Edtech: What's Supercharging Education This Year
The combination of education and technological innovation continues to result in an improved educational experience for students. Every year, a few things stand out as being especially exciting. For 2016, it appears that 7 trends are really hitting their stride. Keep reading to check them out.
1. Virtual Reality Will Become More Accessible
Until now, costs have kept virtual reality on the fringes of education. Sure, it's made an appearance in some very well funded schools, but for the most part, the average teacher could only dream about having access to that kind of technology. This year, with the release of Oculus Rift, along with the work that is being done by Google Cardboard, VR technology has a great chance of become more accessible. In addition to this, there are a few virtual reality startups that just might inject a bit of disruption and drive prices down even further.
2. Wearable Technology Will Become More Commonplace in Schools
One emerging trend in the physical education classroom is the increasing focus on individual fitness. Students and instructors are working together to establish fitness goals such as increasing activity levels, weight loss, calorie control, etc. Wearable technology such as FitBits dovetails nicely with this new trend. In addition to this, students can also don wearable technology in the classroom that they can interact with, and that teachers can tap into to check on progress. This enables teachers to quickly determine who needs extra help.
3. Parents And Schools Will Rely on Online Learning More
In 2016, online learning will become more popular, not only as an option for college students, but as an option for children in the primary and secondary levels as well. Teachers can use a variety of technologies to create presentations and lectures that can be accessed by students out of the classroom creating a flipped classroom experience. Then there are the benefits to parents who may be using outside tutors to help students stay caught up and to prepare for various, upcoming exams. They can save money by using online based learning such as the 11 Plus Assessment Hub rather than spending time and money on in person tutoring.
4. Cloud Storage And Collaborative Apps Will Change The Classroom Model
The increasing popularity of Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, along with Apps such as Evernote and Edmodo will make collaborative work more popular both in and out of the classroom. Even social media will play a role in this trend. Rather than continuing with the common model of teacher as lecturer, student as listener, the classroom will become more collaborative and interactive. This trend will continue after school hours, as students will be able to use collaborative technology to work together on group projects. Social media will come into play as students and teachers will be able to use these platforms to engage in conversation, ask questions, and broadcast and receive reminders about assignments and other events.
5. More Schools Will Go Paperless Thanks to Personal Devices
While this isn't a completely new change, it will certainly ramp up this year. In the past, many school systems have significantly reduced the amount of paper generated by adopting the use of online forms, and distributing information electronically rather than sending students home with excess paperwork. What that didn't accomplish was to reduce the amount of paperwork generated by classroom assignments. In 2016, this will change as teachers embrace the use of portable devices, and the trend of distributing devices to students becomes more popular. Assignments, tests, and quizzes will be distributed online, resulting in some schools being able to go almost completely paperless. Apple has teamed up with President Obama's ConnectEd initiative to help schools in need add iPads and other devices to the classroom, helping to remove funding as a barrier for going paperless.
6. Augmented Reality Will Have A Booming Year
While virtual reality is also trending, it is really augmented reality that is going to make huge inroads in the classroom. Because there are already inexpensive and free augmented reality apps available to teachers, funding isn't nearly as much of an issue as with VR. Teachers can use apps to create trigger images that can then be viewed using smartphone apps. These trigger images can bring up 3 dimensional models, trigger videos, and a variety of other actions that make the learning process more engaging.
7. 3-D Printing Will Come to The Classroom
1st Maker Space is a 3-D printing startup that has targeted the educational space. The company has a very interesting business model. The company provides 3-D printing equipment and training to teachers for no charge. In exchange for this, the company is given the right to use school space to run after school programs that parents pay to have their children attend. In addition to this, companies such as Verizon are offering grant money specifically for schools who wish to add 3D printers.