The Future of Lifelong Learning
Once upon a time, learners would gather in classrooms and listen to teachers talk about the lessons. As time passed and more learners joined in the lessons, some learners were pushed to the back of the classroom, compelling the teachers to speak louder to deliver their lessons with the distant learners. Eventually, so many learners joined the lessons that teachers needed to learn how to apply new technologies to reach the faraway learners. As these new technologies become available to the academic community, instructional designers will need to continuously update their skills to remain effective in the ever-changing, high-tech world of distance learning. Thus, the future of instructional design will require effective instructional designers to become lifelong learners. The following essay will examine how distance learning will apply technology to shape the future of lifelong learning.
Distance Learning
Although the idea of distance learning has been around since at least 1873 (OnlineSchools.org, 2023, para. 2), the Covid-19 pandemic has given rise to the idea of social distancing. As a result, distance learning has become more desirable, and with the haunting possibility of future pandemics and other social unrest needing more social distancing, distance learning will become a growing trend in the near future. However, distance learning may present challenges for certain topics. For example, learning to speak a foreign language in a natural setting traditionally required face-to-face contact with other speakers of that language. However, face-to-face contact in the midst of a global pandemic would be problematic to the health and well-being of the learners. Therefore, effective instructional designers of foreign courses must learn how to incorporate technology in a manner that will provide face-to-face interaction while maintaining the practice of social distancing.
Technology
Video streaming technology has proven beneficial in bridging the distance gap for language learners who require face-to-face communication. An article studying the effectiveness of distance learning techniques for teaching foreign languages concluded that videos and other graphic language materials can be valuable since information in the lessons is easily shared and transferred over great distances (Inna et. al., 2022). Furthermore, zoom conferences have applied video technology to connect distance learners in video chats through webcams and microphones. (Alfadda & Mahdi, 2021). This combination of video, audio and web-cam technologies has enabled learners from all over the world to synchronize and share their thoughts, feelings, and personalities as if they were all in the same little classroom.
Using video technology to bring foreign language lessons to distant learners has asynchronistic applications, as well. Video streaming platforms offer many foreign language lessons created by instructional designers from all over the world. In this asynchronistic environment, instructors create video lessons and upload them to social media platforms to be consumed at any convenient time of the day or night and from anywhere in the world. Software technology allows video instructors to add graphics and other visual aids to grab the learners’ attention and motivate them to absorb the content of the lessons. However, the creation of instructional videos and the effective application of visual graphics and visual aids to those videos requires new skills that the instructional designers must learn if they hope to become influential in the age of distance learning.
Lifelong Learning
While videos and visual graphics have proven to be effective tools of distance learning, they must reach the learners to be beneficial. Thus, the delivery of educational content is an important factor of success in instructional design (Addimando, 2022). After all, if the content of the lesson is not effectively delivered, then it will not reach the distant learners, and nothing will be learned. This additional requirement places further demands on instructional designers. Not only will future instructional designers be required to learn new technological skills, but they will also need to learn how to adequately deliver the content of the lessons. Social media technologies such as blogs, wikis, and other social networking sites have proven useful in the delivery of instructional design (Bozarth, 2012). However, these technologies are constantly being updated while new sites are being created. Accordingly, instructional designers who strive for success will have other lessons to learn. They must learn how to market their content through ever-evolving social media platforms. Those teachers, tutors, and instructional designers who strive to master the art of education in an age of distance learning must learn how to create visually motivating content, incorporate that content into effective lessons, and market their lessons on social media platforms that never stop changing. The task of the instructional designer is an endless challenge that should only be attempted by lifelong learners.
Conclusion
As the learning community grows larger in number and motivation, instructional designers will need to become lifelong learners to keep up with the advancements in technology. They will need to learn how to create interesting and informative videos with graphic attention grabbers to compete in the new technological age of distance learning. They will need to learn how to market their content to assure its delivery to the learners. They will need to master the art of lifelong learning.
References
Inna V. Borisova, Natalya N. Balabas. (2022). Effective Techniques of Teaching Foreign Languages to Bachelor Students under Distance Learning Conditions. International Journal of Early Childhood Special Education (INT-JECSE), 14(1): 315-325. DOI: 10.9756/INT JECSE/V14I1.221039
Addimando, L. (2022). Distance Learning in Pandemic Age: Lessons from a (No Longer) Emergency. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(23). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192316302
Alfadda, H. A., & Mahdi, H. S. (2021). Measuring Students’ Use of Zoom Application in Language Course Based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 50(4), 883–900. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-020-09752-1
Bozarth, J. (2012). From Traditional Instruction to Instructional Design 2.0. T+D, 66(3), 64–67.
OnlineSchools.org. (2023). The History of Online Schooling. https://www.onlineschools.org/visual-academy/the-history-of-online-schooling/#:~:text=In%201873%20the%20the%20first,Massachusetts%20by%20Ana%20Eliot%20Ticknor.