The microlearning trend started during the Covid-19 pandemic. In one year, the market grew by 40%. Now the growth has stabilised, but more and more EdTech companies keep incorporating microlearning elements into their programs.
The core principles of microlearning are speed, simplicity, accessibility, involvement, storytelling, and practical examples. The microlearning approach is more client-oriented for the student, allowing him to study where, when, and how he likes. At the same time, we see greater involvement, which leads to better assimilation of educational material and positive learning outcomes. One lesson takes from 5 to 15 minutes and covers one particular topic. A student does not need to dedicate several hours to studies every day. Instead, you can watch the video in your leisure time: during your lunch break, on public transport, or in a cafe instead of the classrooms.
At the same time, not only students are a plus, but also large companies that use the principles of microlearning for employees. Creating an onboarding or professional development course in micro format is 50% cheaper than developing a standard program. At the same time, it will provide a 300% better result.
Automation and neural networks
Automation of homework checks has also previously been partially used in programming courses or other technical disciplines. This is a win-win tactic for everyone. A student can get quick feedback even at 3 am, while the company significantly reduces the burden on course managers and mentors.
However, EdTech leaders have made it a step further and use neural networks to personalise student feedback. The bot can check the code and tell you which theme to repeat to do everything without errors. The bot can also work as part of an LMS – a learning platform. Such a bot not only checks homework, but also helps students track progress, compete, and receive awards for academic success.
At GoIT we created a special system (LMS), which manages the learning process. The system is built on AI algorithms and uses gamification to maintain high student motivation throughout the courses. In addition, the convenience of LMS lies in the fact that the technology allows you to give feedback to students in real-time. For example, you can study through a simulator with effective feedback from mentors - practitioners, and analysis of mistakes and tasks that have not yet been obtained. Recently, it was recognised by Product Hunt as the Product of the Day and the Product of the Week.
Gamification
On the global market, gamification has been driving EdTech projects for several years. Turning the learning process into a game is a brilliant idea. Instead of cramming, a person completes quests in an online game, earns points, and competes with other students. American scientists proved that gamification improves cognitive abilities, and 89% of students showed higher success compared to classical methods of learning. How it works: a student completes homework and personal projects on time and receives points for them. Later, they can be exchanged for modules from other courses, learning about additional technologies, or personal lessons with a mentor.
Prompt engineering
The development of the chat GPT-3 neural network and its enhanced version GPT-4 made a splash in the online education market. In the future, AI can change not only the process of communication with students but also most business processes within companies. All you need is to ask your question correctly. That is why some EdTech teams were engaged in the development of techniques for the proper work with neural networks. There is no verified data yet, but some enthusiasts are already writing guides and tracking the patterns of working with neural machines. Most evidently, in half a year we will see the first professional training courses on working with ChatGPT and analogs.
Artificial intelligence has a huge potential for use in online education. Many worry that using the GPT chat will cause schoolchildren and students to stop doing their homework, leaving it to artificial intelligence, but in fact, we can think of technology as having a personal teacher who does not solve the problem for him but instead explains how to solve it. In addition, the GPT chat will help students focus on more important tasks by outsourcing manual tasks.
Studies in your smartphone
The mobile learning market is growing at a tremendous pace. In 2022, it showed an increase of 29%. For comparison, the average growth rate of economic sectors is 5-6%. The reason is simple: 86% of the world's population uses smartphones. At the same time, Mind Tools research says that almost 50% of users from Europe and the US use mobile learning applications. For example, for learning foreign languages. However, it will not be possible to get rid of computers yet: it is very inconvenient to perform complex practical tasks on a smartphone. A laptop is needed for high-quality product testing, drawing in Figma, fast coding, and more.
A practice-oriented approach and mentorship
The modern educational approach should have an emphasis on practical tasks that are as close as possible to real tasks in IT companies, a theoretical part with modern and relevant content - and most importantly - mentoring from industry leaders and practicing lecturers from the global tech industry.
Edtech companies help students with employment so they are constantly in close contact with the market, and receive feedback from IT businesses and recruiters. Guided by the real needs of the industry, online educational institutions involve practitioners in teaching, improving the methodology, and constantly updating programs at the request of employers. For instance, in GoIT, teachers and mentors work as practicing middle/senior developers, designers, and heads of testing departments, and in the evening they teach and check students' projects and give feedback on homework.
The absence of the need to physically come to the classroom makes it possible to attract the best practitioners and IT managers from around the world as teachers and mentors. Close interaction with practicing lecturers and specialists from international companies provides the maximum approximation of students' ideas about what really awaits them at work.
EdTech companies emphasise practice. The absolute majority of time is spent on performing specific practical tasks and implementing real projects. Students develop websites, write modules for online stores, and work on the architecture of mobile applications. At the same time, they interact in teams, recreating the real work process they encounter after employment.
Knowledge enhancement
Quite often, professional courses are unable to cover the entire market demand. They focus on giving the most concentrated base, which is enough for employment and a quick start to a career in the IT industry. In the future, students continue to constantly study and make up for all the gaps. However, some specialties and fields require more fundamental knowledge. It is impossible to prepare cyber security specialists, artificial intelligence developers, or data science engineers with one completed course only.
However, the European education system has already officially recognised that certified leading online educational institutions have the right to issue full master's degrees of an international standard, recognised by most countries of the world. The main requirement is that the teaching method, the content base, and the requirements for students during their studies meet all EU higher education standards.
Today it's a new level of our company's development. GoIT steps into the global collegiate network Woolf and launches the first online master's program in tech sciences with an international diploma to deepen the student's knowledge and expand their opportunities for employment in tier 1 international companies.
To sum up
The EdTech field also offers a variety of free products, from demo courses to short hands-on programs. On some of them, you can learn to write simple code, try your hand at web design, and generally understand which profession in IT suits you better.
As the experience of our students shows – it's possible to change your profession with accessible and quality education online, and become a techie, stepping into the specialization you`re most interested in. From Fullstack, Frontend, Python, Java development or QA testing, to UI/UX, project management, or business intelligence. Who seeks shall find.
Anton Chornyi is CEO atGoIT.
