In recent years, the world has changed at a dizzying pace: technology, the way we interact and communicate with each other, the internationalisation of our academic and professional lives, social needs or environmental awareness and responsibilities, to name but a few aspects. All this has also led to substantial changes in the way we educate children and young people.
New educational trends arise as a result of the need to adapt to general changes, not only to ensure that new generations are prepared to take on both the present and future as successfully as possible, but also to stimulate them and strengthen their skills from a young age. Centres from the Best Schools in Spain network analyse transformations in society and the workplace to implement educational changes that meet the needs of a constantly evolving world.
“The future is already here — it’s just not evenly distributed.”
William Gibson
Centres from the Best Schools in Spain network feel the need to research current educational trends in order to predict and test assumptions, with the aim of providing valuable guidance and advice to the educational community that is interested in innovating education and ensuring it evolves at the same pace as society.
After analysing the current situation in education and the educational consequences of the pandemic, it has been concluded that technological advances alone do not guarantee improved learning, although they do help improve the learning process.
Nonetheless, it has become clear that we must promote new methodologies that allow students to learn in any situation.
Based on this, below we share a series of trends that are expected to mark the next school year:
Some future trends in learning and teaching:
Chatbots:
Technological advances allow students to become more independent and involved in their learning. Having access to a private education portal or site not only helps students be more independent, but also allows teachers to customise and personalise contents, materials and assessments to each individual child.
You’ve surely seen pop-ups on customer service portals where you can ask questions. Well, this computer software, which can hold a conversation without human intervention, is also used in the world of education with this same purpose. They are used in our educational portals to answer questions, share information and allow teachers to monitor their students’ progress.
Social learning:
Just as all situations are conducive to learning, children learn and develop new skills by observing and interacting with their peers. Both as children and adults, human beings interact with others and imitate the behaviours that they observe over the course of their lives.
Not only is it important that adults set an example for children, but also that education provides tools to help them become more independent in creating automatic, spontaneous and reasoned responses in any given conversation. Therefore, centres from the Best Schools in Spain network convert their classrooms into spaces that invite students to learn by freely interacting with their peers.
Digital learning environments:
To make learning more flexible, the support of certain open standards is needed in educational technology applications, thereby creating proprietary ecosystems. Technology and the digital world have evolved to such a point that they offer virtual spaces where we can experience previously unimaginable sensations (for example, the metaverse).
Education cannot fall behind. It must evolve at the same pace as society, and even more so when it comes to children’s early and teenage years. At these ages, children are constantly undergoing physical changes and their relationship with the world and the society they live in is evolving.
This is why centres from the Best Schools in Spain network aim to support students, a task that means traveling the same path as them and entering the parallel worlds where Generation Z rubs shoulders.
Taking advantage of digital environments to create learning spaces that motivate new generations
Thus, the classroom becomes a virtual portal that enhances our skills through the technological interests of the 21st century.
Extended reality (XR):
This concept encompasses environments that provide immersive learning experiences by combining the real and virtual worlds. They help students develop their skills and capabilities by allowing them to recreate interaction and decision-making processes.
Extended reality includes virtual reality, augmented reality, simulators and 360° environments, options that enrich learning and are used as a support material at centres from the Best Schools in Spain network.
Microlearning:
This involves working on a specific objective in each lesson. This improves students’ concentration as sessions are short.
Broader and deeper learning is achieved by building on concrete knowledge about specific areas of the subject at hand. This allows students to focus on specific subjects, which helps them remember, apply what they’ve learnt and use their knowledge in a practical way.
Gamification:
Gamification involves applying elements of game playing to educational processes. We started using this concept in our classrooms in 2008 and it has since become one of the most successful methods in the educational sector.
Thanks to the use of games, we increase students’ motivation to learn, optimise their academic performance and drive their knowledge. These are some of the advantages of gamification in formal education, but centres from the Best Schools in Spain network mainly use this methodology to work on soft skills related to students’ behaviour, peer relationships or emotional management.
A personalised learning experience
The digital learning environment is an ecosystem, a set of components designed to allow students to work and learn in a collaborative manner. In this regard, centres from the Best Schools in Spain network bear the following 5 key characteristics in mind when creating their school environment:
- Integrated in the centre, for several levels and multidisciplinary
- Customised to each student
- Based on prior analysis and reflection, expert advice and an assessment of current learning
- Collaboration of all those involved required
- Accessible and with a universal design
Building a personalised learning experience requires, above all, considerable motivation in terms of organisation and initial funding. It also requires a joint effort from several departments, taking into account the chosen teaching approaches and strategies, the elements that set the organisation apart and the desired learning experience.
However, we must not forget that students often know more about technology than adults, and this is why it is so important to train teachers and families so they have the necessary skills and support.
“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”
Socrates
