Gatlin International

Perhaps some of you remember reading our article about the Education for All (EFA) Crowdsourcing Challenge a few months ago.  This is an ongoing contest in which the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) partnered with Nokia and the Pearson Foundation to launch a challenge designed to produce ideas for using mobile communication technology to assist Education for All (EFA) in reaching its goals.  The challenge began in October of 20111 and will last for eight months.  Each month will focus on one specific EFA goal.  If you would like to read the details about these six goals, you can view them on the UNESCO website . The EFA’s Crowdsourcing Challenge hopes to capitalize on the collaborative nature of “crowdsourcing” to uncover creative solutions to the task incorporating mobile communication technology into realizing the EFA’s educational goals.

Two of the sub-challenge monthly winners for the EFA Crowdsourcing Challenge have already been announced.  The sub-challenge winner in the category of Literacy was Sanjith Yeruva with an idea called TOT (Test on Text).  TOT is a mobile application for students that aims to fairly evaluate a student’s knowledge using text questions and suggesting content in an intuitive manner.  For example a student would be sent a conceptual text question and further educational content would be suggested for the user based on the answer given to the question.  The following question would be based on the suggested content.  If you would like to view a brief YouTube video explanation of this challenge winning idea, you may access the video here .

In the second EFA sub-challenge category, Primary Education, the winner was I-Learn by Swaroop John.  According to the Ideas Project website, the I-Learn idea “is about picture based learning to complement radio broadcasts: A good blended learning approach, which brings real-time notion of text and images to the phone.  Even though idea needs some more work on it, the concept of combining radio with mobile has enormous potential and can be very powerful.”  Special honors went to Helping Hands by Ejas Mudar.  This is an application designed to assist with the education of hearing impaired children.  Prassad Sherlekar also received special honors for his Mobile School idea, as did Hubin Liao for a speech based questioning and auto-reply system for students.

If you would have an idea for using mobile communication technology to support education and would like to participate in the EFA Crowdsourcing Challenge, there is still time!  The third sub-challenge category is related to finding solutions on how mobile communication can contribute toward meeting youth and adult learning needs. To submit your idea in the Youth and Adult Learning Needs category, you can visit this address: http://www.ideasproject.com/community/en/efa/learning .  You may also still submit ideas for the Primary Education and Literacy sub-challenges.  All sub-challenge categories will be open for submissions for the remainder of the contest, which closes on May 31, 2012.  For full details on the EFA Crowdsourcing Challenge, you can visit the challenge’s main page.

As one year ends and a new year begins, you will inevitably hear many predictions for 2012.  From the economy to sports, technology to celebrities, people love to make predictions about all kinds of topics with the turn of each new year and eLearning is no different.  Our first article of the new year will explore some of the predictions made for the world of eLearning in 2012.

In a National Public Radio Network based MindShift article, author Tina Barseghian outlined the trends in teaching and learning that she sees as being highly influential in the upcoming year.  She categorized these trends as collaborative, tech-powered, and blended.  In the collaborative category, Barseghian talked about how Web 2.0 has influenced and will continue to influence the nature of education.  She believes we will see more and more educational ministries establishing networking tools for educators and guidelines being developed for the use of various social media such as Facebook and YouTube in schools.  Under the tech-powered category, the author talks about how many schools technology to a much greater extent than they were in previous years to grab students attention.  Students are learning to create video games, produce podcasts, and record music.  Teachers are using Skype, Wii, and other formats to deliver and enhance instruction.  Barseghian says we should watch for huge growth in the number of investments in the education market by high-tech companies and venture capitalists in the future.  In her last category, blended, Barseghian speaks to the fairly recent occurrence of combining high-tech learning with traditional modes of instruction.  She predicts more and more schools will turn to a blended learning model in the coming year in attempt to save money on books and other supplementary resources.  If you would like to read Ms. Barseghian’s article in its entirety, you may click here http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/12/three-trends-that-define-the-future-of-teaching-and-learning-2/ .

Christopher Dawson of ZDNet Education makes a few interesting predictions regarding the future of eLearning in 2012 in his article, Top 5 Ed Tech Predictions for 2012.  His first prediction is that school districts will increasingly employ analytic and business intelligence software to assist with data interpretation.  He notes that at a recent educational technology conference there were many vendors showcasing the latest tools for data mining, aggregation, management, and analysis.  Dawson also sees the BYOD (bring your own device) movement gaining momentum as more and more students are using their own laptops, tablet, or other tech devices as tools in the classroom.  The recent release of India’s $45 Aakash tablet would make this prediction seem very likely.  Dawson also predicts that we will begin to see schools replacing traditional libraries with media centers designed to access all types of information formats rather than the seemingly archaic books and microfiche.  If you would like to read Mr. Dawson’s full article, you may click on the linked article title above.

By its nature, technology changes and progresses at an extremely rapid pace.  This make predicting the future of eLearning even just one year in advance almost futile, but still interesting nonetheless.  Do you have any predictions for the realm of eLearning for 2012? If so, feel free to share your thoughts in a comment below.