Pressure is continuously rising on education budgets across the globe. Yet the education sector is increasingly investing in technology related to learning. With vital stats showing 55% jump in education technology in 2014 with absolutely no signs of slowing down, the change is quite evident. A recent report from Global Industry Analysts states that global e-learning market will reach approximately $107 billion in 2015.

Keeping this in mind, here are some of the top technology trends in education that may rule 2015 and beyond:

1.       Online corporate learning

There has been a growing momentum for online corporate learning initiatives and its market is expected to increase about 13% annually until 2017. This is primarily because an increasing number of corporations are realizing that it’s quite beneficial to furthering their employees' knowledge in ways that are cost-effective, flexible, and customized to each individual's needs.

2.       Skills measurement

2015 is going to be an year of identifying improved ways to measure skills and individual progress; competency-based learning, and ROI. While providing customized education, it becomes extremely important to ensure that modular learning experience is blended ways that fosters cohesion. This, in turn, requires you to implement efficient techniques to measure and track student learning to ensure smooth transitions between each learning module.

3.       Alternative learning styles

Gone are those days when students had to rely only on text-based or video-based tutorials. While these are still effective, many new types of learning styles will emerge in 2015, providing online learners a more interactive experience like writing code online, or completing online challenges as part of their learning process.

4.       Online competency-based training

While competency-based training methods and online learning are not new, the blend of the two is yet envisaging a revolutionary approach towards education. Online competency-based education has a great ingenious potential; first, because it incorporates the right learning model, and second, because it involves the right technologies, customers, and business model. The providers of online competency-based training can affordably combine the modules of learning into pathways that are adaptable and agile.

5.       Flipped-learning tech

A flipped class is a type of blended learning in which students watch video lectures outside the classroom environment to learn content online. Thereafter, they do their homework in class under the guidance of teachers in person. This approach greatly helps in engaging the students outside of the classroom as well as in it.

Concluding Thoughts

As the education sector continues to acknowledge the power of digital learning and education technology and implement it for students, we are indeed left with one warning:

No matter how promising the new technology is, the tool itself should always be secondary to the goal that the learner or teacher is trying to achieve.