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
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