The Future of Digital Learning

Emerging Trends

    Recently, I've noticed an increase in the use of classroom tools such as Khan Academy, SplashLearn, Prodigy, etc. These tools are valuable when it comes to individualized learning. It's not easy for a teacher to create a lesson that is adaptive to every student's learning ability and meets them where they are at. By using these tools, the online program knows where each student is at in their learning and has lessons developed specifically for where they are. 

    Of course, this does not come without it's downsides. I've also seen teachers fall victim to using these tools as crutches, rather than as supplemental tools. When teachers rely on these tools too much, they know less and less about each student because they are not actually teaching the materials or using the tools in a supplemental manor. 

    The role of an educator in an era of digital learning is to guide students through these tools, and to assist them in understanding the concepts provided. If a teacher just assigns a lesson on Khan Academy and then lets students work on it by themselves, they are prone to failure. A teacher must be the navigator for online learning, rather than simply someone who introduces the tools.