Learning and studying were not always the same as it is these days. Back in the day, it was much harder to get even the basic education. You had to be wealthy, and in most cases, you had to be male in order to get educated. It was a very exclusive thing that people had to fight for in order to make it available to everyone. The consequences of this inequality can still be felt and the fight is not over.
Fortunately, in the 21st century many more people can learn and study. The internet has also helped out greatly in making education available for everyone. The term e-learning was also coined recently referring to a learning system with the help of electronic resources. This has become a very big industry, in some areas even a crucial part of the system, and here are some new trends you should know about.
The number of platforms has become overwhelming
E-learning has become a very popular way of learning, and thus many people are trying to profit from this. In order for someone to do this, they need to find a proper platform where to sell their online courses. Luckily, finding a guide that reviews all of the popular platforms has become an easy task to do. When starting out in this industry, doing all of the research can truly be overwhelming.
Getting a brief preview of what each type of platform is out there can reduce the time you spend searching for the ideal one. Nowadays, many of the platforms are more focused on internal corporate training or on academic progress. You will need to find a way to distinguish these ones from others if your goal is to sell online courses.
The impact of Covid-19
The pandemic has had a huge negative effect on everything in this world. But interestingly, one of the industries that boomed was e-learning. The platforms developed very fast to meet the demand of learning from home. There was no choice but to resolve to learn from your computer or other types of devices. Thus the experience has truly become optimized and it is not the same as it used to be, by a long mile. Be it using videos for learning, face timing with a teacher, or just through chatting, all of these ways have been optimized.
Background learning
There has been a recent surge in apps and platforms which are based on learning in bits and segments with breaks in between. Language learning courses are the ones that use this type of learning the most. The concept is that daily you just learn a bit of something and test how you are going. This usually goes for about 15 minutes daily and it is not much work.
The trick is that all of these small things build up over time and you end up learning many new things. Of course, this takes time and is not ideal if you want to master something quickly. But, it is a good way of learning something in the background which might be useful later. Another reason why this is so successful is that people do not like having a huge task on their minds during the day. But, sparing just a bit of your time is much easier and more stress-free so it creates a more healthy habit.
The increased demand for healthy types of learning
Some people are just not made to learn the way schools usually teach. There are so many more different types of people and thus more types of learning. Not everyone can just sit for hours at a time and study with a book in their hands. More people want to learn by dividing their tasks into other smaller pieces and tackling them with pauses in between.
There are many apps that help you manage this type of learning to truly do it and not get distracted. There are also many more people holding online classes that have a better understanding of this. People are becoming aware that there is no one universal way of studying and that can only benefit everyone.
Using AI to adapt to the user’s unique learning style
The biggest advancement is that every type of app or platform is in some way using AI to optimize their services. This trend did not avoid the e-learning industry. There is a growing number of apps that use AI to tether their users and track how they are doing. With the data they obtain, they can adapt the course and use different tips to help out the user learn better. These apps and platforms are usually more costly and still not perfect.
But, as time progresses they are becoming much more efficient and worthy. The only downside is the possibility of this becoming the main type of learning. People have already voiced their concerns about this possibility and for good reasons. If you can make an AI that can do the same job as a teacher, why would anyone pay a human to do this? We are still far from this kind of thing becoming a reality, and the chances of that are still pretty slim. There will always be a demand for human contact in teaching because it is just more natural.
The E-learning industry has not existed yet for very long but it sure has developed and changed very fast. As people are becoming more accustomed to this being a part of the norm, more development will come with it. Even when the pandemic ends, this field will still be a very big part of learning due to all of the factors that were mentioned earlier. The pandemic was like a catalyst that helped this industry to grow faster, it was just a matter of time before that.
It is in our human nature to be curious and know our surroundings. As long as we are not satisfied with mediocre knowledge we will continue to optimize the way we learn things. The evermore demand to have more skills and be multidisciplinary will also have an impact on the new trends that are to come. It is a very exciting future for this industry and you should definitely keep a closer eye on it.