E-learning is a fast changing arena. Not only is it serving collegiate or higher education and corporate training, it is also being increasingly applied in the K12 school system.
If you are an administrator of owner of a school, you need to be aware of the following trends in e-learning in the 21st century:
- Classrooms filled with iPads: the iPad which is a tablet computer manufactured by the company, Apple, is now popular among not only regular customers but also educators. In the U.S. private and public grants have been provided to make them available to all schools students. These tablets allow various learning styles like doing assignments, sharing materials with peers and teachers, play games, blog, take notes etc.
- Mobile devices and smartphones: Experts predict that in the near future there will be an explosion of such devices, changing the way students and teachers interact with one another. They are cost-effective tools that make students interested in learning.
- Monitoring of students made easy: Some apps enable tracking and evaluation of students easy, no matter where they might be. Parents can also be made aware of progress of wards.
- Cloud computing: This enables close collaboration between students and teachers on everything from simple assignments to complicated presentations. It also gives access to a wide range of educational material. Educational resources can be accessed from anywhere, provided there is an internet connection. K-12 learning solutions of e-learning have wide use.
- Educational games: Today educational games are being developed increasingly with educators trying to get student interested in games developed on subjects like history, science and math. Students can access these games from anywhere making them ideal for all levels of grades.
- Social networking: Sites like Facebook and Twitter are becoming popular with teachers and students. They help in mutual collaboration and inspire shy students to participate in class activities.
- Adaptive environment for learning: The e-learning scenarios of K-12 system are set to witness the emergence of programs that adapt to the needs of students. In these programs, teachers can point out specific student needs without causing the embarrassment of doing this in front of the whole class.
These are some of the top trend sin e-learning as applied to the K-12 system.