A new year brings new opportunities. These new opportunities provide us with second chances to start over or to circle back to projects we did not complete or habits we did not adopt or refine the year before. However, a new year also brings encounters with change. Some changes we are prepared for while others come out of left field and knock the wind out of us. Greek philosopher Heraclitus is attributed with the saying, “The only constant in life is change.” Change is ever present in eLearning and instructional design. In our first blogpost of the year, we’ll start by exploring upcoming trends in eLearning and instructional design and how we can embrace change.
eLearning and Instructional Trends to Watch in 2024
James Oakley (2024) and Vipin H (2023) concur that significant trends to be aware of in eLearning and instructional design in 2024 include an increase in the following:
- The use of artificial intelligence (AI)
- Gamification and interactive learning experiences
- Personalized learning through adaptive technology
- Mobile learning
- Micro/nano learning
- Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR)
- Accessibility and adaptability
These trends have come to the forefront because students are rapidly developing shorter attention spans due to continuously consuming really short videos on social media platforms like TikTok or Instagram along with constant messages and images from multiple mediums and platforms, which as Neil Postman (2005) would say, are making us unfit to remember (p. 137). This, in turn, creates an opportunity to use mirco/nano learning and gamification in the learning environment.
Micro/Nano Learning
Australian educational psychologist, John Sweller, asserts that two of the main sources of cognitive overload are: “extraneous problem solving and divided attention” (as cited in Carr, 2020, p. 125). Carr (2020) adds that these sources of cognitive overload are “two of the central features of the Net as an informational medium” (p. 125). One reason for students’ decreasing attention spans is the continued shift toward consuming content through small screens such as smartphones and tablets. For example, Thinkific’s 2023 Digital Learning Trends Report revealed that more than 60% of people learn new things from social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok and that 68% of people prefer consuming digital content on phones or tablets in contrast to 29% who prefer to use computers or laptops (p. 9).
Carr (2020) concurs, asserting “by choice or necessity, we’ve embraced the Net’s uniquely rapid-fire mode of collecting and dispensing information,” meaning that the internet “delivers a steady stream of inputs to our visual, somatosensory, and auditory cortices simultaneously” (pp. 10, 116-117). As a result, our “calm, focused, undistracted, linear mind is being pushed aside by a new mind that wants and needs to take in and dole out information in short, disjointed, and often overlapping bursts – the faster the better” (p. 10). With three of our five senses being stimulated at the same time, we experience cognitive overload.
Micro/nano learning involves designing and delivering efficient, bite-sized curriculum that is more easily digestible for students. Examples include short, minimalistic: “videos, case studies, interactive modules, etc.” (Oakley, 2024). Oakley (2024) notes that by implementing micro/nano learning in eLearning and instructional design to space out the delivery of content, students have the ability to take the time to process and build on what they have learned in previous lessons or modules and retain what they learn as a result. Similarly, because students have shorter attention spans, curriculum and the learning environment need to be designed in a way that is more engaging for them in order to keep their attention, which is one of the key facets of gamification.
Gamification
Vipin H (2023) points out that gamification provides opportunities for active participation and critical thinking in the learning environment, encouraging students to “set goals, track their progress, and compete with peers, creating a sense of achievement and satisfaction.” In addition, implementing gamification in courses provides more opportunities for community and building relationships between a student and their instructor as well as between a student and their classmates. These student-teacher relationships, as we’ve discussed and explored in previous posts, help students thrive in and outside of the learning environment.
Embracing Change
So, what do these changing trends mean for instructional designers? Whenever we hear or read words such as change or unknown, we often expect the worst. We tend to dig in our heels by either resisting change or running from it. Catmull and Wallace (2014) assert that the inevitability of change makes people fight to hold onto the familiar (i.e., processes, habits, routines, etc.) which they know work. However, the authors also mention “it’s folly to think you can avoid change” and that “a person who can’t change their mind is dangerous” (pp. 146-147, 153).
Change can be scary and daunting at times, but we can choose our response. In Chapters 8 and 9 of their book, Creativity Inc., Catmull and Wallace (2014) encourage us to accept change—to be open and embrace it. The beauty of life requires change, and we cannot grow or succeed without it (pp. 146, 148). Catmull and Wallace emphasize that acknowledging and appreciating change helps us respond constructively when life brings surprises our way (p. 148).
Although we may resist and struggle with what lies ahead, acknowledging and appreciating change allows us to discover clarity, inspiration, and originality in the process (Catmull & Wallace, 2014, pp. 152, 158). Often, collaboration between colleagues or higher-ups results in differing, sometimes conflicting, viewpoints. Catmull and Wallace remind us that “we need to work to combine and understand different viewpoints” and that differing viewpoints “should be seen as additive, not competitive” (pp. 173-174). Through being empathic and openminded, we can work together to embrace change.
Conclusion
Many years ago, I discovered that if I am having trouble embracing change, I need to look inside myself and see if there is anything that needs to change in me, such as my attitude or perspective, before I can fully embrace the unknowns in my life, including in my job as an instructional designer. Vipin H (2023) notes that the 2024 trends in eLearning and instructional design provide opportunities to help students experience more “personalized, interactive, immersive, and accessible” learning that will allow them to engage with the curriculum in a way that meets both their needs and their preferences.
As Jessica mentioned in her 2023 reflection post, our team is beginning the process of working on changes in our university’s programs, calendars, and even our learning management system (LMS). While it would be easy for us to resist or run from the changes coming our way, we would be amiss if we did not acknowledge and appreciate these changes and the ways they will allow us to discover clarity, inspiration, and originality as we continue to design personalized, interactive, immersive, and accessible courses and learning environments for our students.
Fighting or resisting change will not change what needs to be done. Embracing change helps us remove any tendencies to: “1) Cling to what we think works; 2) Fear change; and 3) Delude ourselves about our roles in our own success” (Catmull & Wallace, 2014, pp. 184-185). In order to help students thrive in the learning environment, it is imperative that we embrace change and new trends in technology and pedagogy.
References
Carr, N. (2020). The shallows: What the internet is doing to our brains. W. W. Norton & Company.
Catmull, E., & Wallace, A. (2014). Creativity inc.: Overcoming the unseen forces that stand in the way of true inspiration. Random House.
H, V. (2023, October 13). The future of education: 5 eLearning trends to keep an eye on in 2024. eLearning Industry.
Oakley, J. (2024, January 9). 5 new instructional design trends of 2024. Evolve solutions group.
Postman, N. (2005). Amusing ourselves to death: Public discourse in the age of show business (20th Anniversary ed.). Penguin Books.
Model eLearning 