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Five hands fellowship with laptops

While educational technology enjoyed a stellar year of development and implementation in 2018, it’s really going to take off in 2019.

We’ve examined the most popular forms of edtech from 2018 to determine what edtech trends are going to take centre stage in the coming months.

The biggest and brightest edtech trend set for widescale adoption in 2019 is without a doubt experiential learning.

Put simply, experiential learning is a form of teaching that engages with the learner through a variety of experiences such as hands-on learning, collaboration, experimenting and analysing.

Edtech that supports experiential learning includes virtual reality and augmented reality, virtual labs, gamification and online platforms, so teachers have a wealth of edtech products to choose from when introducing this form of learning to students.

Another edtech trend set to take the educational world by storm is the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to provide more personalised learning.

AI is used in a multitude of fields and is especially suited to education, thanks to the use AI in conjunction with data analytics to develop personalised learning experiences that cater to the specific needs of students.

For instance, AI can streamline grading and assessments, and will pick up on particular areas students are finding difficult and suggest revised learning topics.

The above are just two of the numerous edtech trends that are likely to see widespread adoption in 2019, but we believe both experiential learning and personalised learning by way of AI will have the biggest impact on students and teachers alike.

Hands on a mobile phone keyboard

The Learnovation EdTech summit took place last week in Croke Park, giving visitors the chance to hear about the biggest upcoming EdTech trends from some of the most knowledgeable people in the EdTech world.

Perhaps one of the more interesting trends we heard about was how a school in England is now using voice feedback to mark homework.

Abdul Chohan, a speaker at Learnovation and the co-founder of The Olive School in Bolton, England, told attendees how children from the age of five up take photos of their homework, which is directly uploaded to teachers’ mobile devices and smartphones.

Teachers can then select specific parts of the homework and leave voice feedback all through the use of a mobile device.

Mr Chohan noted that this innovative method for marking homework significantly reduces the amount of time teachers spend on this aspect of school life, and also improves the quality of the feedback to the benefit of students and teachers alike.

In addition, Mr Chohan noted that by communicating via voice feedback, it helps to build a personal relationship between students, parents and teachers.

It’s an interesting take on an fundamental element of education, and one that is very likely to see increased adoption in schools all around the world over the coming years.

The EdTech industry is one of constant innovation, so it should come as no surprise to anybody interested in this area of technology that this year’s biggest EdTech trends are constantly evolving.

In today’s EdTech Trends Update, we look at the two areas of technology Irish schools are most interested to explore and how these new forms of technology will benefit students and teachers alike.

Mobile Learning

Mobile Learning, aka education via smartphones and tablets, is becoming increasingly common in Ireland and there are countless educational apps available to download today.

Schools are starting to realise the potential of Mobile Learning and a number of schools across the country are introducing Mobile Learning into a range of subjects to great success.

Among the benefits Mobile Learning offers are greater student engagement, higher lesson retention rates and the variety of learning options available for students to engage in.

Mobile Learning is guaranteed to become a bigger part of students’ lives and as more schools invest in this technology we should expect it grow in popularity and usage.

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality

Affordable Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) for schools is still a while away but some Irish schools are slowly but surely giving their students the opportunity to try out these incredible technologies.

Augmented Reality is a fusion of computer generated images on reality while Virtual Reality features completely fabricated virtual worlds, which can be used to transport students to distant worlds and other eras.

Both forms of technology provide teachers with an innovative method for teaching students, allowing them to experience their lessons rather than just read about it the topic in a book.

A large number of tech companies around the world are developing more efficient and cost-effective AR and VR offerings, so this exciting technology is likely to find a permanent home in Irish schools in the coming years.