Copywrite Blog

Emerging Trends in Education Technology for Higher Learning!

Desiree Dixon!

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Past educational theories suggested the all-knowing, sometimes all-powerful teacher poured his or her vast knowledge directly into the empty brain of a student with the hopes that there would be no leakage. Thankfully, we have veered away from this concept, at least in part, and have come into the awareness that learners come with their own intellectual capital and expectations. Today, educational leaders are designing instruction with the learner in mind. Emerging educational trends are restructuring critical components in current practices making instruction more succinct, more efficient, and more effective.!

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Such emerging educational trends include badges, gaming and simulation, learning spaces, and adaptive learning, to name a few. The focus of this presentation is to highlight two: adaptive learning and gaming and simulation.!

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The concept of adaptive learning is not altogether a novel idea.

In Book VI of The Nicomachean Ethics, philosopher Aristotle states, “Let it be assumed that the states by virtue of which the soul possesses truth by way of affirmation or denial are five in number, i.e. art, scientific knowledge, practical wisdom, philosophic wisdom, intuitive reason…”. That is, Aristotle identifies five learning styles, or multiple intelligences. These multiple intelligences are the foundation of adaptive learning.

This concept provides a tailored, custom fit to instruction, focusing on each learner’s specific intelligence. It throws out the notion that one size fits all, or that all learners begin and end at the same collective knowledge point. Thereby the route to discovery is not the key focal point. What is most imperative is the communal awareness of the mission, vision, or intended goal, or goals. !

Upon establishing these objectives, checkpoints can be embedded in the course that will either indicate mastery, or the need for redirection. Adaptive learning strategists create courses that lead to the same end, but have several, customizable paths embedded in the course mapping. These controlled paths, created by course designers, avail themselves based on user interaction and feedback. Currently, the fluidity of these paths depend on the release inputs created by the course, or instructional designer.

However, in the future, algorithms will be placed on these releases so the adaptations are more intuitive and infinite. Much like our DNA and digital thumbprints, our educational thumbprints will be unique.!

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Consider, for a moment, how social media networks, like Facebook, have begun aggregating user data to customize the newsfeed. Of course, there was much debate on each side, with the opposition arguing that Facebook does not have the right to

create a hierarchy of posts based on monitored interactions. Remember Eli Pariser’s Ted Talk: Beware online “filter bubbles” from March 2011? Pariser discussed how algorithms are being used to personalize search results based on established patterns.

If you haven't seen it, Google it. A very informative way to spend 9 minutes. Either way, whatever side you are on doesn’t negate the fact that the technology to use each key stroke made by every individual to flesh out that person’s operational patterns is here, and here to stay. !

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Of course, the advertisement industry saw the possibilities in possessing the ability to court potential customers with this new innovation and pounced.

Likewise, leaders in education should see the vast potential in the ability to take the individualized user data and customize what ads are provided. Unlike Facebook, where those ads may be optional, distracting, and even way off the mark, imagine a world, in our near future, where learners are provided with academic suggested paths, that are content specific, course specific, related to a current area of study, and lead to professional and academic development opportunities in a defined field.!

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The emerging trend of adaptive learning is continuing to do just that—adapt, based on the evolution of the human mind and the cognitive research thereof. Another emerging trend that is growing rapidly and changing just as fast is information through simulation and sensory stimulation.!

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Sensory stimulation must be included in the conversation about emerging technological trends in higher education. Controlled, purposeful activities that trigger and engage each of the five senses with the intended goal of instructing users how to navigate real world situations by equipping those users with tools, techniques and technology are critical in current course design processes. Theme parks across the globe have invested great effort in creating four dimensional experiences for park goers. Not only are excited children darned with 3-D glasses as they attempt reach out and save Mickey Mouse from falling off the train into their laps, but they also are misted with water from the splash Goofy makes as he plummets down a waterfall.!

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Game consoles have also taken on the fourth dimension. Key players, like Microsoft's X-Box, now offer vibrating controllers and headsets with audio visual components. To say that first person gaming and simulations have come a long way since Nintendo’s Duck Hunt is an understatement. The introduction of computer generated imagery, or CGI has completely revamped the way we think of animation, and

consequently simulation.!

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Gaming simulations, or gamification, isn't soley based on cool graphics and vibrating remotes. As a reinforcement vehicle, learners are placed in experiential learning circumstances that force them to work within specific rules and structures set in place by instructional designers. As learners navigate these scenarios, rules are added, heightening the level of difficulty, and forcing learners to access prior knowledge obtained from text readings, external resources, or within the simulation itself in order to progress.

Simulated scenarios serve as formative assessments and provide an alternative to traditional grading mechanisms. Instructors and learners are able to analyze why a learner chose an option and how an outcome was achieved. This opportunity for reflective analysis is quintessential to creating life-long learners and leaders. Badges and incremental rewards serve as excellent motivators as learners eagerly work toward meeting specific goals and challenges in stages and sequences.!

The emerging trends in technology at the higher education level adapt to the fluidity of human nature and stimulate each of the five senses, pushing educators further for the sake of the learners. In fact, educators are learners too, eager to master information and demonstrate that mastery in the courses taught.