The rapid growth of new technologies affects many fields including the field of education. Classroom learning is becoming outdated nowadays and online learning is preferred more by people. The emerging technologies have a lot of potential to uplift the quality of learning in the future. Let’s look at a few such examples;
3-D Printing:
Three-dimensional printing (3-D) is a process in which the 3-D model of any physical object can be made. The application of this process can be used in fields such as medical, science, math and architecture. It is a powerful tool which can give students the opportunity to feel, touch, understand and interact with their creation. This is a virtual creation and students get the opportunity to design and define the object making it more accurate. Yes, 3-D printer can be quite expensive but in a long run, it is worth the money spent as it saves quite a lot of time of the students and they get a better learning opportunity.
Virtual Reality (VR):
We all must have heard of Virtual Reality (VR) for quite some time but learning with the help of VR has only emerged recently. VR helps in creating a more realistic experience that cannot be experienced when reading books or watching videos.
VR was very expensive in the past but with the advent of technology, the price has come down a bit. It is still costly but one of the most effective learning tools when it comes to teaching high-risk tasks through simulation. Such VR simulators can be used to give training for many fields such as firefighters and other high-pressure situations. Training through such simulators can give them real experience and minimize their fear of failure. Also, one of the biggest advantages is that they can learn from their own errors and repeat the simulation until they are confident enough, without any physical damage of-course.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI):
As the name suggests, Artificial Intelligence is the intelligence which machines display. AI has transformed the learning experience completely. AI can assist the tutor in grading, maintaining attendance and many other administrative jobs. It also is revolutionizing the learning experience of the students by educating each student individually with a personal touch, analyzing the student’s weak subjects and focusing on those areas and, providing smart study material which is constantly updated in real time.
Responsive Design for Multi-device:
Have you ever had the experience of visiting a website on your mobile device and face a bad browsing experience? The same website might run fine on your desktop. The only reason could be that the website was not designed to be mobile friendly, and this was true for many websites just a few years back.
Technology has advanced so much nowadays that majority of the people browse the internet through their smartphones. In such a scenario, all websites need to be mobile friendly. Nowadays, you will hardly find any website which does not have a good mobile-friendly version.
Responsive designs give the user an optimized experience. The same site will look different across multiple devices. The content will look organized, optimized and re-adjust itself as per the screen size. This makes it easier for users to do transactions like booking tickets, online shopping, etc. on their phones.
E-learning websites have also made use of this technology to create a better learning experience for the learners. Learners have the flexibility to access their course on their phones as well which is quite convenient. The whole learning tool is designed to be responsive and works across multiple devices by automatically readjusting its elements to provide the learner’s a better experience.
With the invent of more of these emerging technologies, we expect to see a drastic change in the field of education in the future.