Educational Trends according to Pearson.

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According to Pearson The information age has brought with it a decline in attention spans and an increase in screen fatigue. Our brains are bombarded with distracting alerts and notifications day in day out. They respond to these signals with an increase in the stress hormone cortisol. As a result, we are physically unable to concentrate and process large amounts of information.

So how do we approach this problem in the classroom?

Nano Learning

Learning in short bursts is proven to increase our ability to take in and retain information. By providing your students with small, “pellet” like bits of information, you are much more likely to increase their productivity, capture their attention and aid their ability to learn.

The four keys for effective nanolearning in the classroom are:
  • Identify the students’ needs
  • Set the learning objectives
  • Choose your content e.g. videos, apps, podcasts
  • Keep it short; recommended within 2-5 minutes
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality

Students engage with digital technologies like VR because it inspires them to think beyond the four walls of the classroom.

Ideas for effective AR and VR into the classroom?
  • Field trips – helpful for art, geography and history lessons, among others, VR can take students on a tour around the best galleries, museums and cities in the world, without leaving the classroom.
  • Virtual careers – VR offers the opportunity for students to find out about a range of careers. It literally puts the student in another’s shoes, meaning they can gain first hand experience of what it’s like to do different jobs.
  • High-tech training – highly influential for students who are thinking about pursuing a career in areas like the military or medicine, VR and AR can project real life training. For example, it can show students the anatomy of the body from the inside out.
  • Language immersion – the best way to learn a language is total immersion. VR can immerse students in a foreign language, by virtually placing them in the middle of a virtual world, hearing only their target language.
Project Based Learning

Project-based learning is a teaching method that actively engages the students in real-life projects. The idea is that students ‘learn by doing’, with teachers acting as the hands-on facilitator.

The objective is to have students investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging and complex question or issue. They will develop critical-thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication skills; all of which are highly sought after 21st century skills, valued by employers.
  • Some topics for projects to set your students include:
  • Finding solutions to a local environmental problem
  • Coming up with alternative energy sources
  • Analysing photography or photojournalism
  • Voicing opinions on a popular debate
Experiential Learning

Teachers often find student disengagement exasperating. Smartphones under their desks do not make it any easier. This learning approach involves immersing students in real-world situations. It offers first-hand experiences in which they need to practice planning, decision-making, teamwork and more. This can be done out of the classroom, however online apps have made experiential learning more accessible and logistically feasible.
  • Collaborative exercises – provide students with a problem or debate in teams and ask them to come up with ideas and solutions. This could be a philosophical debate or a mock business problem to get them thinking about a range of scenarios.
  • Role-playing – get students to act out different scenarios. An imaginary situation can teach students how different actions and behaviours can affect outcomes.
  • Field work – students are asked to go out and collect data. This could be done online through questionnaires and surveys, which can then be presented to the class.
Integrating Online Schooling and Hybrid learning

Teachers hated online learning, students hated online learning when Covid 19 struck. There are lessons to be learnt from this experience. Both teachers and students cannot afford to be technologically incompetent. Online learning has its advantages and needs to keep on being practised. 
  • It is flexible, cost effective and does not depend on location.
  • It integrates learning competences with technological competences.
  • It turns the students into independent thinkers.
  • Some activities are only possible online. 
Adapted from Pearson (Source) 

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