2021 was a year of numerous changes in the educational field. Educators were looking for new approaches and solutions, applied non-standard methods and techniques. And what 2022 will bring to education – read about educational trends that you should pay attention to.
We should expect new changes in education in 2022. Some things will stay the same, and some things will be completely new. Here are the top education trends for the new year.
More digitalization
Distance and blended learning continue to be used extensively around the world. And if at first, we were wary of them, now many things have changed. And it has become a real trend.
Teachers have moved from simple video lectures to more effective formats that involve active interaction between participants in the educational process. In addition, schools increasingly use various online learning platforms, online resources, and applications. Also, we should not forget about services that write papers for money in order to help students with their studies.
Soft skills. Employers are increasingly paying attention to so-called soft skills, such as:
- critical thinking
- creativity
- teamwork skills
- the ability to solve problems
Therefore, if a teacher wants to promote students’ success, then it is the soft skills that need to be actively developed.
The most valuable employees in the future are not those who once learned a lot, but those who can adapt effectively to new conditions, learn throughout their lives, and find non-standard solutions.
Storytelling and visualization. Students in today’s world find it difficult to concentrate and hold their attention for long periods. And this is a problem faced by educators all over the world. But that doesn’t mean nothing should be done about it.
It’s not easy to get the attention of zoomers, but it’s real, and that’s where storytelling comes in. A full-fledged plot, intrigue, vivid visuals, and brilliant teacher monologues. So you have to do your best to keep the attention of your students.
Virtual and augmented reality. This is one of the most interesting educational trends, which completely changes the idea of the learning process. Virtual reality and augmented reality allow you to add playful and interactive elements to learning, to make it more visual and, undoubtedly, more interesting.
And they also help students to:
- Easily master even very complex learning topics;
- focus easily on the learning process (foreign educators recommend the use of virtual and augmented reality in work with children with ADHD);
- understand how to apply the acquired knowledge in practice.
Teachers, on the other hand, thanks to virtual and augmented reality have a great opportunity to present complex theory simply and interestingly, to motivate students to learn and simply make lessons more interesting. And even a single smartphone is enough to do the job.
Gamification. Gamification of learning is trending again. Game mechanics are quite a motive for students to do their homework, take learning tests, understand complex topics and get a better grasp of the material they’re learning.
In what kind of lessons would gamification be relevant? Any of them. And foreign teachers generally advise learning the basics of financial literacy and developing critical thinking in a game format.
Artificial intelligence. This is one of the most popular trends. Artificial intelligence will help personalize the learning process, create individual educational trajectories, assess students’ competencies, and so on.
It will help make the learning process interactive and safe. However, don’t worry that AI will replace teachers soon. If it does, it will take many years.
Asynchronous learning. This is a wonderful approach, giving more freedom to both students and teachers. Especially in the distance and blended learning environments. The asynchronous mode allows pupils to work on learning tasks at their own pace.
There is no need to struggle to catch up with the class, and it is easy to pay more attention to a difficult topic. However, asynchronous learning is not possible without self-discipline and time management skills, so it may not be suitable for all students.
