With the start of a new year and the education conference season just beginning, educators and industry leaders are discovering the biggest education trends for 2023. The past few years have seen a significant transformation for education and electronic technology, and 2023 will continue to bring new ideas and emerging technologies.
This year, schools are placing an emphasis on supporting the individual needs of students and recovering from the learning loss caused by the pandemic. We will therefore see an increase in edtech to support learning, better accommodation for students, a focus on wellbeing and new approaches to teaching that engage with students’ interests and their future careers.
Here are five of the biggest trends in education for 2023:
1. Social and emotional well-being
The pandemic has prompted the need for a stronger focus on supporting the social and emotional well-being of both students and teachers. As we recover from the academic, emotional and community challenges that have arisen during the pandemic, schools will need to ensure that they offer the support and resources that students and teachers need.
Children and teenagers are currently experiencing higher levels of depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts than before the pandemic, and the academic and emotional pressures that come with recovering from learning loss after the pandemic continue to affect student well-being. In 2023, we will see schools work to improve mental health programs, provide new academic support systems and resources for students, and implement technology and programs focused on social-emotional learning and student well-being.
Teachers are struggling, too: The demands of teaching have led to high levels of stress and anxiety among teachers, and K-12 educators have the highest burnout rates of any occupation in the US. To support teacher well-being and retain valuable, talented educators, schools will embrace new ways to improve teacher work-life balance and well-being, including implementing new edtech tools, offering mental health resources, or even redesigning school spaces to better support teachers in the classroom.
2. Personalized and self-directed learning
Personalized learning is by no means a new educational trend, but learning models focused on an individualized or personalized approach will continue to evolve in 2023. Learning gaps have widened during the pandemic and as students continue to work to recover this learning, they will benefit from individualized learning opportunities. Schools will continue to provide struggling students with tutoring services, while advanced students will find new learning opportunities through online courses or internships outside the classroom.
Independent, active learning will also increase as teachers empower students to work at their own pace and make more decisions about their learning – from what types of assignments they complete to how they want to work in the classroom. We expect this will motivate schools to create more flexible, active learning spaces that can be modified to meet a wide variety of learning needs. This will include the addition of modular units, technology learning areas and a variety of different seating options to ensure student comfort and encourage movement.
3. Learning based on games and eSports
Ninety-seven percent of teens play at least an hour of video games a day, so introducing games into the classroom is intuitive for students. Gamified learning motivates students to engage with educational content in a different way, keeping students excited about their progress and helping synthesize learning. Introducing games into the classroom also enables students to explore social-emotional principles, increasing their adaptability and communication and improving their ability to work with others.
In the past few years, schools have also seen an increase in the participation of eSports teams. In 2023, we expect this trend to continue, with schools investing more resources in building eSports teams and creating comprehensive eSports spaces where teams can gather, practice and compete. Evidence shows that academic eSports benefit students’ overall academic performance and social emotional learning. Additionally, students who are successful in eSports competitions earn significant college and scholarship opportunities.
4. Microlearning and Nanolearning
“Microlearning” or “nanolearning” is a learning approach that has been used successfully in corporate learning for some time, but is expected to really take off in K-12 education in 2023. This small-scale learning technique targets small chunks of learning content that are presented to students in short, easily digestible lessons or mini-lessons. Lessons focus on repeating the same concepts spaced out in time for greater retention.
The rapid growth of short-form video content like TikTok and Instagram Reels has illuminated the possibilities of using microlearning to engage students. Students already turn to TikTok for homework help, which can expose them to new ideas and topics, but also opens students up to potential misinformation. Microlearning, which is emerging as a K-12 educational trend, will enable teachers to better curate the small amount of content that students seek for their learning, providing them with engaging content that breaks complex topics into less overwhelming chunks.
5. AR, VR and AI
Augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and artificial intelligence (AI) are projected to become more prevalent as educational tools and resources in 2023. These technologies will work behind the scenes in some of the ways they will benefit for education, such as AI used to guide student learning through edtech tools and platforms.
In other applications, AR, VR and AI will be used directly by students. Students will participate in VR and AR experiences, accessing more immersive learning experiences through these tools. As easy-to-use AI art generators become more popular, they can use AI in creative endeavors. There are also AI programs available that help students find quality resources for research assignments, help them improve their writing, explain complex math problems, and more. When students graduate, they will encounter and use these technologies in college and their careers, so early exposure will prove beneficial.
We expect this year to be exciting as new educational trends transform learning in classrooms everywhere.
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