Top EdTech trends to watch for

Sameer Bhatia, founder & CEO of ProProfs, looks at the stand-out developments

Posted by Hannah Oakman | October 13, 2015 | Technology

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• #edtech
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The EdTech world has evolved to where new technologies and ideas for teaching IT and other concepts have become more prevalent in society. There are numerous special trends in the industry that are allowing it to evolve and change. Here's a look at some of the more interesting EdTech trends that have come about in recent time and how they are going to change the online education world forever.

The social media world

Social media has become prominent in the EdTech world. Schools are allowing classes to start their own social media pages so they can share information on different class projects. Students can also interact with each other online through these social media pages. This allows for added exposure to classroom plans as students are often likely to be on social media sites.

Focus on personalisation

Personalisation is a key part of EdTech that should make it easier for students to learn more. This includes the use of instant feedback to help instructors identify what things students do their best in. This in turn allows the instructor to quickly change the ways how a class is taught or the materials that are used in the educational process. In turn, students will partake in activities that are tailored to help them learn more about what they need a little extra help with.

Growth in cloud-based support

Cloud-based lms systems will especially become more interesting over time. Cloud-based setups are designed to help with handling different connections where people can download course materials online. A student can use a cloud network to find assignments and documents in real time and to send them back as needed. Students can also interact with other students in real time to share information and ideas as they see fit. This in turn allows students to enjoy a more interactive experience that focuses on collaboration and being able to get documents at any time from any online connection.

Flipped learning

Flipped learning is an EdTech concept where students learn concepts on their own through videos and other lessons. They will then spend their classes working with different coursework materials. These lessons are designed to help students understand more about their subjects on their own terms. They can then bring this knowledge to the classroom for their projects.

Gamification?

Gamification is an interesting EdTech trend that could make the learning process more immersive and appealing. Gamification occurs when game mechanics and design concepts are incorporated in the educational process. That is, visual cues and audio-based features are often used in the educational process to help people learn more about different concepts. This is a combined of sound, video and interaction to allow people to learn more on their own. This especially works well for learning as it gets into the desires students have for achievement and the desire to create a better sense of status. By using a game-based design, a student will feel more comfortable with certain things that one can learn. The student's attention will also be easier to retain for an extended period of time.

What about augmented learning?

Augmented learning is an interesting concept that could be explored over time. Augmented learning occurs when the learning environment adapts to the user in real time. This can entail the use of QR codes, courses designed to work with virtual reality technology like Oculus Rift support and even location-based tracking features that use GPS technology to identify things in an environment that a student could potentially learn from.

This is expected to become more popular as virtual reality and portable media technologies become more prevalent. If used properly, the technology will ensure that the unique designs that are available here will certainly be enticing.

These EdTech trends show that there will be plenty of new things for people to explore over time. These are concepts that will show just how interesting different educational processes will become in the near future. They will especially work with new forms of technology to make them more efficient.

Guest author Sameer Bhatia is founder & CEO of ProProfs, a provider of online learning tools for building, testing, and applying knowledge. Sameer founded ProProfs based on the vision that knowledge should be freely available to people from all walks of life. You can find him on Google+ and Twitter.