Trending Topics Archives

April 19, 2024April 19, 2024

5 Trending L&D Topics That Are Sure To Stand The Test Of Time

The modern workplace is evolving at a rapid pace, and along with it, Learning and Development (L&D) strategies are undergoing transformative changes to keep up with the shifting educational needs of employees. Some trending topics within the L&D sphere are proving to have long-term relevance. Here are five trending L&D topics that are sure to stand the test of time:

1. Microlearning: A strategy that involves breaking down information into bite-sized pieces, making learning more manageable and less time-consuming for learners. Microlearning caters to the decreasing attention spans and the busy schedules of modern employees. It allows for just-in-time learning, directly at the point of need.

2. Personalized Learning Paths: Personalization in L&D ensures that training is relevant to the individual needs of each learner, based on their skills gaps, career goals, or personal interests. Personalized learning experiences can dramatically increase engagement and retention rates because employees find the content more relevant and actionable.

3. Learning in the Flow of Work: The integration of learning into daily tasks means less disruption to workflow and underscores a culture of continuous improvement and learning. By embedding learning opportunities directly into an employee’s work environment, organizations can create a seamless transition between work and learning.

4. Data-Driven Learning Design: Utilizing data analytics tools in L&D helps in understanding patterns related to how individuals learn, what content is most effective, and evaluating the ROI on training programs. Insights from data analysis enable instructional designers to create more effective training modules and drive strategic decisions about future L&D initiatives.

5. Emphasis on Soft Skills: In an age where automation and artificial intelligence are becoming commonplace, soft skills such as emotional intelligence, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration are increasingly valuable. Training for soft skills helps cultivate a workforce that can adapt to new challenges, lead effectively, and collaborate across a variety of contexts.

These forward-thinking approaches reflect not just a response to contemporary demands but also a preparation for the future landscape of work where flexibility, personal growth, continuous learning, data-informed strategies, and human-centric skills will be key drivers of success for both individuals and organizations alike.

April 18, 2024

Trends In Learning Analytics: Educational Institutions Take Heed

Learning analytics is quickly becoming an indispensable tool in the field of education. This data-driven approach allows educational institutions to tailor their teaching methods and curricula to better suit the needs of students. With advancements in technology, learning analytics trends are evolving to provide deeper insights into student learning patterns, engagement levels, and academic performance.

One significant trend is the adoption of predictive analytics. Educational institutions use these tools to identify at-risk students early in their academic journey, enabling timely intervention. By analyzing past and current data, predictive models can foresee which students might struggle, allowing educators to provide additional support and resources to ensure their success.

Another trend gaining momentum is personalized learning. Learning analytics facilitate the development of custom-tailored educational experiences that accommodate individual learning styles and paces. As a result, students can enjoy a learning path that aligns with their strengths and areas for improvement, ultimately leading to better outcomes and increased satisfaction.

Social learning analytics represents another innovative trend. These tools analyze social interactions within educational platforms to enhance collaboration among students. By understanding how students work together on projects or discussions, educators can promote effective teamwork practices and create a more connected learning community.

Additionally, there has been a surge in the use of real-time analytics in classrooms. This immediate feedback allows educators to adjust their teaching strategies on the fly based on student engagement and comprehension levels. The instant data these tools provide ensures that no student falls behind due to a lack of understanding or interest.

Lastly, the integration of Gamification in learning is also being propelled by analytics. By tracking achievements, progress, and participation in game-based learning activities, educators can make education more interactive and enjoyable while still focusing on achieving academic objectives.

Overall, the trends in learning analytics are shaping a future where data informs every aspect of education — from administrative decisions to classroom activities. Educational institutions that adapt to these advancements stand to benefit greatly with enhanced student performance, more efficient teaching methods, and ultimately better-equipped learners ready for the challenges of tomorrow’s world.

July 23, 2022

Who Invented Homework?

Homework is a part of life for children, parents, and educators. But who came up with the concept of homework? What happened to make it a standard in education? Here’s a quick rundown of homework’s history in the United States.

Homework’s Origins: Myth vs. History

Who was the first person to invent homework? We may never know for sure. Its history has been shaped by a variety of persons and events. Let’s start with two of its key influencers.

The Dubious Roberto Nevelis of Venice

Homework is typically credited to Roberto Nevelis of Venice, Italy, who invented it in 1095—or 1905, depending on your sources. However, upon closer examination, he appears to be more of an internet legend than a genuine figure.

Horace Mann

Horace Mann, a 19th-century politician and educational reformer, was a pivotal figure in the development of homework. Mann, like his contemporaries Henry Barnard and Calvin Ellis Stowe, was passionate about the newly unified nation-state of Germany’s obligatory public education system.

Mandatory tasks were assigned to Volksschulen (“People’s Schools”) students to complete at home on their own time. When liberals like Johann Gottlieb Fichte were striving to organize support for a unified German state, this demand highlighted the state’s authority over the individual. While homework had been established before Fichte’s participation with the Volksschulen, his political goals can be considered a catalyst for its adoption as an educational requirement.

Horace Mann was a driving force behind creating government-run, tax-funded public education in America. During a journey to Germany in 1843, he witnessed the Volkschule system at work and brought back several of its ideals, including homework.

The American Public School System’s Homework

Homework has not always been generally embraced, despite being a near-universal element of the American educational experience. Parents and educators continue to dispute its benefits and drawbacks, as they have for more than a century.

The 1900s: Anti-homework sentiment and homework bans

A homework prohibition was enacted in the Pacific state of California in 1901, barely a few decades after the idea of homework crossed the Atlantic. The restriction, which applied to all students under the age of 15, lasted until 1917.

Around the same period, renowned magazines such as the Ladies’ Home Journal and The New York Times published remarks from parents and medical professionals portraying homework as harmful to children’s health.1930: Homework as Child Labor

A group called the American Child Health Association deemed homework a form of child labor in 1930. This statement represented a less-than-favorable view of homework as an appropriate educational method, given that laws barring child labor had recently been implemented.

Early-to-Mid 20th Century: Homework and the Progressive Era

Teachers began looking for ways to make homework more personal and meaningful to individual students throughout the second half of the 19th and 20th-century modern educational changes. Could this be the origin of the enduring essay topic, “What I Did on My Summer Vacation?”

The Cold War: Homework Heats Up

Following WWII, the Cold War heightened tensions between the United States and Russia in the 1950s. The flight of Sputnik 1 in 1957 increased Russian-American enmity, particularly among their youngsters.

The best way to ensure that American students did not fall behind their Russian counterparts, especially in the extremely competitive fields of science and mathematics, was for education officials in the United States to assign demanding homework.

The 1980s: A Nation at Risk’s Homework

What Works, a 1986 publication from the US Department of Education, listed homework as one of the most effective instructional tactics. This followed three years after the groundbreaking study

Early 21st Century: Homework Bans Return

Many educators and other concerned individuals are questioning the value of homework once again. On the subject, several publications have been published.

These include:

The Case Against Homework: How Homework Is Hurting Our Children and What We Can Do About It by Sarah Bennett and Nancy Kalish (2006)
The Battle Over Homework: Common Ground for Administrators, Teachers, and Parents (Third Edition) by Duke University psychologist Dr. Harris Cooper (2007)
The End of Homework: How Homework Disrupts Families, Overburdens Children, and Limits Learning by education professor Dr. Etta Kralovec and journalist John Buell (2000)

Homework is still a contentious topic nowadays. Some schools are enacting homework bans similar to those enacted at the start of the century. Teachers have varying opinions on the bans, while parents attempt to cope with the disruption to their daily routine that such bans cause.

December 13, 2018

Making Edtech a Key Part of Your School Construction Plan

Technology brings with it exciting innovations and even though products get smarter and smaller; our classrooms are changing very little. The construction of new schools is not meeting the needs of modern students, and future students are bound to suffer too. If we are pushing edtech as the future of education, architects and school boards need to be creating spaces that are conducive to blended learning, technology and the explosion that is happening across the edtech market.

One problem that many schools suffer from is bad Wi-Fi. This is not always due to their own fault but rather due to the construction of older schools. The brick walls are hard for Wi-Fi signals to penetrate and extra routers and boosters mean that more maintenance is required and more complex systems need to be up kept. Students and teacher suffer because of this, and if connectivity is the key to the new education system, better spaces need to be created for Wi-Fi. These and other concerns around old walls, foundation, and old spaces are explored in this great article by Old House.

Closely linked to this are the concerns that schools of the future will have high electricity consumption. The more electronics in use, the more wifi, and electricity needed to keep those technologies running effectively. Schools of the future need to be green, and schools should align themselves with standards set out by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). By doing this, schools will ensure that edtech is having a positive effect on students but also on the school and the environment at large. Schools need to understand that while the push for “paperless schools” is great, there are environmental concerns that come with schools as technology hubs.

Space wise, classrooms need to change too. Edtech may increase screen time, but that does not mean it must happen at the same desk for hours on end. Some edtech such as augmented reality and virtual reality requires space for movement. If we have classrooms that are simply made for desks, we cannot give students space to move, learn and engage with technology as they are meant to. The benefits of standing desks, as well as movement in the classroom, needs to be considered. Construction plans need to be more open and allow for students to engage with the space around them.

Construction needs to move away from the notion of “computer rooms” and realize that every space could be a computer room. Study pods and other quiet spaces need to be integrated into classrooms as students are being encouraged to work together but also to work alone. Edtech allows for this flexibility, but the current classroom set out does not. Blended learning is important, and if students are to feel that they are in control of their learning, they need to feel that classroom offers opportunities to do so. Some other additions to the classroom of the future should cover some of the following points.

Charging ports near every student’s workstations
Windows that allow for light but reduce glare on screens
Air-conditioning to keep devices and students cool

Another aspect that Edtech changes is the way that students psychologically interact with their teachers, peers and their classrooms. A recent study done by Herman Miller on workplace wellbeing concluded that giving people some control over their surroundings adds to their sense of well-being and the same holds true for classrooms. Students need to feel in control of their classrooms in order to have mental well behind, something that is overlooked in present school construction.

So, if we are to move towards a new medium of learning, we need to be building schools that facilitate this new type of learning. Architects and education innovators need to come together to create the best possible spaces for learning. We cannot continue building schools as we have for hundreds of years but rather think towards the future and the needs and concerns of future generations.

August 27, 2018

EdTech Should Change the Way Teachers Teach

For a long time, teaching was teacher-centered: the teacher dispensed information through lecture, handouts, or presentations; the students absorbed the information by listening and taking notes. It was repetitive, could become monotonous, and left little room for student exploration or creativity. It was also detrimental to students who couldn’t keep pace with the teacher’s lessons or students who learned in way different from the teacher’s presentation

The past ten years have seen a surge in student-centered learning, and the integration of technology into the classroom makes it increasingly easy to create engaging lessons that reach a variety of learners in a variety of ways.

There are many ways that technology has changed and improved teaching methods, making education more meaningful and accessible to all students.

Education Doesn’t Have to Happen Only Within the Walls of a Classroom

Now that technology is becoming more ubiquitous, teachers can continue to communicate and teach even when class isn’t in session. Teachers can reach students through email, Twitter, or classroom forums like BlackBoard and Google Classroom. On weekends and snow days, teachers can send messages or blasts to engage students in off-the-cuff or carefully curated activities, reading experiences, community opportunities, or study groups even when class is over and school is closed.Students can take what they’re discussing in the classroom and use it to explore the world around them, all while still staying connected to their teachers.

This means that teachers have to be increasingly more communicative, more plugged into the community in which they teach or live, and be willing to showcase connections between the classroom and the world around the students. It requires more organization and proactivity on the part of the teacher than traditional lecture-style lessons, but it is infinitely more meaningful to students.

Textbooks May Be Obsolete

Thanks to technology, many schools are no longer ordering or relying on traditional textbooks. Instead, it is up to teachers to sift through the content on the internet, or on education websites, to find real world materials that showcase the content being taught in the classroom. Resources like McGraw-Hill’s Study Sync Program provide teachers with a curated materials that teachers can use in whatever order they like at whatever pace suits their students.

Teachers can no longer rely on reading a chapter and then answering the textbook questions. Instead, technology is encouraging educators to become more proactive in find reading materials that are authentic and relevant, and engage students on a deeper level.

Technology Makes it Easy to Flip Classrooms

Instead of teaching the content and then assigning homework, technology enables teachers to provide instructional materials (presentations, recorded lectures, PowerPoints or presentations, YouTube videos, etc) for the students to peruse on their own time and at their own pace. This means that teachers then become guides and resources for the practice work – classwork now that used to be homework – showing the students how to best use the information they took in. The function of the teacher is no longer to impart information, but to guide students in making the best use of the information they read and learn.

Collaboration is Increasing

Teachers no longer need to teach in a vacuum! Thanks to technology, teachers can collaborate across content areas, grade levels, even across vast geographical distances. Teachers can communicate with one another to make cross-curricular experiences that will solidify student learning and find experiences that will help their students in real-world situations. It also means that they can give their students opportunities to learn from others in both similar and different life situations, cultures, and locations. Teachers become facilitators for students’ experiences.

Learning Can Be More Personalized

Technology makes it easy for teachers to tweak lessons and materials to each individual student’s’ needs and interests. No Red Ink, for example, is a resource that teachers can use to disseminate grammar lessons, and it surveys each student to cater the lessons and activities to his or her particular interests. Teachers can discreetly and abundantly address special education students’ IEPs as well using technology, all without making a student feel singled out or different. With technology, a teacher is responsible for differentiating his or her lessons so that every student receives the greatest depth and breadth of understanding.

Teachers Can Give More Constant, Personal, and Meaningful Feedback

In bygone days, teachers would survey the class with “a show of hands” or “fist to five” strategies to gauge student understanding. Sometimes, they used exit slips. Now, however, with technology, teachers can gauge individual student learning through communication and the near-constant feedback of iPads and computers. For example, teachers can watch in real time as student’s type an essay. Instead of waiting until the end, when the writing is turned in, to read and give feedback, teachers can prevent mistakes as they are being made, give on-the-spot feedback, and work collaboratively with students to show them how to correctly complete the process, instead of just evaluating the final result.

Classroom Management Strategies are Shifting

With technology, students always have the opportunity to be engaged, even when a teacher needs to deal with one individual student. In the past, if a teacher needed to stop class to address a student behavior, everyone else had to wait until the teacher had returned to the task at hand to move forward. Now, forward progress continues, regardless of to whom the teacher is speaking or why. But more than that, technology can impact how classrooms are managed. From planning to engaging to monitoring, teachers can use apps and technology to make sure that students are on task and engaged, thus reducing misbehaviors.

Technology is here to stay. And even though it presents its own unique array of challenges, it pushes teachers to stay creative, to meet students on their home field, and to innovate. From the information taught to the method of delivery to managing the students’ behavior and achievement, technology helps teachers make the most of classtime.

July 1, 2018

Pass or Fail: The Final Word

In this multi-part series, I provide a dissection of the phenomenon of retention and social promotion. Also, I describe the many different methods that would improve student instruction in classrooms and eliminate the need for retention and social promotion if combined effectively.

While reading this series, periodically ask yourself this question: Why are educators, parents and the American public complicit in a practice that does demonstrable harm to children and the competitive future of the country?

It is the contention of this blog series that ending retention, and social promotion are justified by both practical and theoretical considerations. Doing so does, however, also entail ending graded education and standardization. Collectively, these changes require a substantial overhaul of the entire system of public education in the United States as well as the re-education of the vast majority of its stakeholders.

The 6-pronged approach described above provides insight into the most promising plan for replacing retention, social promotion, graded classrooms and standardized tests with a fundamentally more effective educational system. If the stakeholders in the public education system are to be brought on board in support of this plan, the campaign to re-educate them must begin as soon as possible. This plan must emphasize how we have got to the point we are now at in our education system, so that it will be clearer where we might go if we make the changes the plan suggests.

It is time for the public education system to take an honest look at itself. The benefits of our current strategies are negligible. The United States is losing the knowledge and innovation battle and will ultimately lose the war unless reform begins soon. The tragedy of handicapping our children with a clearly second-rate education is all the worse because it is so unnecessary. As a nation, we have the information that justifies the changes outlined in this blog series. As citizens and parents, we also have the duty to provide our children the high-quality education envisaged by our Founding Fathers, and education that stimulates creativity and a love of learning.

Returning to the issues of retention and social promotion, the evidence is overwhelming that both of these strategies damage the children they are supposed to help. They are damaging not only to individual students but also society as a whole. The large-scale, long-term effects of retention are that individuals lose educational opportunities, job opportunities, and opportunities to make cultural and economic contributions to their communities.

Retention and social promotion also represent a tremendous burden on the state. The likelihood of an individual requiring welfare or being unemployed is greatly increased when they are affected by retention or social promotion. And as grave as these consequences are for an individual, they are dwarfed by the crippling effect of a personality stunted by a pernicious educational environment. Because a child who has been held back or socially retained is likely to be inhibited and stunted intellectually and creatively, the public school system really should be considered a clear and present danger to the nation’s future.

Only by acknowledging the harm done by grade retention, graded classrooms, and standardized tests can the American public education system can rise to the challenge of the modern world and provide a world-class education that is free, effective, and fair to all segments of society. Even if the American public education system is not completely transformed, there should at least be a shift in the approach to assessment. American schools should at least put an end to the use of restrictive, standardized testing and the use of retention and social promotion policies.

June 28, 2018

Pass or Fail: Mixing Ages in a Single Classroom to Accommodate Developmental Differences

When it comes to getting rid of our current pass-fail system, I have developed six strategies (click to see them all). One change that I think will make substantial improvements is a shift to multi-age classroom arrangements.

All of the strategies for ending retention and social promotion presuppose a substantial and systemic change to the American educational system. Indeed, the strategies discussed in this series are not exclusively or even primarily focused on retention and social promotion, which are seen merely as symptoms of a greater disease. The true focus is upon putting an end to the graded education model and the related problems of standardized assessments and a graded curriculum. These are the factors that undermine our educational system most insidiously, often leaving the most vulnerable and the most talented of our students without a place in the educational system.

Multi-age classrooms can promote developmentally appropriate, innovative, and engaging educational opportunities. The multi-age classroom has tremendous potential as an educational approach if supported by skilled, qualified, and dedicated professionals in various capacities. However, it bears repeating that many different elements must be successfully integrated if a multi-age classroom is to attain its full potential.

Human development entails an interrelated sequence of changes in socialization, behavior, communication, and physical development. Students need the opportunity to work on these other areas of development as much as they need the opportunity to develop intellectually and academically. Students need to be able to interact appropriately with their peers and with adults. Behavioral considerations are related to both emotional and social development. In light of the evidence that multi-age classrooms provide benefits in these specific areas, graduates from multi-age programs can be expected show social and emotional maturity as well as academic achievement. Behavioral problems can be more effectively addressed in a multi-age classroom because of the regular exposure of younger students to their more mature peers.

Rather than basing the minimum acceptable grade on a child’s age, mixed age classrooms would take developmental differences into account. Mixed age classrooms would group children in developmentally equivalent groups spanning two or more years to optimize the learning potential of each child.

June 24, 2018

Pass or Fail: Rethinking School Design for Better Learning Outcomes

When it comes to getting rid of our current pass-fail system, I have developed six strategies (click to see them all). A rehaul of design in our K-12 schools is a big component in making this shift a reality.

Redesigning America’s schools involves many levels of change and would take a considerable amount of time. Nonetheless, there is immense potential in the effort, including the opportunity to identify and learn from those aspects of the American education system that have been successful in the past, as well as those that continue to be successful today. There is also the opportunity to learn from systems used in other parts of the world, and to look at alternative assessment models, such as those found in various European countries. The multi-age classroom approach has a great deal to offer as a model that would reduce some of the most negative elements in the current system, especially the anxiety many students experience in the school setting and their lack of excitement regarding the experience of learning.

The ultimate goal of a redesigned system is the revival of the passion for learning within this nation. One of the qualities the founding fathers had was curiosity and a love for intellectual development and study. The talent that existed among those who founded this nation is something that could, even today, help rekindle a national passion for learning, innovation, and creativity. The need for such a rekindling is becoming ever more crucial because of the importance of knowledge and innovation in a global economy.

Inspiring students to be creative, analytical, and resourceful in their thinking will likely have many other effects. The cost of retention and social promotion policies includes high unemployment rates, reliance on public benefits, high dropout rates, and many social and emotional issues that manifest as problems of self-esteem. Creating a passion and a capacity for learning would help to teach American students to take care of themselves, boosting their self-esteem.

A characteristic of our times is that new ideas and new technologies are rapidly making old systems obsolete. Depending on the quality of his or her education, this can either be depressing or an inspirational challenge to the American worker. An individual who has enjoyed a high-quality and inspiring education that fosters critical thinking and an appreciation of knowledge will be able to overcome the challenges of a global marketplace instead of being left behind by change.

An interesting application of this notion is offered in a report on the knowledge economy itself. Powell and Snellman suggest that the modern automobile is becoming less of a dumb collection of nuts and bolts and more of a smart machine that applies computer technology to improve safety, economy, and environmental friendliness at the same time as it provides more entertainment and better automotive performance. Although the technology that supported the initial development of the car, the innovations of Henry Ford and the pioneers of the assembly line, are now almost entirely obsolete, innovations are rapidly transforming a relatively limited piece of technology into a sophisticated product with multiple functions.

The innovators of the future will be those who can take existing products and transform them into something so new as to be almost unrecognizable. This is abundantly clear with the car and numerous other products, like cell phones or computers. Ultimately, the American education system should be focused on preparing Americans to be capable of this order of innovation. Even within the education system itself, we should be striving to do more with the resources that are already available, becoming more efficient and aiming for a higher purpose.

June 20, 2018

Pass or Fail: Multiple Assessments to Determine True Learning

When it comes to getting rid of our current pass-fail system, I have developed six strategies (click to see them all). Developing a system with varied assessments is one of those points.

Many educators view standardized testing as a necessary evil, and some see it as a completely useless process that never reflects what students know. Proponents of K-12 assessments, on the other hand, contend that there is no adequate way to enforce educator accountability without them.

The majority of states and school districts rely on large-scale assessments when it comes to student grade progression, but this should only be a small piece of a larger analysis of individual students. Multiple sources of information about a student should be used in determining his or her readiness for the next grade, and teachers should make use of them.

Compared to the first two stages of change, the idea of creating multiple assessment measures is very easy. To some extent, public schools already make use of multiple assessment measures. For instance, multiple assessment measures are standard for students with IEPs, and IEPs are not usually changed without making reference to multiple assessment measures. The real key to implementing this stage is not so much the employment of multiple measures as it is the actual selection of those measures and the way they should be administered and interpreted.

The use of multiple assessments including some that do not entail tests makes allowance for that considerable proportion of the student body that does not perform well on tests. Multiple assessments also allow for the possibility that a student simply had a bad day on the day of the test. Finally, the inclusion of some assessment elements that do not consist of a rigid, multiple-choice tests reduces the likelihood of students “overthinking” higher-level questions, and inadvertently providing the right answer to the wrong question.

A combination of assessments is best both for simple assessment of learning and for making decisions about retention. The decision to hold a student back, if made at all, should be made on the basis of multiple measures of performance, and never strictly by a standardized test.

June 12, 2018

Pass or Fail: Rewriting Standards to Eradicate Pass-Fail Strategies

When it comes to getting rid of our current pass-fail system, I have developed six strategies (click to see them all). The first is new standards that pull away from pass-fail initiatives to a better outcome for students.

Clear standards must guide the actions of all stakeholders in the education process. Administrators need clear standards to support policy decisions, just as teachers require a clear description of what they must teach, how they must teach it, and how they must assess their students’ learning. Students also need to know what they must learn and do to demonstrate their learning in an assessment process that does not entail the rigid standardization so characteristic of today’s tests. At some point in their K-12 career, students need to learn how to support themselves or seek out additional support from the school system when they encounter difficulties.

An emphasis on standards in the comprehensive sense advocated here can help to solve many of the existing problems in the K-12 system. As part of a broader strategy, an emphasis on standards can also help to ensure that all key players are on the same page. The ultimate vision is to provide a quality education that prepares students for college and high-level careers. Over the short term, the goal is to ensure students have ample opportunity to achieve success throughout their K-12 school career and to demonstrate their learning by making use of an assessment procedure that suits their temperament and accurately reflects their accomplishments. Clear and comprehensive standards provide a clear pathway to success as well as access to learning resources of proven efficacy.

These standards are needed before any shift away from the pass-fail mentality is possible and the time to start writing them is now.