Top trends for online learning in 2015

1. Cross device learning

It’s no longer the case that most internet usage takes place on a 1280x800 monitor through a qwerty keyboard and internet cable while sat at a desk. These days we are more likely to look at something instantly on our constantly connected mobile or tablet device than wait till we are next booting up that desktop beast.

From train times to email internet information is no longer solely something we access in a specific environment on a specific device. In 2015 people can learn when they want and how they want, which is a huge cultural shift for most organisations. As an industry we can either bury our heads in the sand and pretend it’s not happening or accept and embrace it for the fantastic opportunity it offers.

As an industry we need a fundamentally new way of thinking about learning and teaching environment we find ourselves in, which means evolving the practices and tools we use to encourage and enable learning from anywhere. The first step to becoming cross platform is to simply remove the ability to create activities or content that don’t work cross platform and provide patterns that do.

Many previous e-learning industry standards are today a hinderance e.g. using tables for layout or data is terrible for both accessibility and smaller screen experience while pop-ups, embedded web pages, proprietary formats (flash, word, ect), content in iframes, overly styled content and a reliance on wysiwyg editors are all going to provide a poor or completely unusable experience on modern devices.

Learning does not have to be simple, but it should be easy and even fun to do which in 2015 means making learning fun on your smart phone, tablet, laptop, games console, television or desktop.

In the short term apps or m. sites can provide interesting opportunities for learning, but the dreaded “Download our app to view this content…” and the content silos these approaches cause have not proved easy to maintain without a core business commitment. A less costly and more sustainable solution for most organisations is responsive design, web apps and responsive authoring tools.

Shoehorning responsive design as an afterthought into sites designed for desktop and courses educators create in that framework will never provide a positive experience. In 2015 mobile first systems of navigation, interaction and responsive authoring tools will become a necessity for creating cross platform learning.

2. Learner centered design

Organisations will move away from providing online learning that looks and feels like Enterprise Software, and focus on providing an enjoyable experience for learners.

People learn online every day. Our learner’s expectations are shaped by the sites they use every day. Sites like Wikipedia, Facebook, Youtube etc all provide a basis for user’s expectations and are places they enjoy visiting and learning from.

When we provide a different experience from the rest of the web or our learners expectations it creates a barrier to learning, and lets face facts - no one enjoys using enterprise software.

Popular online learning sites like Khan academy, Future learn, Duolingo, Treehouse and many more all follow modern web practices to provide a professional, engaging and enjoyable learning experience without falling into that enterprise software trap. They have all the enterprise functionality baked in, without it being at the expense of the learning experience.

In 2015 the quality and experience of the service we provide for our learners online is a direct reflection of our brand. When an organisation’s primary business is learning, providing an enterprise focused experience for learners is bad for your business.

3. Educator centered design

Tools to create inspiring online content should not be something you need a phd in to use. From tublr to squarespace online content creation has become something you no longer have to read the manual to do — it’s often very user friendly and even enjoyable.

Teachers know how to teach. Blaming bad online courses on educators isn't acceptable in 2015. As organisations we need to be providing systems fit for purpose and reducing those expensive time consuming recurring overheads of training and support for badly designed tools or services we provide.

It’s always been the case that educators will use tools they feel comfortable with or enjoy using to create content over the VLE/LMS. Already we see educators using user friendly tools such as Evernote, Wordpress, Survey Monkey and Youtube (external to the learning tools organisations officially provide) to curate their content simply because its just a more enjoyable experience for them.

When the technical details and configuration options of a system become painful and overwhelming it is difficult for anyone to focus on that primary aim of creating a great learning experience. In the worst cases we end up with a file repository instead of a website, and frequently a learning experience which isn't one the educator intended to create.

Poor systems and tools for educators lead to a poor experience for learners which reflects badly on the organisation or business.

In 2015 online education will become something educators enjoy engaging with. We can achieve this by taking the best practices in interaction and content curation from the modern web and building them into the services and tools we provide. Removing the barriers for educators is vital if we want to increase the quality of our online courses.

4. Real online content

Websites have content on the screen that people read in their browser without having to download and open in a separate application. While content is in word or pdf files or even cloud based repositories such as google drive or office 365 it is not online and is a barrier to engagement.

Getting content out of these silos and onto a web page as html vastly improves accessibility, usability and engagement to provide the professional learning experience our users rightfully expect on the web today.