Trends in Future Education: What Should We Focus On in the Future?: The new decade has been a shock therapy not only for tourism, gaming, and the economy.

Everything that was habitual suddenly began to change – new avenues of realization for finance appear, new entertainment platforms appear, where one can not only play blackjack online but also communicate, completely replacing the real world. 

But, perhaps most of all, the usual way of things has changed in the sphere of education. Under the pressure of the pandemic, we are rapidly withdrawing from familiar models of learning and actively mastering new formats of study.

Bite-Sized Learning Instead of Bell-to-Bell Learning

The development of technology and the shortening of the life cycle of professions has led to the obsolescence of the classical model of education “school-university.

It has been replaced by the concept of bite-sized learning – focused and dynamic learning in the minimum time intervals at a comfortable pace. The origins of this method go back to studies of the human brain. As we know, new information is perceived best during the first 20 minutes, and the maximum level of concentration falls on the first 5-8 minutes. Accordingly, in the range of a standard lesson of 60-90 minutes, attention decreases significantly.

Bite-sized learning can be called one of the most successful approaches to solve the problem of students’ distracted attention. In “bite-sized learning” modules of up to 15 minutes are created with the use of various tools (videos, blogs, games) and tests. 

At the output, a person receives specific and targeted information, thereby significantly saving his or her own time. In addition, all modules can be studied repeatedly and combined, they can introduce broad topics and give a more detailed view of the subject better than traditional linear presentations.

Another plus is that not only a work computer can be used for the course, but also an ordinary smartphone. Thus, during breakfast over a cup of coffee, you can easily go through a short training block.

High-Speed Learning

Just some 20-30 years ago, once you got a profession, you could plan your career and be sure that nothing would change in the next few years. Today such a situation is virtually impossible: not only are entire professions becoming a thing of the past – the structure of the professions themselves is changing at an enormous rate.

And the world will continue to speed up. There is no time for unhurried development. The only way out is to retrain as quickly as possible. The format of intensive point-to-point training using digitalization – for example, chatbots and artificial intelligence – will be in demand.

They can conduct educational marathons in a short time, tracking the quality of learning new knowledge, and generating a report on the results of training.

Flexible Training Format

We can no longer exist within the rigid frameworks of the classical education of the 20th century. The formerly accepted programs with a fixed number of academic hours allocated to each subject are quietly receding into the past. Students must be given the right to choose which subjects to focus on and which to immerse themselves in less. 

A personalized approach will increase each individual’s motivation, allow them to control the learning process, and track their progress, which will have a positive impact on responsibility and engagement in the lesson program.

It is not without reason that more and more universities in the world are shifting towards hybrid learning schemes when students first study theory independently on the platform, and live lectures are devoted to discussion of the material, constructive discussions, analysis of specific cases, group assignments, and presentations. This trend will only strengthen in the coming years.

Applied Nature of Education

The development of digital technologies, on the one hand, opens new opportunities, but on the other hand, poses new challenges. To stay in the trend, to be an effective and in-demand specialist, it is necessary to constantly learn and develop. Especially by mastering tools like a simplified recording setup, providing a convenient and effective method of delivering video lectures, and enhancing the learning experience.

Moreover, if only five-ten years ago universities were entitled to give students just theoretical knowledge, shifting the empirics on the shoulders of employers, then today the situation has changed significantly. Classical education is no longer enough, because new requirements, professions, technologies, and processes are changing.

As a result, modern employers are more and more interested in competencies rather than traditional degrees of candidates. Consequently, educational institutions are expected to make it easier for students to learn new applied skills.

Focus on Pumping up Certain Skills

Millennials and Generation Z, accustomed to the personalized services of Apple Music and Netflix, no longer want to interact with standardized educational services designed for the average user, and in this context, customization begins to play the first fiddle. Learning is gradually transforming from compulsory to voluntary.

Students will decide for themselves which skills they need to develop. Educational platforms and universities are already actively trying to find new ways to personalize learning content, to restructure academic and career support so that it corresponds to the group and individual needs of students. 

This trend also makes economic sense: the more subjects students are offered for informed choice, the fewer people per the teacher they will have, and the more extracurricular seminars and activities students choose of their own free will rather than force, the higher their level of satisfaction with the educational process will be.