Trends in evolving learning experiences

November 21, 2019 By Júlia Verdaguer

Txell Llorach, eLearning Lead & Project Manager at 3iPunt

As ICT continues to evolve and contribute to digital disruption, there has correspondingly been constant innovation in the technologies used in education.

However, EdTech is not just ICT or pushing the boundaries with technology. Pedagogy must not be left behind, as it is a commitment to pedagogy that will ensure student engagement and success. This is a challenging task in which educators must be empowered to be confident and self-motivated; to contribute to active learning, facilitate group motivation and make students feel more involved from an academic point of view, with a strong feeling of belonging to a learning community.

The EdTech community is enriched by professionals both from technological fields and pedagogical areas. Women are also increasingly represented in the IT world. While instructional and pedagogical roles were historically skewed to females, it is encouraging to see an increasing balance across genders in both professional areas. 

Education is growing exponentially in the area of micro-learning. Microlearning involves gaining small pieces of knowledge through courses that can be taken anytime, anywhere, at the user’s disposal, based on a constructivism methodology. These courses can be combined to create customized learning paths according to career needs. Actually, some institutions are offering a passport to education, which is like a travel card but based on courses of the student’s choice. Delivered at a lower cost, these courses make learning more accessible to those who cannot afford, for instance, traditional higher education.

Across the edtech sector, business Intelligence is playing a key role. While intelligent learning management systems enable learning, their data-driven processes allow e-reports to be generated that measure success and ensure courses are addressed to appropriate learners, based on specific objectives and competencies. For example, DigCompEdu, the European Framework for Digital Competences in Education, focuses on regulatory realities that lead to education innovation within common guidelines. Currently, the Moodle Education Certification (MEC) course is a great example of these customized paths based on DigCompEdu.

All of these factors are forcing professionals in education technology to work as a network, and are empowering current trends such as:

  • The use of proctoring software so that students can take their exams from home and still be invigilated.
  • Utilising OER which offer a wide variety of online resources that can be accessed by students, for free and with an open license.
  • Gamification and playful learning, by introducing elements from the gaming field into education to generate, for instance, competition and engagement, reducing student failure.

As education innovators, the team at 3ipunt thrive in continuously working on improving learning environments, especially focusing on how to respond, support and guide students in a learning-by-doing context. This promotes student success and satisfaction through constant evolution, transforming the student into a visionary self-leader, capable of creating their own cross-disciplinary program based on real scenarios to solve daily problems. 

In conclusion, as innovators in the education technology sector, we need to work deeply on promoting collaboration, and be the first to apply it in real working environments. We know collaboration ensures growth, and we should focus on working with other experts to make sure we do not create two equivalent or parallel products that would fit better together. So… that said, and based on what we propose to educators and learners alike, maybe we could have a collaborative innovation passport, earning badges every time we worked on new innovation processes or products with other experts? How far could this take us? Let’s reshape the learning experience together!