By Chris Piehler
As you work to create your 2017 marketing goals and strategy (here are tips for your 2017 social media goals and setting goals for innovation) you’ll want to pay attention to potential trends on the horizon.
We’ve rounded up three “good to know” trends in education for 2017:
Also known as blended learning, there is still significant discussion about the flipped classroom on Edutopia, where educators gather to share thoughts and ideas. Though the flipped classroom concept has been gaining momentum for a few years, some big players are now focusing on helping educators implement technology into the classroom.
According to an article recently published in the Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, several initiatives designed to connect technology with teaching and learning are set to launch in late 2016.
These groups are highly focused on providing research and support for teaching in the flipped classroom, so flipping is likely to also be on the top of educators’ minds.
In the ongoing quest to meet learners where they are, expect more buzz around learning through mobile and Web 2.0. Mobile applications (apps) have changed the way young people communicate, learn, and understand the world around them. Web 2.0 is simply the next evolution of websites, moving from static pages to more interactive features such as social networking, messaging, and communication.
Recent research showed that 13–19-year-old learners use Web 2.0 tools to organize, support, and boost collaboration. The learners accessed many of these Web 2.0 tools via a mobile device. The research stated, “Study participants did not only access mobile Web 2.0 tools, but they were also able to create and share knowledge using these technologies and to explore support for collaboration in group activities.”
With an estimated $2 billion invested in ed tech companies in the U.S. since 2010, do not be surprised when money continues to funnel toward new ways of learning via mobile apps and Web 2.0 technologies.
As our nation winds down from the tumultuous election season, Google searches for the term “fake news” have spiked. It became virtually impossible to avoid fake stories made to look legitimate, click-bait headlines, and opinions masquerading as facts. It has altered politics.
At the same time, research from Stanford found that more than 80% of students think that sponsored articles are real, and most cannot distinguish fake accounts on social media. As NPR summarized, “Stanford researchers evaluated students’ ability to assess information sources and described the results as ‘dismaying,’ ‘bleak’ and ‘[a] threat to democracy.’”
The lesson is this: Just because today’s learners are digital natives, that does not mean they do not need education on how to research, evaluate, and analyze information on the web.
An article from Education Week about the study stated, “None of this is rocket science. But it's often not taught in school.” After all of the buzz and headlines around fake news, expect information literacy to spike as a crucial component.
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