5 Trends in eLearning in 2022

It’s an excellent time to take a look at what has happened in eLearning in the last few years and what trends may continue in the nearest future. SOLVVE compiled a list of 5 key insights into eLearning to help you navigate this fast-growing industry. Without further ado, here are five trends that keep on getting stronger.

Student-centered eLearning

The role of the teacher or instructor has been gradually changing over the years. More and more educators emphasize active students’ engagements when it comes to choosing materials and approaches to the acquisition of new knowledge or skills. Of course, depending on the age of a student educators might play a more instructive and controlling role, as with the elementary grade children for example. 

However, as we grow up and depend on the teachers’ instructions less, we need more flexibility and sometimes more focus on very specific aspects of our learning. The student-centered approach allows learners to take control of their learning process and make choices of their own about all aspects of the process: study materials, schedule, goals, specialization, etc.

However, even with such a degree of freedom in choosing one’s learning experience, the role of the teacher remains crucial.

Personalized eLearning

Instructors and teachers are irreplaceable in providing directions and compiling personalized plans to meet students’ individual and unique needs. It is something that algorithms are good at doing only within a specific niche or a strictly defined activity. For example, broadening a vocabulary when learning a new language using an app.

Still, even when using carefully-compiled teaching methods, not all students will be engaged at the same level. Some will go faster, some will need more time to ponder over the material; some will want to deal with applicable skills while others will long for a more abstract and theoretical kind of knowledge; some want the learning process to be more interactive, others would rather stick to traditional ways of doing a lot of readings on their own.

The idea of eLearning might not be new. However, the pandemic gave it a huge push for development and diversification to meet the various needs of the learners around the world. That is why it is only natural that services highly-personalized teaching services will continue to strive in the future. 

Gamification

Speaking of interactive learning, it is worth mentioning gamification. Regardless of the age and the knowledge area, introducing gaming elements to the learning process has many benefits.

Firstly, games are way more engaging than traditional means of learning and give students the excitement of reaching the end target or completing the next level in the process. Secondly, it helps to instantly put new knowledge to practice while lowering the stress of taking tests. Thirdly, due to high engagement rates games are one of the best ways to shape new behaviors in learners and form long-lasting habits.

Since gamification presumes paced learning and chopping materials in easy-to-digest pieces, let us take a look at microlearning.

Microlearning

The name speaks for itself. If we speak of children’s education, the attention span of younger kids is still not very large or stable. If we speak of adult learning, there is not much time we can devote to learning. Many resolve to learning on the go, during breaks at work, or while working out. Thus, consuming materials in bite-size chunks is the new normal for both kids and grown-ups.

Such formats as short Youtube videos, 5-minute in-app quizzes with flashcards, podcasts and other formats of learning will most probably stay around for a long time if not forever.

Artificial Intelligence 

Artificial Intelligence is on a buzz, and eLearning is not an exception. In a way, AI can help unite all of the above-mentioned trends to bring the eLearning to the next level. AI is handy in the personalization of learning. By collecting data on learner’s behavior it can draw conclusions on one’s behavior and progress, identify areas that need improvement, and model the strategy in a way that suits each individual the best. It is always a student-centered approach that can partially include or be based on the principles of gamification feeding small bits of information (microlearning).

If you have any questions or ideas related to eLearning in your projects, do not hesitate to contact us. Let us make this happen!