In this interview, President and CEO Tim Loudermilk discusses with AlvaEDU’s Editor, Michelle de Carion, the current trends in education technology and forecasts the future of online learning.
What do you anticipate will be the biggest trend in education technology this year?
I think full immersion of tablets is really what’s happened. And it’s not something that’s been led by academia; it’s been led by students. If you think about 10 years ago, no one walked in with their own computer, or maybe they would have a heavy computer they would use. But whether or not we want to put education on tablets, every student is walking into class carrying one. So I think the popularity of the Nexus tablets from Google and the iPad is an enormous factor in education. But I don’t mean just using them as a browser. Sure, everybody can use them as a browser. That’s great. You can use your phone as a browser. We could do that 10 years ago. But today, their walking in and really embedding content on the iPad and using it like no other device. I think five or six years ago, everyone thought that Internet growth was the most powerful thing that was ever going to happen. Well, I don’t think you find today’s youth sitting in front of a computer. You find them with their tablet or with their smartphone out. In the world, I think this is going to have the biggest impact. So getting ready for that and taking advantage of it is really the next “big thing” in my opinion; and it’s happening right now. Continue reading
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