional career will be all they need for the rest of their working lives. OTHER TRENDS AND ISSUES IN EDUCATION 1. Integrated Learning Solutions It is not a Practical Idea for schools to wait till 100% digitalization to give students the taste of modern education. Integrated learning solutions are now an accepted reality in most schools. They are aiming to provide optimum digital infrastructure requirements while keeping traditional textbooks as the base. In fact, it is unfair for a group of students to remain unaware of the benefits of digital education just because of the connectivity and infrastructure issues. Intelligent solutions like a print textbook associated with audiovisual content for a smartboard which is linked to an online assessment structure can work wonders to improve learning outcomes. 2. Augmented Reality Knowledge retention improves drastically when learning involves audio, video, and visuals which is lacking in traditional lectures. This is one reason why schools have accepted virtual reality with both hands. In fact, virtual reality is not only about seeing something but about experiencing the subject which helps students to learn with better understanding. Teachers can find this as a feasible option to teach them complex concepts with comparatively a lesser time with the additional benefit of knowledge retention. Augmented reality can take learning to a new level as the students just experience the subject. 3. Professional Development of Teachers The educators are of course an integral element of the learning ecosystem. And that is why it is important to familiarize them with present generation competencies and skills so that students can experience the best of the technologies available now. This simply pushes the need for professional development programs when they can get better with the novel teachinglearning pedagogies as well as enhance their lateral thinking abilities. School authorities are taking initiatives to organize such programs and training for teachers of all level classes to help them make an impact on the present learning trends. Surprisingly, the trend is now seen in both private as well as public sector educational institutions. 4. Bite-Sized Learning Short-term attention span has always been an issue in the education sector. Students have struggled a lot to cope with the long, intense text. The learning content has not been very interactive, which reduced learning abilities in students. Now, the education sector has started understanding the unique learning needs of each and every student. This has been possible due to emerging digital technologies. Teachers are now able to incorporate bite-sized or nanolearning to reduce the intensity and increase the effectiveness of learning. This trend is growing at a fast pace. 5. Internet of Things This is, in fact, a much-discussed area in the digital transformation trends in the field of education. Unlike just the energy efficiencies, IoT is putting forward options for teachers and school authorities to better organize the daily school activities. This even provides additional options like sharing student results with other teachers or parents in real time or track the completion of home works easily. Teachers can also use it as a domain to alert students about some potential issues or use it to easily evaluate if their teaching strategies are working through polls. 6. Formative assessment solutions The importance of learning outcomes will be focused more and that is why formative assessment solutions are adopted. The routine assessment options like basic tests for recall at the end of a term may prove less productive in this digital era. Through formative assessments, learning makes an impact as it tests the student’s progress together with curriculum delivery and analyzes personal and social competencies. In fact, students will get a personalized feel of the outcomes as these techniques are adaptive, which is another reason why institutions now largely choose formative assessment over the routine cookie-cutter approaches 7. More Flexible Seating Some of you may wonder if this is something very important to education. In fact, research has suggested that it can have a remarkable impact on the way students perceive education. Understanding its significance, schools have started giving them choices to opt for the way they like to be seated in a class. This can be standing desks, large pillows, bucket chairs, or even café style stools unlike the traditional classroom set up. It is after all about the freedom children experience, which in turn changes the way they see education. 8. Exam Management Revolution The way exams are conducted and evaluated is going to be changed which avoids the hectic traditional styles including exam invigilation, exam centers, and answer sheet evaluation. AI-based proctoring can bring a lot of changes in the way exams are managed as infrastructure or logistics are no more barriers. With this technology, students are allowed to take exams despite their location. However, this makes sure if the students are taking exams in a fair manner with intelligence features to track and monitor by means of advanced image, video and audio streaming. 9. Blockchain Technology This innovative technology will make a remarkable difference in the way schools handle student credentials and certificate verification. It provides an option to store digital copies of credentials like certificates in a collaborated and the distributed environment. This avoids the cases of lost original certificate and helps with a better way of student record authentication. 10. Digital Ethics and Privacy Upholding the significance of digital ethics and privacy is becoming very important in the present educational era. Giving importance to this right from the school days in fact help students to have early learning about the possible scenarios well in advance. The scenario has become diligently important with the increasing rise of social media influence as well as data leaks and data terrorism. 11. Online Education With the widespread acceptance and influence of mobile gadgets, providing online education is a concept which can be delivered a lot easy than ever before. Even working professionals or students with problems of transportation can access education without confinement. This proposes a platform to provide education through videos and tutorials to the students of rural areas where they can get it at affordable rates. Moreover, value-added certifications offered online can enhance the employability of the students. 12. Shifting from STEM to STEAM For a long time, the education system revolved around the STEM approach. So, the integral education aspects were science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. But this has become a bit outdated nowadays. However, various industries ask for professionals who disciplined in the areas of creativity and art. The last few years have increased the popularity of the STEAM approach to learning. The “A” stands for Arts, which includes the creative aspect of learning. Businesses give merit to creativity and thinking, especially in the fields of innovation, leading, teaching and others. Even teachers need to evolve their creative thinking to utilize unique teaching methods and design age-appropriate learning models. 13. Smart Spaces This was one of the much-awaited trends for long years and in fact, it serves as a platform or literal physical space where humans can interact with modern technology. This simply means that students and teachers get a chance to use the traditional classroom set up where they can utilize the most modern technologies. This will be a dream come true for many learning enthusiasts as the result is a classroom with artificial intelligencedriven analytics, smart boards, learning management systems as well as robots to carry out process-driven tasks. 14. Cost Management in Education As the technology is rising in the education sector, administrations will require in-depth planning to ensure relevant investment. With the correct strategy, education industry will see a great improvement in terms of cost management. In the coming years, educational institutes are expected to invest more in cloud technologies to reduce operational cost. It will also improve the efficiency of operations in the education industry due to shared services. The cost of printing and papers will diminish with the rise of blockchain technology in the education sector. All the important documents, certificates, diplomas and others will take a digital form. This will reduce the labor cost as well, which is generally required to store, manage and maintain a lot of data in institutes. While other areas will go down with respect to cost, the computing aspect will require more investment. More and more classes are now connected. Hence, the demand for improved computing resources is natural. This cost will enhance the operations. Sending information processing transactions and various other functions will become digital and simpler. 15. Increasing Wellness Programs The education sector has been giving importance to the wellness of students a lot in the past few years. And this will increase as the rise of wellness programs. These programs will focus on resolving issues such as anxiety, stress and other disorders that lead to learning disabilities. Students will get comprehensive awareness about their emotional, physical and spiritual being. The education sector is, in fact, a vast area and the perspectives can differ depending on the facilities of the school, the type of students you are handling and importantly on the immediate society. Parents, students, teachers, school management and policy-making bodies can make an impact on the way how trends are changing over the years. 16) The Changing Role of a Teacher The 21st century has changed the concept of a teacher too. More than a data feeder, the teacher has become someone who nurtures the learners adequately. This trend has become the crux of the student-centered approach to learning. The teacher has become a person who guides his/ her class through activities and sharing the wonder of discovery. Though involved in the activities, a teacher should keep an eye on monitoring the personal progress of individuals and helping the ones who need special attention and help. 17. Artificial Intelligence Learning The impact of artificial intelligence in the field of education is flourishing.AI keeps altering education institutions and tools used. In this tech era, there are more sites that use AI technology to assess a student’s progress. Apps like Duolingo and writing tools like No Red Ink focuses on how AI provides individual revisions and internet-based learning. The main advantage of AI is that it provides real-time feedback and continual targeted practice for students. Teachers can analyze where the students stand up to and also they can tailor up better lesson plans. Teachers can get help from the monotonous task of paper corrections and plagiarism checking with the help of AI features. 18. Cultivation of empathy One of the main problems of the classroom is poor behavior among students. Compassion for others, good communication skills, empathy and good relationship with classmates are required for students to create a positive character. Empathy is necessary for individuals to build up a trusted and friendly relationship among students. The teachers should include more group activities for students to make them interact with other students. The schools which focus on improving empathy have higher achieving students as their outcome. 19. Reading through a digital library Digital libraries should be encouraged for reluctant readers. Students should be given the freedom to explore, observe, question and infer from the surroundings. Reading helps to expand knowledge and gain information about anything and everything. 20. Nudge Tech Nudge Tech generally refers to a collection of technologies that include data, cloud, social, etc. All these work together to achieve timely personalized interaction with teachers, students, and other staff. 21. Virtual or Online learning These opportunities include dual enrollment, credit recovery, and summer school programs, and can make courses such as. Advanced Placement and honours, or remediation classes available to students. Both core subjects and electives can be taken online, many supported by online learning materials. While some online schools or programs are home-grown, many others contract with private providers or other states to provide online learning opportunities. 22. Full-time online schools The following online or virtual schools enroll students on a fulltime basis, students enrolled in these schools are not attending bricks and mortar school; instead they receive all of their instruction and earn all of their credits through the online school. 23. Open Educational Resources Are teaching, learning and research resources that reside in the public domain and are freely available to anyone over the web. Schools can use digital resources in a variety of ways to support teaching and learning. Electronic grade books, digitals portfolios, and learning games are few ways that technology can be utilized to power learning. 24) Smart campus A smart campus refers to a digitized campus. Humans and technology-enabled environments interact to create an immersive and impressive experience. The use of the internet in the field of education has improved from previous years. 25) Wireless presentation Technologies The use of wireless presentation Technologies helps teachers and stakeholders to easily find project materials from a computer or a mobile phone rather than the use of a hard-wired connection like a projector. Hope these changes can bring in good to the modern student era and let the educational institutions make the best use of it to develop better citizens for tomorrow. Sources: Hardiman, M.M., JohnBull, R.M., Carran, D.T., and Shelton, A. The effects of arts-integrated instruction on memory for science content. Trends in Neuroscience and Education, March 2019, 14, pp. 25-32. Western Governors University Staff. Experiential learning theory. June 8, 2020. https://www.wgu.edu/blog/experiential-learningtheory2006.html#close https://www.slideshare.net/Soumyaranjanparida/trends-and-issues-ineducation?from_action=save&fbclid=IwAR30Eyr5M8q6ppbYGIV0GkD XIYm9fbKT7QuqXkP4gK8jorub3tuUWl9ObAw