What is the future of e-learning?
SOLART STUDIOS ENT
Painting and Printing on Arts Works
Article: Online Learning
Author: Olusola
David, Ayibiowu
Edition : 11
Year : 21 August,
2017
Published: Online
by Creative Arts Solution Foundation
What is the future of e-learning?
E-learning is here to stay. As computer ownership
grows across the globe e-learning becomes increasingly viable and accessible.
Internet connection speeds are increasing, and with that, opportunities for
more multimedia training methods arise. With the immense improvement of mobile
networks in the past few years and the increase in telecommuting, taking all
the awesome features of e-learning on the road is a reality with smartphones
and other portable devices. Technologies such as social media are also
transforming education constantly.
Generally speaking, learning is expensive, takes a
long time and the results can vary. E-learning has been trying for years now to
complement the way we learn to make it more effective and measurable. The
result now being that there are a number of tools that help create interactive
courses, standardize the learning process and/or inject informal elements to
otherwise formal learning processes. Several e-learning trends can give us a
clear view on how the future of e-learning and learning tools will be shaped:
Micro-learning focuses on the design of micro-learning
activities through micro-steps in digital media environments, which already is
a daily reality for today's knowledge workers. These activities can be
incorporated into a learner's daily routines. Unlike "traditional"
e-learning approaches, micro-learning often tends towards push technology through
push media, which reduces the cognitive load on the learners. Therefore, the
selection of micro-learning objects and also pace and timing of micro-learning
activities are of importance for didactical designs. Micro-learning is an
important paradigm shift that avoids the need to have separate learning
sessions since the learning process is embedded in the daily routine of the
end-user. It is also perfectly suited for mobile devices where long courses can
be overkill.
Gamification is the use of game thinking and game
mechanics in a non-game context to engage users and solve problems.
Personalized Learning is the tailoring of pedagogy,
curriculum and learning environments to meet the needs and aspirations of
individual learners. Personalization is broader than just individualization or
differentiation in that it affords the learner a degree of choice about what is
learned, when it is learned and how it is learned. This may not indicate
unlimited choice since learners will still have targets to be met. However, it
may provide learners the opportunity to learn in ways that suit their
individual learning styles and multiple intelligences.
The distant future of eLearning: Automatic learning
In a well-known scene from the movie The Matrix, Neo
lies down in a high-tech dentist’s chair and straps on a wild array of
electrodes, downloading a series of martial arts training programs into his
brain. Afterward, he opens his eyes and speaks the words geeks have been
quoting ever since: “I know Kung Fu.”
This type of automatic learning might sound like a
dystopian future for many but it is where we are heading. And despite the
ethical questions that may arise, the benefits could be substantial at multiple
levels if used properly. Here's how it works: you pick a task that requires high
performance from your visual cortex such as catching a ball. Then you go find
someone who's a pro at catching a ball, place them in an fMRI machine and
record what's going on in their brain whilst they visualize catching a ball.
Then you've got your ball-catching program, and you're ready to learn. Next
step: put yourself into the fMRI machine, and rig it to induce that pro
ball-catching imagery that you recorded earlier in your brain using neuro
feedback. You don't even have to be paying attention while this is going on.
Your brain, though, becomes familiar with that pattern - which is essentially
what learning is: the brain becoming familiar with new patterns.
Research has shown that this fMRI pattern playback can
cause long-lasting improvement in tasks that require visual performance. In
theory, a type of automated learning is a potential outcome and what e-learning
in the distant future may look like.>>
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