Teaching and Learning Behaviors are Changing

Teaching and learning styles have stayed remarkably same over the last century – teachers talk, students listen (and/or take notes), in a specially designed place called classroom. However, over last 10 years or so, fueled by Internet, Mobile, and other disruptive innovations, teaching and learning behaviors have been changing:

1. Classrooms and teachers are moving online (see virtual schools).
2. Teaching is becoming scalable (see MOOC).
3. Teaching approach is being flipped (see flipped classroom)
4. Learning approaches are being experimented with (see problem-based learning, School in the cloud)

One of the most important behavioral changes (largely facilitated by digitization and device ubiquity) will be this: Learning Objective will become the focus, and the format of the content – eBook, web site, a video, a native app – become secondary. This is because various content formats are just 1 click away, and if I want to learn about “Newton’s first law of motion”, I will choose the format that is best suited for the need (maybe I like to read, or I learn best by watching videos, or doing a simulated experiment) and not bother about whether it is a book or not.