Three Trends Transforming Education

The pandemic disrupted almost every aspect of education, creating potential areas of dramatic change. A growing sense that these changes will lead to new learning experiences and better opportunities for engagement.

Just as the traditional student has evolved, so have conventional methods of learning. Students today play, communicate and learn differently from previous generations. With the changing needs of this student population, a new demand has emerged for an approach that seeks to activate and engage all aspects of a learner— a holistic approach that encompasses psychological, social and emotional growth and physical and intellectual development. This integrated learning format provides a more effective and comprehensive learning experience that is highly personalized, adaptive, and relevant.

The landscape of education—a broader realm than schooling alone that includes cultural environment, relations with others, commitment to social justice, equipping lifelong learners, and ideational diversity—is changing rapidly due to the dynamic nature of positive and negative trends. Taking the forces or properties which stimulate growth, development, or change within a system, it’s good to know where education is heading by staying on top of trends. Below we provide a guide for evaluating changes and analyzing disruptive trends that can potentially transform the education landscape.

Technology

This generation of learners has never known a world without digital devices or seamless, constant, and instant access to everyone and everything. Perhaps the most obvious of changes, technology is rapidly advancing and is quickly becoming the driving force behind all other trends. But what exactly is EdTech? Besides the sector that converges technology and education, EdTech makes teaching more effective through technology-enabled solutions that redefine how to impart knowledge. The Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) has defined EdTech as “facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources.”

In the wake of the pandemic, the most notable change came from the challenge of teaching multiple students with diverse needs. EdTech cleared the way for e-Learning, ensuring that the prolonged closure of schools did not disrupt the learning process. E-Learning untethers the educational environment from the four classroom walls allowing learning experiences to happen anywhere, anytime. Students today are used to personalization— they need solutions that make their lives easier— and they need a seamless, engaging experience that is right on time, the right amount, and right for them. E-Learning is not about replacing classroom teaching but rather aiding instruction with the help of adaptive software, artificial intelligence, and machine learning through digital resources. EdTech infuses the classroom with technology and innovation and is a practice that will undoubtedly outlast the pandemic.

Mobility. Another way EdTech has enhanced learning is through self-actuated personalization: how learners access information, peers, and experts to learn and apply ideas. Technology tools—like tablets, apps, and fixed wireless internet—are advancing mobility, allowing students to participate in interactive learning. Technology also allows students to get up from their desks and walk around in ways that enable multiple learning models to take place, such as project-based, peer-to-peer, flipped classroom, and blended learning. Variety is a key feature of e-Learning, and it is singlehandedly made possible because of technology.

Methods. Blended learning— also referred to as hybrid or mixed-mode — is an approach to education that combines the strengths of both traditional face-to-face learning and online learning methods to give students a more engaging experience. Blended learning is way more complex than just learning in a classroom versus learning at home on the computer. It is also a movement between synchronous and asynchronous learning that incorporates a variety of experiences. Blended learning is not new but it is a reconceptualization and reorganization of the teaching and learning dynamics —and because of the pandemic, it is the new normal. E-Learning that happens at the same time for the instructor and the students is referred to as synchronous learning. Synchronous learning takes place in real-time via live stream or group sessions using platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams. Asynchronous learning does not require real-time interaction and allows for individual pacing through flexibility and balance. Content is pre-recorded and available online for students to access at their own pace by set deadlines. Blended learning takes place in classrooms and at home. It takes place collaboratively with peers and independently through self-directed research. It takes place in real-time and is nonconcurrent.

Metrics. Another change brought on by technology is learning assessment through analytics. Online instruction is often facilitated by a Learning Management System or LMS (think Schoology, Blackboard, Google Classroom, Quizlet, Moodle) to keep track of each student's progress and learning outcomes. To cater to learners’ needs, the learning contexts need to have relevant information about learners’ experiences, while focusing on the transformation of education by changing the very nature of teaching, learning, and assessment. The streamlining of assessment processes allows educators to understand student performance and optimize feedback. Additionally, learning assessments helps educators collect and analyze data on academic progress, identify potential issues or challenges, predict future performance, and improve the design and delivery of instruction to make it more personalized and meaningful. Learner-centered assessments no longer focus on just grades, marks, and credits but place more importance on learning, outcomes, and graduating with the skills needed to be globally competitive. Using technology-enabled assessments can be used for more than just data on student achievement. Technology can be used for instant assessment; helping teachers to intervene, change course, or offer new challenges and support deeper learning. This type of immediate intervention gives students ownership over the process and can powerfully affect teaching and learning.

Bilingual Education

Most programs that pride themselves on fostering a global mindset have one thing in common—a shared mission of preparing students to participate intelligently in a fast-changing world. A growing number of schools are starting language immersion programs fueled by a desire to make today’s students more competitive in the global workforce. Learning a foreign language is the key that unlocks the world for students, fostering cross-cultural understanding and facilitating connections that would otherwise be impossible. Global education is not a specific course offered but rather a skill of being able to see events and activities from the perspective of others. From environmental concerns to the global nature of economic systems, a global mindset for real-world problems, multiple perspectives, and interconnectedness helps students reflect on their points of view while reminding them about the importance of understanding those of others. But what exactly is Bilingual Education?

Bilingual education is an effective approach to developing language proficiency and literacy alongside academic content instruction. It helps students learn in new and effective ways by integrating two languages through total immersion (almost all subjects taught in the foreign language and reinforced in English), partial immersion (50% of subjects are taught in the foreign language), and two-way immersion (equal emphasis to English and a non-English language). The pandemic has pushed Bilingual Education back into the forefront of the national debate on the importance of language learning. If the goal is to nurture global leaders, we are obliged to communicate with others in their languages, effectively collaborating across borders for the sake of global prosperity. This scale of collaboration starts with proficiency in different languages and requires students to use different languages in relevant and real-world ways.

Bilingual education has sparked as much controversy as any other education issue, but proficiency in more than one language has proven to be a valuable skill with psychological, academic, and cultural benefits that cannot be disputed. It promotes bilingualism and biliteracy which increases cognitive dexterity and problem-solving skills, enhances communication skills, strengthens self-perception and identity, and nurtures cross-cultural awareness and diversity in all students. Because language is intrinsically connected to an individual’s identity, language learning helps students remain connected to their own culture, by building upon a student's native language while teaching them a new one. Learners also develop pride in their own culture while developing an understanding of others as they become more curious and empathetic about the wider world and people from different backgrounds.

Neuroscience research has also shown that learning a second language increases brain density, showing increased activation in the brain region associated with cognitive skills and executive function. Bilingualism may be a means of maintaining cognitive reserve and fending off a natural decline, helping to protect against Alzheimer’s and other cognitive impairments. With dual language programs on the rise and a renewed focus on human connection, there has never been a time where language pedagogies have been more purposeful and relevant to students.

Early Childhood Education

The conversation about the importance of early childhood education is more prevalent than ever. The science behind early brain development—particularly from birth to five years—helps illustrate why early childhood education can have a lasting impact on their physical, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive development. Researchers have found that the brain is most flexible during the earliest stages of life to accommodate a wide range of connections that help children adapt and improve. Early brain plasticity means it is easier and more effective to influence a baby’s developing brain than to try and rewire it later in life. Because the first few years of a child's life are a time of rapid brain growth, the emotional and physical health, social skills, critical behavioral traits, and cognitive abilities that emerge in the early years are all important building blocks for success in school and later in life. While early childhood education can refer to the learning experiences a young child goes through as they develop, the spotlight right now is shining bright on the learning activity of young children that happens in settings such as childcare centers, preschools, and church nursery schools.

In 1962, the Perry Preschool Project began a research study that forever changed the trajectory of early education. The longest-running longitudinal study in early education found that access to a high-quality preschool program had large effects on preschool children and their educational attainment, income, relationship with the law, and other important life outcomes well into adulthood. The Perry Project was conducted from 1962–1967 but led to a longitudinal documentary in this landmark study that established the lasting human and financial value of early childhood education. Today the results are fiercely debated but most can agree that quality and accessible early childhood education better entire communities. There is no debate that early childhood education is reliable daycare which means more participation and diversity in our workforce. With the pandemic shining new light on early childhood education, aspirational changes are on the horizon. There is an unmatched level of attention on the role of early childhood education in our country, with ECE initiatives emerging as hot-button issues for policymakers. The last year has changed daily life in many ways for many people, and it is not hard to see how early childhood education makes it easier for parents of young children to return to work. Not only is early childhood education beneficial for young children, but it is vital for working families with a direct impact on the nation’s economic health. The increasing trend of society recognizing the importance of early childhood education is not just renewing public awareness. This renewed focus is sparking successful changes to laws and funding around early education.

Education scholars and researchers believe the past year has challenged basic ideas that have limited options for so long within a system reluctant to change. The pandemic upended almost every aspect of the education system in one fell swoop. It challenged assumptions, from the role of technology to the importance of human connection. A year later, reimagining is happening as schools rethink what education should and could be. An overhaul that could lead to lasting and—some argue—long-needed reforms. The evolution of education is also about avoiding a return to the status quo. The learning framework needs to be flexible to be student-centered, culturally responsive, and innovative. The teaching framework has to be individualized, intervening, intensive, intentional, and immediate. Within this crisis, there is a real opportunity to deliver on a promise of excellence in education. The paradigm shift starts with the commitment to continue learning the trends, changes, studies, and conversations in the industry and sector. ▪

Change is inevitable, and the disruption it causes often brings both inconvenience and opportunity.

- Robert Scoble