What Will Online and Blended Learning Look Like in 2033?
People have been trying to predict the future,
especially in the educational space, for ages. It seems like every time there’s
a new technology introduced, someone will exclaim, “This is the future of education!”
Sometimes, they are correct. No matter who you credit with the ideation of
distance learning (there are many conflicting sources, some say it started in
1728 with Caleb Philipps and others credit Sir Isaac Pitman in 1840, among
others), the innovation of uniform postage rates in England made correspondence
learning a viable opportunity for distance education (Ferrari, 2020). However, both
radio and television were lauded as the future of education when they first
were introduced. According to a timeline written by Jeanette Weien called “This
History of Distance Education,” professors at the University of Wisconsin
developed the first federally licensed radio station for education in 1919. In
1930, the National Advisory Council for Radio in Education (NACRE) was created
by The Carnegie Foundation. And yet, just three years later, in The University of
Iowa was experimenting with television for educational purposes. And in both of
these mediums, people were convinced THIS was the future of distance learning.
But then within decades of trying to make TV distance learning THE thing to do,
here comes the Internet. Did you know that The University of Phoenix began
their first online courses in 1989? What I’m trying to say is that we’ve been
trying to predict the future of education, so take my predictions with a grain
of salt.
First, I think in this post-Covid world, we are
already seeing a preference from employees in the workforce to work remotely
and online. And while many employers are trying to buck this trend, this is one
place where I’d say that the education industry was ahead of the curve, at
least for higher education. There are literally hundreds of thousands of
massive open online courses being offered at any given time. Some entire degree
programs are offered only as online learning. For instance, the Learning Design
and Technology program at Arizona State University (ASU) is a completely online
course, which is helpful for me as I live in Northern Virginia and am currently
enrolled in that particular degree program. And while researching is starting
to show that the remote learning that occurred during Covid was problematic, I
do believe we’ll continue to see more and more education turn to online
options. And as long as we can teach the teachers how to produce online content
in a thought-out way and get them to be technically savvy, I believe this will
be an excellent option.
My hope is that as technology becomes more
intertwined with our society, it will also become more accessible. I feel there
are definitely ways to bridge the Digital Gap that exists when potential
learners do not have access to the tools and services needed for online
learning based on many factors, like poverty, location, or even federal laws.
Once that Digital Gap begins to close, online learning will be more accessible
for all and therefore education will be more attainable than ever before.
It is also my dream that accessibility for
those with disabilities will become standard best practice in the development
of educational experiences. Currently, many entities do not worry about
accessibility if they are not subsidized by federal funds. Even in today’s world,
so many are fighting to make the public see these obstacles as differing
abilities, rather than a handicap. If we are able to continue lifting the veil
and changing ways of thinking that accommodating these abilities is limiting, the
world on online and even blended learning will be a welcoming space for all.
I also think we will finally see a more regular
usage of virtual reality, augment reality and mixed reality (VR, AR, MR) in
learning spaces. We’ve been hearing about how these mixed realities were going
to revolutionize every industry, and it has in many of them, but as usual,
education is a slow adopter of the new innovations. We are starting to see
these technologies being utilized by learning designers for the medical, industrial
safety and even retail spaces with regularity. Today, I bought 5 pairs of
glasses online because I can “try them on” using augmented reality. It’s the
only way I’ll shop for glasses anymore. So I’m hoping that we will see much
more of the mixed realities being utilized in the classroom. How cool would it
be to be able to teach an online biology class and not have to use real animals
to dissect, but instead use AR or VR to give the same lessons, but without the smell…and
the death…
And what about artificial intelligence (AI)?
This has been all the talk in the chat channels of universities and schools
around the world. This particular technology has gotten smarter and more
advanced and now we have tools like ChatGPT that can produce written documents
that are eerily accurate and well-written. So, naturally, the education
industry is in a panic about how students will use this to cheat, how it will dumb
down people by not making them provide their own reflections, and to some it’s
the beginning of the end of human intellect. I admit, that was pretty much my
own first reaction to ChatGPT. However, I think that like many technologies, we
will find a way to harness it for good (and some will inevitably use it with
ill will, too). For example, I think that it will take some of the labor
out of research, while also introducing us to sources that we may never had a
chance to find on our own. Think of the revolution it can make for law clerks
and paralegals, who spend many an hour digging through torts and law history. I
believe that we will find a way to use this technology and still encourage
human thoughtfulness.
It's an exciting time to be a learning designer
and I am quite excited to be entrenched in the industry as we continue to
develop and grow! I’m not naturally an early adopter of technology, but I’m
going to work to change that in my professional life! Bring on the technology!
*Image purchased from Getty Images; no attribution required.
Ferrari, P. (2020, September 30).
https://www.capstan.be/distance-education-is-not-a-new-concept-it-is-actually-much-older-than-zoom-google-classroom-or-even-the-internet/
[web log]. Retrieved February 27, 2023, from
https://www.capstan.be/distance-education-is-not-a-new-concept-it-is-actually-much-older-than-zoom-google-classroom-or-even-the-internet/.
Weien, J. (n.d.). The History of Distance
Education. Sutori. Retrieved February 27, 2023, from
https://www.sutori.com/en/story/the-history-of-distance-education--4Af1NswW6PBY8HeCaJ3ptWNh
