Only a few years ago, any device was perceived only as a way of entertainment, but technology has proven to be an effective learning tool. Due to technology, the process of education is shifting (especially during the lockdown), transforming the way we get information and making sure that result (successful learning) is the only important thing.
EdTech solutions are changing traditional ideas about education right in front of us. Students play games in order to emotionally consolidate the knowledge gained from textbooks. The AI gives out assignments and checks them, freeing up time for the teachers personal approach to each student. VR and AR turn history and geography lessons into real travels. However, the one thing that never changes is the best place to buy a dissertation.
1. Technology
There is a big myth that scares teachers and students. It is commonly believed that technology only increases the distance between student and teacher, replacing or diminishing the role of the latter.
But in real life everything turns out to be different: services, platforms and applications help to minimize the routine work of a teacher and free up time for more important tasks. Teachers will be able to pay more attention to each child, to help with choosing a profession and subjects for the future exams, as well as to develop students’ critical thinking. Contrary to popular belief, the importance of the teaching profession only increases with the introduction of technology.
2. Growth Mindset
Growth Mindset was described by a Stanford professor Carol Dweck. People with growth mindset believe that their success depends not on initial skills and level of intelligence, but on the efforts invested in self- development.
This approach instills in students love for constant learning and emotional resistance to difficulties and failures. During the experiments, it was confirmed that people with growth mindset are aimed at development and are ready to undertake something new and complex. Due to this approach, new neural connections are formed in the brain, amplifying the existing ones.
The main task of education of the future is to reconcile technological progress and human capital, so that schools can provide a decent response to the high demands of the global world. The new era has already begun: devices are integrated into classrooms, the teacher and AI work in synergy, the curriculum adapts to the pace and style of learning of each kid, and the process itself becomes seamless.
3. Community sharing
P2P (peer-to-peer) platforms are based on the economy of sharing, i.e. shared consumption, and are omnipresent. These include services you are well aware of, where one can find an apartment for a vacation, or order a cab from any place, or ask someone to walk their dog.
Educational P2P platforms bring together students within seconds. You can find a platform with different toolkit to get an answer to a common question and share knowledge.
In the field of school education, these are the platforms where a child gets a detailed and understandable explanation from other users or peers. (e.g. InstaEdu, StudySoup, P2PU, Tynker) Particular attention is paid to checking the answers – for example, the moderators are specifically selected (who can be the schoolchildren themselves), answering the questions of others within their competence.
Moderators are getting help from knowledge base and algorithms that filter the language and detect spam.
The new decade is most likely to bring significant changes in the integration of peer-to-peer platforms into school education, even though the boundaries of the traditional system are quite rigid. However, such services will be a reflection of a childs extra-curricular activities: how they answer the questions of others, how many peers they have helped and what was the quality of the answers.
This information will be displayed in a profile that can be shared, for example, with the admissions committee of the university or college to earn additional points.
4. Learning via playing games
Students love games, so it is wrong to ignore their interests. Unlike gamification, when the gaming elements are added to standardized training, in educational games the topic studied is incorporated into the game story itself.
It is an effective non-academic tool to help you master theory, which connects knowledge with emotions and allows you to memorize the material more effectively and for a longer time.
For example, the strategy of Civilization game offers a lot of opportunities for learning History, as the characters and cities in the game are based on real historical prototypes.
The knowledge received in textbooks can be strengthened in a game environment. In the future it will be possible to integrate games into the curriculum. With their help it is possible to visually illustrate theory, and also help children understand cause-effect relationships on practice.
In the case of history and Civilization, the person plays as the ruler of the land and should think strategically in order to protect the state, rationally develop resources and build positive relationships with neighbors.
5. AI for personalized and adaptive learning
The number of children does not allow one teacher to monitor each students level of knowledge. Teachers are busy preparing the lesson, reading and grading papers and tests. As a result, students rarely feel personally involved into studying or connected with a teacher.
The AI helps educators find more time for personal attention and actually interact more with children. Services for personalized and adaptive learning take over all the routine tasks like conducting tests, checking them and assigning grades. If the child makes a mistake, the service will give an explanation and offer another option for the same type of task.
Such approach solves the problem effectively, eliminating gaps in knowledge, and the motivation system has an excellent effect on schoolchildren: they enthusiastically solve the tests to outrun their classmates. Whatever the future holds, it will not be boring.