Education has shifted a lot these past few years. The rise of online learning, virtual reality, digital books, legislative changes, and more have shifted education and how we learn. What can we expect as we head into 2024? Let’s look at current trends and what you might expect to see developments in the new year and beyond:
Nontraditional learning
Compared to 10 years ago, the list of available tools has grown exponentially. The popular saying of, “You won’t have a calculator everywhere you go,” has been proven false just by the wide adoption of the smartphone. Getting most questions answered through a simple search or watching a video has transformed what it means to “learn” or “know” something. The pandemic widened the learning gap for some students, as they needed to catch up to their grade level due to learning loss during the pandemic.
As such, the way we learn needs to shift dramatically. Schools will be looking to develop more individualized learning in the years to come. Instead of the “one-size-fits-all” method, education is looking to instruct based on the needs of each student. Students also have various interests outside the core curriculum, leading schools to develop more in STEAM, makerspaces, career readiness, computer science, and project-based learning. If your school still has yet to offer some of these opportunities, look to integrate more ways to learn so all your students succeed in their own way.
Artificial intelligence
The rise of ChatGPT and other large language models created quite a stir in 2023. Headlines such as “The College Essay Is Dead” filled news outlets in late 2022 and early 2023 as educators wondered if AI would make paper writing obsolete. We aren’t at that stage yet, but it will be important to keep track of the latest developments in AI and how it will affect students' academic efforts. The technology will improve in the future, just as the blocky landline phone transformed into the smartphones we have today.
In the meantime, AI can be a helpful tool for educators. Busy work, such as website and email announcements, can be made uncomplicated by just giving a prompt to an AI. It can lay out a schedule if you give it the lessons, or it can give you ideas on creative ways to teach a subject. From a data perspective, AI can help you sort through students’ grades to notice trends in your academic performances and if students need additional assistance. As technology and AI continue to develop, you’ll be able to become more efficient in providing for the needs of your students and save time to focus on your essential tasks.
Teacher burnout
In 2023, Lexia commissioned a survey asking parents and educators about their top concerns for the 2023-2024 school year. From educators’ responses, 73% indicated teacher burnout as a concern, followed by teacher shortages at 51%. Additionally, just 4% of college students are majoring in education, compared to 17% in 1975, meaning there are fewer people to fill these roles, and hence, more burnout. If no one is there to teach, education will suffer as more people retire or leave the profession. This will leave schools in dire circumstances, creating a downward spiral of less engaging and high-quality education.
There are a few solutions schools are trying to retain and recruit more teachers. Some ideas include a more positive workplace environment, providing more mental and professional development support, and offering more compensation and benefits. Some schools are looking for more tools to teach students and fill the gaps or reorganizing the school schedule to require fewer teachers. Regardless, teacher burnout will be an issue for years as the certified educator population shrinks.
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Every year will bring new difficulties for educators, but also ways to strengthen learning and teaching. As you head into 2024, know that CESA Purchasing and our vendor partners are here to support you and your purchasing needs. Contact us anytime to help you find the tools or resources to provide the best education possible!
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2gnome
With 2gnoMe, teachers get the PD they actually need when they need it. Winner of multiple ed-tech awards, 2gnoMe is a cloud-based platform that clarifies who needs what kind of learning, unifies all teachers and PD in one place and personalizes PD learning based on individual strengths and areas of growth. 2gnoMe is content-neutral: we partner with established educational experts to help system-level leaders support every teacher, at scale, with fidelity, and aligned to the framework or set of standards their teachers use or need.
Deledao
Deledao is a digital wellness company. We want to help people make thoughtful choices online by demystifying how to protect their data privacy and providing the tools to make the internet a positive experience.
NoRedInk
NoRedInk helps students in over 60% of US school districts become better writers. Designed to delight students and build writing confidence, our adaptive curriculum:
Personalizes exercises to include each student’s interests (their favorite movies, athletes, musicians, books, etc.).
Guides students step-by-step as they draft and revise essays.
Boosts skills with differentiated practice.
Rex k-12
Rex K-12 offers fun and engaging K-12 computer science courses for students to learn delivered in a way made easy for non-computer science teachers to teach!! If a teacher is not a trained computer scientist, they can still lead a class using the tools built into the proprietary Technology Learning Platform (TLP).