Introduction And Advancements

The world of learning is changing, post COVID, at a much faster pace as it had changed in the last one decade. The EdTechs are mushrooming and we have witnessed a series of new content formats and delivery mechanisms via Online Education. We have also seen the unprecedented growth of new age teachers and educational content creators helping to supplement the reading materials of students. Education has democratized and is creating a far reaching impact on the mind of learners. Preference for video content has introduced micro-learning and personalized learning. You already know that more than 69% of the world’s population (>5 Billions) are connected to the internet and the maximum consumption is in the form of searching for information and watching videos.

The convenience to learn is now being offered in many aspects, much beyond, place and time this is going to be an era on blended or hybrid learning and even to that aspect that there are tech giants working to create holographic and 3D view / avatar of your famous trainer or the subject matter expert, who can be seamlessly and simultaneously present in multiple c;assrooms, across many top cities of the world at the same time. Shocking or this is the way the larbing will be delivered in the time to come. Maybe in the future you are being mentored by a super intelligent bot for various skills which exists only visually and is being programmed on regular intervals based on machine learning algorithms.

The money and promotion alone now can not retain the talented employees as we are witnessing the entry of more people from new Gen-Z unto the active workforce. The rules of motivation and engagement of employees have totally changed as well. Organizations who are keen on re-skilling, up-skilling, adopting new and emerging technologies and redeploying the manpower to different roles after regular intervals will be able to retain the employees. 

Your professor may send you alerts via mobile notifications or help you answer any query, monitor your progress based on time you are spending on LMS via learning data analytics. You may join an open debate via Twitter Spaces or attend a virtual workshop by just wearing your VR Headset. The world of online education is far more all-encompassing as compared to Traditional ways of teaching. Are you soon going to give up traditional ways of learning? Let’s explore this question by way of this article.

Key Trends to watch out for

• Only traditional mode of education will remain only in the underdeveloped societies and countries. The education is going to be On-demand, Online, Anywhere, On any device and Anytime in the future. The students may not be required to visit the campus or having a large campus may not be a differentiating factor in the future. So this is going to be a campus-less completely online university in the future, accessible via any device. 

  However this phenomenon may exist in few developed or emerging economies. The less developed countries might still continue to have the same format of education.

• Online learning will become Virtual-blended Learning. There may be a right blend of learning via classroom (Occasionally), Virtual, Online, Conversation, Social innovation platform, Portals, Individualized, Real-time Learning, Broadcast etc. The future teachers may be virtually present in multiple classrooms.
   
• Microlearning will be on the rise. According to fmi market research report, “The global microlearning market is poised to increase at a steady CAGR of 11.2%, reaching US$ 6.3 Billion by 2032 from US$ 1.9 Billion in 2021”. The reasons for students and teachers to go back to the campus was digital fatigue, an inherent disadvantage of online learning. Micro learning refers to breaking down the complex topics into smaller pieces of learning content, which the user can refer to multiple times without facing digital fatigue. 
• Videos will be interactive and much more annotatable and once changes are accepted, will be re-programmed in real time. The video format is the most preferred choice in online learning. The videos are normally one way communication, but in future the videos are going to be much more interactive, reconfigurable and reprogrammable. In the future the videos will receive the feedback and change in real time based on feedback provided to them.we have already seen the emergence of live videos and live interactive ecommerce videos. 
• We will be able to buy humanoid robots / coaches from different fields which will interact with us and solve our current challenges. The world has already seen Sophia and Erica from the leading robotics manufacturers. Their capabilities may be enhanced in future and they may even become the teaching robots as well, specializing in multiple, programmable topics and you can converse with them for hours and get your answers. The only thing they require is the addition of the microchip for a new topic. We have already seen the example of Shalu Robot in India. She can speak 47 languages and use powerpoint presentations to teach in the classroom. 
• Professors will create their 3D avatars and 3D animation of Objects which will be projected virtually in the class-room, multiple locations simultaneously Microsoft HoloLens is working in this direction and is able to create virtual and mixed reality based learning environment in which the trainers can teach complex topics e.g. dissection of body parts for medical students in a very easy and visually-interactive way. 
• Online Learning will go way beyond STEAM – Science, Technology, Arts and management Right now the scope of the Online degrees, diploma and certificate is restricted to very specific and popular programs. In future the scope and application of the online programs will go beyond popular categories and cover different streams and never thought before topics and subjects. Since the cost of conversion of content to digital/online format is costly and time consuming as of now, but in future with the help of Generative AI, digital content creation will be economically produced. 
• There will be fully digital, accredited and future universities existing only on mobile as smartphone applications. The future may see the universities and educational institutions which are fully digital in nature and even without campus. Your smartphone or any other smart device will be your university. The learner and the trainer will face no limitation of geography, distance and languages. 
• The wave of new online learning will have an equal impact on corporate and executive education, beyond just higher education students. Career advancement is the biggest motivation and advantage and at the same time taking time off from your office is a bog challenge for executives. That is where the online education, delivered by your premium institution, is invariably charging a large sum of money as fee for the program as well. The online learning will be gamified and AI driven with personalized learning alerts and data analytics. Personalized and system driven-feedback will help improve learners capability. 
• The available skills which can be acquired online and the count of programs will increase exponentially in the future. The percentage of online program enrollments will increase and take over the number of regular admissions in a few years. This will make education more accessible and affordable as the cost of Online Education is generally much lesser than the regular one. In the future even MOOCs will become the gateway of online education. Universities, Eminent professors and technology brands will all come together on these platforms. The future of online education will also see the growth of the LMS tools and its advancement. 
• Maybe we may see learning enhancement semiconductor chips being marketed by companies working in neuro sciences, EdTech startups, companies like Nvidia / Intel in the future. Humans may be able to apply these microchips to their brain and enhance their capabilities and learn new skills instantaneously. This trend is going to be seen in the next decade and there are a number of startups working in this area, including one from Elon Musk. Do you think that this is unethical or a right step in the progress of human beings when we will be behaving like machines. 
• Optical lenses and anywhere, anytime, anyscreen, anysize projection technologies will aid in the growth of the “virtual-Blended Learning”. Let me call this phenomenon VbL.The projections technologies on any surface will help aid in online learning. This I believe, is going to be an era of fun and adventure based education, which is all immersive in the environment all-around you. I am a firm believer in the power of online learning and I always stay positive with the developments happening in this space.

Conclusion

From microchips to robots, virtual blended learning to 3D projection technologies the future of Online learning is very exciting and we as humans stand to gain and get super exciting and immersive experiences. Online Learning will grow at a pace much faster as compared to the growth of digital media which has surpassed other media types. 5G and increased internet bandwidth will help increase this pace further. What according to you is going to be the future direction of Online Learning. Please share your point of view. Also feel free to express and share your experiences in this space.