Digital technologies are making a huge impact on our daily lives. We can already witness a number of effects of Internet on social life, but the influence of IT tools and programs spreads way beyond that.
Education is one of the fields that experience the most significant changes. According to the research, eLearning increases retention rates by 25% to 60%, which is the main reason why the global market is growing rapidly and projected to be worth $325 billion by 2025.
Online learning technologies are improving education in many different ways and getting increasingly popular among students and business professionals all over the world. Now, the key question is: How can online platforms change the way we learn in 2020?
We prepared a whole list of answers for you, so keep reading to see 10 ways digital technologies are going to enhance learning next year!
Online platforms encourage interactions
We begin with a feature that benefits and augments traditional learning practices in particular. Namely, online platforms enhance classroom-based studying and take it outside schools and colleges by encouraging social interactions between students and teachers.
For example, a professor can quickly create a Facebook group and invite his/her students to join the community. They can use the group to share ideas, upload documents, discuss classroom topics, exchange learning materials, and many more.
This is also the way to promote interactions among peers and help them break social barriers through online conversations.
Education becomes globally accessible
Unlike traditional learning, online education is globally accessible. How come? The idea is simple – all it takes is a stable Internet connection to gain access to various learning resources. A report reveals that almost four billion people use the Internet on a global scale.
In other words, more than half of the world’s population is able to find and use online studying tools at any given moment. This makes eLearning an unprecedented phenomenon that drastically changes the entire education market. Such a high level of accessibility can help people all over the world to begin studying and increasing the odds of making a career breakthrough.
Besides that, online learning is not time-bound as there are no plans, schedules, and calendars. It means that students can learn their lessons whenever they choose to.
A growing number of learning resources
The Internet is literally endless, so the only logical conclusion is that it can gradually build an all-encompassing library of learning resources. Of course, it will take years or even decades to systemize and categorize online studying resources, but it’s clear that the concept itself is incredibly powerful.
You don’t have to go beyond Wikipedia to understand the effect of online platforms on education. Although not perfect, Wikipedia already gives comprehensive and accurate answers to many questions and makes the studying process faster and simpler. There are also millions of other resources, including digital courses, eBooks, webinars, etc.
Free learning resources
This feature goes hand in hand with the previous one. Namely, the Internet is packed with learning resources that are not only valuable but also free of charge. We already mentioned Wikipedia as one example, but there many other platforms to check out. Some of the best free resources are:
- Project Gutenberg: If you are interested in free eBooks, this platform will give you over 60 thousand options.
- YouTube EDU: Video learning fans can find amazing materials on YouTube EDU.
- Udemy: You can find a plethora of free courses on Udemy.
Online learning assistance programs
The days when students had to do all the work on their own are long gone. Today, the Internet is offering you dozens of high-quality learning assistance programs. Using their services, you can plan and write school or college papers in a matter of hours.
The only problem is how to choose the best platforms from a wide range of more or less similar services, but we can give you a hand by pointing out proven solutions in the field. In our experience, the best content creation platforms are essay writing service, uk-dissertation.com, and essay writing help.
Personalized learning
Imagine how great it would be to have the option of personalizing your learning experiences. As it turns out, you don’t have to dream about it anymore because eLearning makes it possible to customize your studies and make it fit your learning style exclusively.
Most tools have powerful analytics and so they can predict your needs, learning style, and pace. In such circumstances, you can enjoy the privilege of individualized learning and keep the rhythm that suits your requirements.
Gamification in eLearning
The personalization of eLearning is one thing, but gamification is yet another feature that makes the process so precious. Game-like elements make students more interested and engaged, which drastically increases retention rates.
If you don’t believe us, take a look at this stat: 83% of people who receive gamified training feel motivated, while 61% of those who receive non-gamified training feel bored and unproductive!
A great example of gamification comes from Duolingo, a language learning app that makes the lessons entertaining using rewards, coins, levels, and many other details. It turns out that gamification elements help students to master foreign languages faster and more efficiently.
Remote learning
In the world of online studying, one of the biggest benefits comes from the fact that you can enjoy the privilege of remote learning. Instead of attending lessons in physical classrooms, you can take part in online learning communities. The advantages of distance learning are numerous, but we will only mention things like cost-reduction and freedom of movement.
Lifelong learning
As you probably know already, young guns are not the only ones who enjoy the privileges of online learning platforms. On the contrary, some of the most popular solutions are designed for business professionals who need and want to keep studying long-term.
According to the study, almost 70% of Millennials say they chose their jobs because of personal and professional development opportunities. That includes lifelong learning opportunities because talented employees want to stay competitive in the long run.
After all, it’s not enough to earn a college degree and stop learning for good. The world is changing rapidly and business professionals have to stay up to date with the latest developments in their respective fields.
Data analytics
The last thing we want to discuss here is the potential of data analytics to improve online learning procedures and experiences. The thing is that online platforms use advanced analytics to evaluate individual performances of each student.
They use the results to calculate the overall performance of the program and improve internal procedures so as to make courses better. In other words, online platforms are not static but rather dynamic and ever-changing.
Conclusion
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade or so, you must have noticed how the entire world has changed thanks to the incredible impact of digital technologies. Online tools and platforms changed almost every aspect of our daily lives and education is definitely not an exception here.
In this article, we analyzed the top 10 ways in which online technologies would influence the way we learn in 2020 and beyond. There are many other aspects of eLearning to consider, but we selected the most impactful features only.
Which one do you believe to be the most interesting and valuable? Do you already use any of these online learning methods? Let us know in comments and feel free to mention your favorite digital learning tools!
Featured image via Pixabay.com
