siliconindia | | July 20179A learner gets the content linedup in advance, the material is not a surprise element that will be revealed during a class but something the learner is pre-equipped with, and all that remains is to actually understand and apply what the material teachesIf we pause and think as to what could be driving this sudden surge and interest in a virtual classroom or course module, we might discover many big shifts that are actually re-defining the way people learn, when and why they learn.Learners have changed. There's no going back to the old ways. Their attention-spans, devices, tools, mind-maps, and even the purpose of learn-ing have changed tremendously. Nowadays, you have segments like lifelong learners, or independent workers, or personal-interest learners on the rise.People want to learn, but they want it to be self-paced, engaging, multi-dimensional, fast, outcome-based, and participative, accelerated, on-demand and others. Pew Research has noticed that 87 percent of per-sonal learners feel more capable and well rounded, 69 percent opened up new perspectives about their lives, 64 percent made new friends, 58 percent say it made them more connected to their local commu-nity, and 43 percent got involved in volunteer opportunities.This dove tails with Gartner's lat-est prediction on education sector that shows that senior education leaders are rethinking business models and considering a range of new technolo-gies. At the last count, as much as $400 million had been injected into new-age learn-ing providers like EdX, Khan Academy, Cour-sera, Udemy and others.This is the age of exostruc-tures, digital as-sessments, OERs (Open Reading Materials), and adaptive learn-ing that dynamically shapes up the way instructional content is present-ed to students as per their responses or preferences. Nothing can be left closed or mysterious anymore, the de-mand for openness is seen across all dimensions of learning.Inshort, education is now turning affordable, accessible, continuous and experiential. With this impetus for what a learner actually needs, it is also becoming granular, contextual and pull-based so that it is designed from the perspective of a learner and not based on what the instructor wants or knows. Knowledge has ceased to be a stock asset for this generation. They have made it fluid, personalised, blended, inquiry-based and consist-ent.I am reminded of MIT's motto here that best explains the shift that is happening: mensetmanus (mind and hand). The new ways of learning blend cognitive and practical/experi-ential aspect stightly.Yet when it comes to credibility of a badge, or course completion sta-tus; a lot remains raw and immature. There are a lot of areas where physi-cal classrooms and digital ones have to complement and strengthen each other. Both sides would find gaps to fill in and a collaborative approach can equip both the genres strongly. We cannot just swipe away all the in-tellectual muscle, teaching think tank, legacy and experience that old-school formats have. We just need to find ways where the fork in the road ends.Brick and Click have to work to-gether to create maximum impact.
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