eLearning And The Future Of Schooling
Is eLearning the future of education?
eLearning has transformed education in schools and businesses, making it easier for students and staff to learn at their own pace in an environment that is convenient for them. When it comes to the future of education, it is clear that eLearning will play a huge role in delivering learning materials.
When it comes to the formal education system, 78% [1] Many people believe that online learning enables better access to quality education. In terms of the corporate sector, companies believe that virtual learning will account for at least 40% [2] of the future learning structure, while some believe it could be up to 90%.
There is no doubt about the rise of eLearning as a tool to facilitate education in all types of institutions. Read on to learn exactly how eLearning can become the future of education.
The rise of eLearning
eLearning permeates companies, schools and universities to make education more flexible. Take a look at the education sector, for example. 53% of university teaching went online. No wonder 88% [1] Many people believe that online learning will be a part of school and university education in the future.
It’s the same story if you look at the corporate sector. 57% of learning and development professionals spend more time implementing online learning in their organizations than three years ago, while 37% [3] of Learning and Development experts spend less time on teacher-led learning than they did three years ago.
During the COVID-19 pandemic 98% [2] virtual learning used by organizations. The shift to eLearning is particularly evident when you look at the budgets for training staff: 59% of talent developers spend more on online learning, while 25% spend less on teacher-led training.
Look at Kellogg as a prime example. Kellogg has invested in delivering online learning to more than 10,000 employees through LinkedIn Learning. This ensures that the training can take place in the workflow.
As Thor Flosason, Global Learning Director at Kellogg explains [3]::
We are well on the way to creating a learning culture. Increasingly, Kellogg employees are not waiting for personal training. They use LinkedIn Learning to educate themselves and improve themselves and the business immediately.
Why has eLearning become so important?
There are a few reasons why eLearning has become such an important educational tool. First, many organizations now work with remote teams. These teams are often spread around the world. This makes personal training a real nightmare. Rather than forcing teams to travel long distances, team members can learn new skills and access educational resources from anywhere through online learning.
The same goes for students. Without eLearning, many students would not have access to course materials. eLearning and virtual courses allow students around the world to study online and visit facilities that may not previously have been available.
Another big reason eLearning has become so important is resilience. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown businesses and educational institutions the need for online learning in the face of a crisis.
For educational institutions, eLearning enables educators to continue teaching the curriculum without interruption. For companies, eLearning offers an opportunity to retrain employees so that they can continue their work when they are not at work.
In addition, eLearning enables both educational institutions and companies to tailor learning experiences for individuals. 80% of managers and HR professionals admit that they still cannot close internal skills gaps. eLearning helps fill these gaps by identifying each person’s specific needs and tailoring training materials to meet those needs.
This makes eLearning an important investment, especially for companies. By investing in personalized employee training, companies can achieve better employee performance from better trained employees.
Finally, online learning tools make it easy to measure the impact of education and training. Learning platforms collect quantitative data that shows how successful the learning experience was for staff and students. Online learning platforms can also help organizations encode qualitative feedback on the learning experience.
How does eLearning shape the future of education?
eLearning offers a whole range of new formats to facilitate learning for staff and students in an interactive way. Here are some of the ways eLearning is transforming education for the future.
1. Virtual school
Thanks to advances in online video meeting software, virtual teaching just got a lot easier. Students and staff can log into the virtual meeting room and take live-stream classes with an educator presenting a lesson. This has proven to be an extremely effective way of providing distance learning. During the COVID-19 pandemic 23% [4] live stream classes attended by students. 67% of parents said they were satisfied with the results of this learning style.
In fact, 43% of parents agree that this is how distance learning prepares their child for the next grade [4]. Going into the future, 79% [1] Many people believe that college students will attend classes virtually, while 70% believe that elementary and high school students will be taught virtually.
2. Self-directed learning
Traditionally, both schools and companies have set the timetable and told learners what and when they will learn. However, more than 35% of employees want self-directed and independent learning opportunities, and 74% want to study at work in their free time. What’s more, 83% [1] People in the United States believe that schooling, especially for older students, will take a self-service approach.
In response to this 35% [3] of Learning and Development professionals focus on creating self-directed learning experiences for employees using online learning solutions. It is more than likely that schools will go the same route, using learning management systems (LMS) that allow students to access learning materials online at their own pace.
This allows learners to find out about the topics they are most interested in or need to work on at a pace that is convenient for them.
3. Learning on the go
For personal training, learners must be in the teacher’s room at the time of the lesson. eLearning offers a more flexible approach where learners can access learning materials at any time to make learning on the go easier. Because of this, 42% of learning and development professionals focus on marketing the flexibility of online learning.
57% of employees admit they prefer to access learning modules on the go. With online learning experiences, learners can immerse themselves in educational content through smartphone apps and online hubs that can be accessed anywhere, anytime.
4. One-to-one lessons online
One-to-one tuition is arguably one of the most effective ways to educate a person because the teacher’s attention is 100% focused on the student. Parents whose children used online one-to-one classes during the COVID-19 pandemic were most satisfied with this method of learning than anyone else [4]. In addition, 14% of parents plan to pay for one-to-one tuition to complement their child’s education in the future [4]. However, online tutoring extends beyond school.
For example, in global business, companies are hiring online English teachers to train employees to speak better English to make doing international business easier.
5. Share study materials
During the COVID-19 pandemic, 79% of children accessed online digital learning materials provided by their schools [4]. Thanks to cutting-edge LMS solutions, it is now easier than ever for teachers to share learning materials with students who can access them remotely.
There are also tools that students can use to share resources with one another.
Take StuDocu, for example. It makes it easy for students to share lecture notes, study resources, and coursework for school and college with other students. The learning platform makes it easy to search by subject, school, category, and language to find the resources that best suit your learning needs.
6. VR and AR to simulate real scenarios
39% of learning and development professionals believe that virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) will have a significant impact on online learning [3]. Imagine how much more effective organizational training would be if educators could simulate real-world situations so that learners can experience them firsthand.
Just like a pilot learning to fly an airplane with a simulator, VR and AR tools allow learners to experience different scenarios as if they were there rather than simply learning from a book or lecture.
While this seems like something far in the future, 62% of executives already say they are moving to more interactive forms of learning like simulations [2].
7. Personalized learning experiences
Learners are fed up with sitting in classrooms and learning lessons they already know. With advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, personalized learning experiences are now more possible than ever. By using data collected from learning platforms, training systems can now offer more personalized recommendations for each learner.
This is an encouraging step forward that encourages learning in the workplace. In fact, 79% of learners said they would use personalized course recommendations based on their career goals and skill gaps. Because of this, 49% of learning and development professionals believe that using AI / machine learning as a tool to encourage more accurate personalization will have a significant impact in the years to come [3].
The bottom line
eLearning offers a flexible learning experience that is easily accessible to students and staff around the world. E-learning is transforming and changing from static digital learning materials to personalized, interactive educational experiences. Online learning now offers a more three-dimensional learning opportunity for staff and students.
References:
[1] The global learner survey
[2] Future of learning after COVID-19 Consulting | India perspective
[3] 2020 Workplace Learning Report
[4] 2020 Deloitte Back-to-School Survey Learning to Grow Amid Uncertainty
