Amanda Rosewarne is CEO & Co-Founder of The Professional Development Consortium, who offer world leading CPD, and Coach of Excellence accreditations to coaches, and training businesses, gives her top 5 predictions for the future of online learning.
Today, online learning is considered a ‘normal way of education’. Yet only a decade ago, it was considered a less effective way of learning, compared to traditional face-to-face, in-classroom education.
With Covid-19 forcing us to work from home, and confining learning to internet communication tools, such as Zoom and MS teams. For the first time, businesses, colleagues, and clients could only undertake workplace and professional learning via digital education.
Within the coaching industry, life changed considerably, as professional coaches had to pivot from face to face sessions to solely delivering online learning experiences.
As a result, across 2020 and 2021, we’ve started to see many more flipped classrooms* delivered within online learning (see References). In the right settings, these exceptionally well, as teacher’s interaction with delegates is more personalised, tailored to their particular situation, and enables delegates to be actively involved in knowledge acquisition, whilst they participate in their learning.
This type of learning could never be more practical and accessible to everyone in society (who has an internet connection!). In truth, learning online has lots of benefits compared to in-classroom learning. There are a plethora of topics and skills that you can learn more effectively, and efficiently, than in a traditional classroom setting.
Additionally, online learning can be more affordable. You don’t have to spend money on travel, and you can often find great free online courses and educational resources at your fingertips. Besides, online learning can be tailored to an individual’s style, making it suitable for delegates with different strengths.
In the world of CPD (Continuing Professional Development – see Reference) and the Coach of Excellence accreditation, we are seeing increasing numbers of trainers and coaches apply for accreditation of their online programmes. Our accreditation badges verify these courses are genuine, authentic and high quality, ensuring that they stand out from the crowd.
With these and more benefits, you might be wondering what the future of online learning is. Here are five things to look out for in the online education, and digital learning, world as we move into 2022 and beyond:
Greater usage of online resources and tools
‘Digital learners’ have access to a wealth of resources and tools that can help you learn more effectively. You can find courses, lectures, books, articles, and more all at your fingertips.
As such, we can expect that – with instant access via smartphone, or other mobile devices – digital learning will encourage greater usage of online resources and educational tools than ever before.
Online learning provides a unique ability to access learning materials, whenever and wherever you want, which is great for your ongoing education and CPD.
A shift in interactions between delegates and the educator
Online learning doesn’t equal a trainer / coach just delivering direct sessions via Zoom, emulating a live event. Nowadays, online lessons are commonly supplemented with digital interactions, such as gamification tools, live polls, Q & A chat functions. This gives delegates immediate feedback, and helps foster enhanced learning relationships.
A study by Ohio State University found that delegates who were forced to learn from home during the COVID-19 pandemic seemed to adapt quickly to the sudden shift to ad hoc online education.
The data gathered from this study indicated that face to face interaction was greatly missed, yet thoroughly planned online courses with numerous interaction points between educators and delegates, were actually more favourable.
As we move into the future, you can expect that online learning will continue to shift the dynamics of the delegate/educator interactions. This is especially beneficial for those who may have difficulty building a rapport with their educator in a traditional classroom setting. In addition, online learning eradicates barriers for those who may struggle to attend face to face, such as wheelchair access, or social anxiety.
Greater use of online assessment tools
All forms of educational tools are essential for learning, at all educational levels – from college level teachers, to professional trainers, to coaches delivering adult learning programmes. In many topics, and industries it is critical to formally test, or exam, the development of educational competence, skills developed or knowledge updates as a result of the course.
The results from both individuals, or groups, produce crucial data that help teachers track the progress of their delegates. In the past, digital assessment tools were used sporadically. But as online learning has become more popular, we can expect to see greater use of these tools in order to assess the competency of delegates.
Examples include; online tests with a baseline pass mark, quizzes, reflective questionnaires with either/ and multiple choice or free text answers, reflective practice exercises.
This is important because it will help ensure that delegates are getting the most out of their online learning experience, and teachers can better assess their delegates’ strengths and weaknesses in order to plan the best learning path.
More online degrees and formal qualifications
Many universities around the world were founded many moons ago, some in the past 20 years, some in the last 200 years! Until now, a university has been limited by the number of lecturers and the number of delegates that can be hosted in their physical building. The Open University in the UK was the first to introduce the concept of a distance learning degree, and formal qualifications. In 2021, the growing trend is to offer online degrees. This mode of learning opens up the opportunity for more individuals to engage and complete a qualification, rather than physically being on a campus.
You’ll find that you can pay less for the same degree, and not have to worry about the extra costs of accommodation and meals.In the coaching realm, online coaching qualifications and CPD courses offer delegates a flexible schedule, allowing you as a coach, or your coachee, to fit studies around everyday life, and by removing the travel element, it frees up more personal time.
As we move into the future, you can expect to see even more online degrees being offered as potential delegates see the benefits of getting a degree online.
A shift towards online learning communities
In online learning, one of the most important and valuable assets is the community. This is a group of delegates, who come together to share their online learning experiences, ask questions, and offer help.
As online learning becomes more popular, we can expect to see a shift towards online learning communities, which are essential in helping delegates connect with one another and enjoy the benefits of digital education.
In conclusion, whilst online learning has been around for quite a while now, it is exponentially growing more in popularity, as we welcome 2022 and the future beyond. These five points are just a glimpse of what we can expect as online learning continues at a rapid pace – there is much more to come.
References:
Definition of a Flipped Classroom:
In this learning scenario, the coaching programme, or training course, begins with ‘homework’ for each delegate that they undertake prior, and independently, before the planned group session. This might include them given a brief to watch online lectures from home, or reading case studies.
Subsequently, when the group comes together to learn from the trainer or coach, in a face to face session. They are immediately focused on groupwork, and undertake live ‘problem solving’ in the classroom setting. Time is spent personalising the content to each delegate in terms of their questions, applicability to their professional role. This enables magnificently efficient, and extremely effective learning experiences.
What, Why and How To Implement A Flipped Classroom Model:
