“Technology will never replace great teachers, but technology in the hands of great teachers is transformational"… a quote that quite supports the use of technology in education. Thus, there is no question as to whether technology belongs in education. The question is what and how!

Year on year, educational technology (edtech) crosses decades in the world of innovation, with more technologies springing that find their way into the classroom and driving some of the latest trends in edtech, such as:

Learning Management Systems which have become the embodiment of convenient learning and teaching.
High quality contents that are accessed with technical devices and should be intelligible enough to bring change in the world of education.
Immersive learning through various technologies such as virtual reality, mixed reality and augmented reality that can bring learning to life.
Online social networking and social media tools such as discussions, comments, communication and feedback that can foster group studying and bonding.

Even with their increasing popularity in education, such technologies still face several challenges such as:

A hesitation to change and adopt new tech, as it often requires a change in the teaching methods and standards.
A cost crunch as these new educational technologies often cost money that institutions don’t have adequate funds for.
Too many choices to handle with high competition driven by new startups and companies making it difficult to be noticeable.

These challenges, and many more, are addressed in the STIMEY project head on, to capitalize on edtech in STEM learning. Being developed based on a well-researched pedagogical framework geared towards STEM education, STIMEY ensures that the technologies adopted in its learning environment are designed for educational purposes and in support of teaching and learning, rather than merely being adapted in education for being trendy. Moreover, the learning environment is being built based on co-participatory design principles, with teachers, students, parents, organizations coming together with our experts and researchers, ensuring the best fit of technologies based on their needs, thus they’re less likely to resist the change.

The integration of several technologies such as robots, radio, and social media in a web-based learning platform with different capabilities also come at no cost to the users, giving institutions the ability to exploit their full potential. Additionally, the platform is open-access, giving institutions as well as individuals also the opportunity to add their own content, link their resources, and promote their edtech products and services in support of the users’ learning and teaching needs.

Thus, we’ve made it our mission in STIMEY to stay on top of trends while addressing their challenges, but we’d still like to hear from you in the comments of what other trends and challenges you think we should keep our eye on!

For collaborations and active participation in the project, reach out to us.

References:

https://edtechtimes.com/2017/09/22/xr-education-immersive-technology-in-education-today/

https://elearningindustry.com/6-edtech-trends-watch-2017

https://elearningindustry.com/edtech-trends-and-challenges-in-2017

http://www.thinkmind.org/index.php?view=article&articleid=aict_2017_4_30_10061