They say, a shelf-life of a particular skill is less than 5 years now, and today’s workers have to be committed to constant learning in order to stay competitive. Driven by the massive adoption of lifelong learning, Gen Z entering the workforce, and massive demand for empowering traditional academia with the new-gen tech, the expansion of the E-learning market is showing no signs of slowdown. By 2023, according to some predictions, it is set to reach $300 billion.
So what are the hottest trends to watch for when it comes to E-learning? This overview will help learning and development departments as well as E-learning developers and suppliers to stay ahead of the curve.
Top Trends Impacting E-Learning
Today, there’s hardly any industry completely uninfluenced by the fourth industrial revolution and its technological advancements. Technology is also transforming the way we learn. More specifically, here are the E-learning trends that will see further development in 2020.
1. Personalized Learning
Similarly to the way machine learning algorithms help deliver selected ads and content as we surf the web, they are also capable of tracking learning activities and creating personalized education plans. When it comes to creating recommendations about further learning steps AI can be amazingly accurate.
As AI permeates our lives, it opens the doors for new learning pathways. Platforms like xAPI (Experience API) can track users’ learning activity whenever they come into contact with new content or people, and record these experiences into learning API’s. The learner can access these records at any time or share with other users, if he wants to.
2. Mobile Learning
As of 2019, about 43% of the global population own a smartphone, and 67% of people report using it for learning. Although creating content that would work across various devices is now easier than ever, in previous years we have experienced an obvious lack of educational programs tailored to learning on- the- go. The future, though, promises to fill in this gap as E-learning designers start to create truly relevant mobile content. The much-anticipated advent of 5G is expected to deliver higher speed, reduced latency and wider bandwidth to mobile connections, allowing to broadcast more mobile educational content.
3. Video Learning
Video learning remains a number one choice for many organizations, when it comes to workforce training. It’s benefits are self-explanatory: it triggers all senses and is a great learning medium. In 2020, we will witness continued diversification of video learning formats: expert tips, live streaming, assignments, best (and worst) practice examples and more. Accompanied by polls and discussions, videos will dominate the E-learning scene. Their structure and length may be subject to change, though, in order to cater to mobile learners.
4. AR/VR
Immersive technologies will continue to positively disrupt E-learning, enabling learners to enhance their experiential knowledge. AR/VR will foster group collaborations in virtual settings as well as face-to-face learning sessions. In workforce training, reality technologies will account for reduced training periods by offering real-time instructions and guiding workers through every step of the production process. Moreover, online learning will no longer be the same: with AR/VR environments simulating the real world, learners will be offered the sensory stimulation that online courses normally lack. Immersive technologies will also account for increased gamification of the learning process by offering learners tangible rewards they can actually “feel” in virtual settings.
5. Big Data
As big data apps and data analytics become mainstream, E-learning developers will feel less intimidated by big data, and start to actively use it to empower their platforms and solutions. Apart from personalizing learning experiences, big data tools will be used to measure qualitative feedback such as learner’s emotional responses and engagement levels. These metrics will be used to further improve education programs and create more compelling content.
How New Technologies Impact Corporate Learning
Gen Z is entering the workforce, and by 2020 will account for 20% of all workers. According to surveys, technologies that people born between 1995-2005 demand most from their employers are virtual reality, social networks and wearables. Companies are also likely to quickly lose their Gen Z workers to competitors, if they fail to offer them personalized learning plans.
In a bid to attract younger workers and to keep up with the latest tech trends, companies are shifting from the traditional conference room and workshop model to videos and webinars. The current trend is towards individual education plans and human-centered learning focused on helping people do their job. Another trend in workforce training is towards microlearning concentrated on short, precise and very specific tasks at hand, enabling workers to learn on-demand and on-the-go. Traditional performance assessments are also getting gradually replaced with personal growth evaluations, which now include the employees work/life balance into the overall picture.
Transforming Traditional Academia with NewGen Tech
Traditional academia currently accounts for 50% of all the E-Learning market and the transformations that it’s currently going through are immense. The advent of AI, cloud technologies, mobility and the accessibility of video and multimedia are positively impacting every facet of modern academic learning — from educational content, which is getting more engaging, to student records administration.
In 2014, VARTEQ has partnered with Follet Corporation (a trusted partner of Pre-K and K-12 educational establishments across the US) to create a customizable cloud-based platform for managing student records. The project, which is still underway, is not only centered around electronic track records, it also provides reporting, scheduling, student health information and a gradebook for traditional and standard-based scoring. The platform gives families access to homework, assignments, grades, and report cards and enables them to view the full academic record of each child online. Our solution rids educational establishments of the need to run disparate databases and grants quick access to actionable data.
It’s hard to overlook the impact that technological advancements have on the quality of education in general and on increasing literacy rate on a global and nationwide scale. In 2020 we are likely to witness further decline in traditional learning, and growing trend towards inclusion and personalization as education becomes more data driven.
There are many challenges on the road to successful development and implementation of E-learning solutions. Apart from robust security systems, they require big data and data analytics expertise to unleash their full potential. Admittedly, data specialists with relevant expertise are in high demand. Because of talent shortage, partnering with a reputable development company could be a viable alternative to building E-learning solutions in-house.
Looking for a reliable partner to assist in your e-learning project development? Need a tailored solution for corporate L&D or academia? Contact our experts now for a free consultation!