Innovative Education Trends In 2014

Whether you are one of the first years who have to own a tablet for this year’s studies or whether you are a teacher looking for new ways to inspire your students, here are a few innovative trends in education for this year… and most of them is about increasing access to information…

Online Collaborative Learning

We spend a lot of time online, sharing information. It only seems natural for learning to take the same course. Online independent learning can happen a lot easier because of the online skills that many students already have. This model is great for collaboration, allowing students to benefit from shared memory and shared resources. Just imagine study groups online, where you will be able to talk about articles, books and ideas that will help each other.

Online Resources and Textbooks

Many often consider online learning as a static learning process with little interaction. Many of the online resources that we will be seeing reenacts face-to-face learning experiences, so the classroom will physically be represented online with the help of video and audio mediums. Sharing digital resources is also a lot more efficient – you no longer have to wait for your textbook to arrive at your local bookstore (and chances are that you can access them on your smartphone or tablet).

Social Media for Learning

87% of Facebook and 85% of Twitter users in South Africa are accessing these platforms on their mobile phone and with South Africa having a mobile penetration well over 100%, social media is going to become important in providing students with access to information and encourage them to participate in conversation. Challenges still exist in proving the credibility of this medium, although we should be seeing a lot more interaction between educators, students and industry specialists on platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

The Flipped Classroom

Many learning institutions have a structure where most of the time spent in class includes an educator delivering information to the students and then, by use of a textbook, it is up to the student to read the relevant chapters. The idea of the flipped classroom allows students to access information how they want to, allowing them to absorb the information in a way that is best suited to them. This might include watching videos, listening to podcasts, collaborating with peers online for example.

Regardless of what you are studying, remember that we offer loans for textbooks, study-related equipment, laptops and tablets to ensure that you have everything you need to help you during your studies! Contact us today to find out how we can assist you!

What Is Mobile Learning

In South Africa the use of mobile phones, tablets and other connected devices is increasing, along with the access to wireless technology. All of these are also becoming more affordable, allowing South Africans to benefit from being connected. Because students are generally early adopters of technology, technology-rich activities can increase engagement… this is one of the key driving forces for mobile learning.

Mobile learning is the process of providing or obtaining educational content via mobile devices. Educational content is not limited to text and can also include video and podcasts for example. The notions of mobile learning is important for the following reasons:

• It encourages learning, regardless of location
• It can reached communities where physical resources are scarce
• It leverages current online social interactions to stimulate collaboration
• It gives students a personalized learning experience

Mobile learning has huge potential for South Africa, especially in an environment where the educator to student ratio is too high to support efficient growth in the education of South African youth.

There are however several challenges in implementing mobile learning in South Africa:

• Bandwidth costs are still expensive
• The cost of smartphones cannot always be afforded by all social-economic groups
• Software development can be costly
• Due to the rapid development of technology, it is often difficult to ensure that the software is compatible across all versions of most platforms
• Privacy of information and content security is a risk

There are however tangible results for projects that has used platforms like MXit, the South African mobile social network with over 6.5 million users and that works on over 8 000 different devices. Dr Math on MXit is an initiative where school pupils could ask Dr Math questions who would help them with mathematical queries. Bookly is a mobile literacy app on MXit, offering students access to a variety of books on their mobile phones. Earlier this year, the app developed into a website (www.bookly.co.za) which is also a writing platforms, allowing anyone to write a ‘bookly’ for others to read. This works on the premise that more content can be generated by peers.

Mobile learning could be the start to building a literate and educated nation, despite the challenges.