Online Learning Trends and Challenges

By: Justin Ferriman • October 1, 2014
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The presence of online learning in education and corporate environments is strong. The economies of scale from a robust online course program simply cannot be ignored anymore.

Schools are really starting to leverage education technology in their curriculum, using the latest apps and mobile devices to help bolster the coursework and student collaboration. The rise in online courses is what has made the flipped learning method quite popular. Essentially, leaving class time for students to apply the principles of the course content instead of for lectures.

Along with any trend there are challenges – online learning is no exception.

The infographic below, created by Piktochart, details some of the more popular trends and challenges today in online course delivery. In regards to the challenges, I find that the first bit of advice for regarding pitfalls is extremely valuable: start small.

It is natural to get excited about implemented an online learning program, but it is also quite complex. Not only do you need to put the proper technical infrastructure in place, in some cases you need to fundamentally change the learning culture – and this takes time.

Before starting a school or department-wide online program, do a few trial runs at a small, more manageable scale. Even if it is just a few classrooms across different departments and student groups. Doing this will give you a good sense of what works and what does not.

You will have more freedom to try out different strategies and technology without committing the time and money for a major implementation. Using the results of the small scale experiment, you can extend to other areas gradually as it makes sense.

For more on the various trends and challenges in online courses, see the infographic below.

Top 10 Online Learning Trends And Challenges Infographic

Justin Ferriman

Justin started LearnDash, the WordPress LMS trusted by Fortune 500 companies, major universities, training organizations, and entrepreneurs worldwide. He is currently founder & CEO of GapScout. Justin’s Homepage | GapScout | Twitter