2024 Review and Future Trends

This year, I have been fortunate to attend some amazing conferences in Australia and overseas and complete additional qualifications. For me, this year has been a learning renaissance. I have dived deeply into my own learning, and through these experiences, I reflect on a few topics that continually popped up. There is so much more I would like to write but I'll have to save it for another time.

There are so many takeaways from 2024, but I have thought long and hard for my top 5. I would love to know yours.

The year that was...

My TOP 5

• AI -Powered Personalised Learning
• AI - Assistance for educators (workflow, content development and big data)
• AI-powered marketplace
• Organisations and LMS platforms adapting for a life-long learners rather than a Generational focus.
• AI and ethical responsibilities

What is happening in Edutech leadership?

It's still hard to believe that Chat GPT was only launched in 2022 and is still in its infancy. It is still a toddler at just 2 years old. For many of us, it has become a tool we use every day, and it is an integral part of our work. How did we do without it?

It has been interesting to watch how existing leaders and consultants in the sectors (Vocational Training, L&D and Higher Ed) align themselves with new technologies. When we saw a proliferation of LMS platforms, we saw these leaders becoming specialists with expertise in these technologies for compliance, learning or administration. Partnerships became pivotal for their business development and credibility. The same is happening with AI. Leaders and consultants are either generalists across platforms or have aligned with particular technologies.

We have a few leading GEN AI platforms that are still dominating, yet we are seeing many AI generators performing specific tasks within a learning ecosystem. We are seeing a differentiation with what I like to call the DIY (do-it-yourself) Gen AI (e.g. Chat GPT, Gemini, CoPilot and Perplexity) and apps for specific functions (Napkin, Gamma, Notebook LM, Slides AI, Sora, Descript, Brisk Teaching, Lingo Teach, Teacher Server etc.). These tools have varying degrees of success, but they will only continue to improve, and in time, organisations will begin to charge more for their use.

Edutech leaders are providing rich discussion and insights into GEN AI disruption in the sector and I would highly recommend you follow some of these groups and their discussions - The VET PD Group, Learning, Education, and Training Professionals Group, Vocational Education and Training Network, eLearning Industry, NextGen AI Learning, National RTO Network, Innovation in Vocational Education and Training and Instructional Designers and Curriculum Writers). These are a few to get you started.

Training Academies

Google's Gemini Academy provides support and training for their Google for Education champions. Google has spent a lot of time ensuring its safe use of AI in this space before launching new products to market. For ChatGPT users, the?marketplace?provides some great options better use their products, and they have a very active community of passionate Chat GPT educators. Microsoft, too, have?Educators AI Bootcamps?and?Microsoft Educators AI Toolkit for their Microsoft schools and training organisations. Lastly, ISO (International Standards Organisation) is also offering ISO/IEC 42001:2023 Information technology — Artificial intelligence — Management system, "that specifies requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continually improving an Artificial Intelligence Management System (AIMS) within organizations." Some of these courses are FREE, and others come at a cost, so it is worth checking them out.

The great AI Build

We have seen some great improvements in responses from the Gen AI models this year, and LMS platforms and elearning content development applications have been integrating AI capabilities across their platform ecosystems. Perhaps you use some of these platforms: Canvas, D2L Brightspace, Kajabi, Coassemble, Blackboard, and A New Spring, AI Captivate, Articulate and iSpring, to name a few. They have spent much of the last year building new AI applications and ensuring these integrations are stable. They have incorporated different elements of AI to varying degrees. These integrations include student-facing chatbots, workflow-integrated LMS features, learning data analysis tools, and rapid content development tools. Towards the end of the year, we have seen these platforms educate their customers and provide training to understand the implications of their instances. In the next year, they will continue to improve and roll out new apps and AI integrations within their platforms. Keep an eye out for their regular blog posts and announcements.

There has also been an increase in the experience and skills of individual users. Writing good prompts or using AI to write prompts has been something that educators have been tackling this year. Google's Gemini Gems (Oct 2024) allows users to write more complex prompts and present them in a more 'app-like' presentation. Being able to share gems and prompts is important to these learning communities of educators. This is certainly a growth area.

This year, many platforms clarified their ethical guidelines for AI model development and data usage, emphasising user data protection and responsible AI training practices.

2025 will see how well the market incorporates these new elements into their learning ecosystems. Organisations will need to train staff to understand how Gen AI can help them improve workflow efficiencies and support student learning and assessment.

AI-Powered Marketplaces

This year has seen strong growth in AI tools supporting both industry, L&D and training markets. As mentioned earlier, the ChatGPT Marketplace is a great place to find existing tools to increase workflow efficiencies and creative endeavours. There is still strong growth in organisations selling DIY prompts and AI-specific apps. This market will continue to grow into 2025 with new products coming out each month. Keep an eye on LinkedIn for these new releases. ChatGPT, Google's Gemini and Co-Pilot send blog updates monthly with new features, and big updates are launched at Conferences.

Life-long learning

At all the conferences I attended this year, there was a focus on ensuring that digital education products are designed for life-long learners. Platforms and organisations make more money when you can keep a student learning across the lifetime of their career. The user experience (not the course content) has to be easy, and learners are seeking out courses that are affordable, not too long, have intuitive navigation, and are useful to their careers at any given point in time. Learning has to be well presented with easy navigation and clear assessment expectations, and learners want to be able to make real-life connections to work or previous experience.

Microcredentials are increasingly popular. However, in higher education, funding models now prioritise student pass rates, leading to more diploma courses. This potentially limits opportunities for struggling learners, despite aiming to protect them from debt for failed courses. Additionally, caps on international students are impacting sector growth too.

AI Personalised Learning

Learning with Google for Education in Sydney this year has been awesome, and the team at Google are really supporting the rollout of AI. This year has been very exciting with the roll-out of products that provide guidance and feedback for learning. There is no doubt Notebook LM has had a huge impact on the sector. The full launch of Learn LM next year will provide even more opportunities to support personalised learning. The Google for Education Blog is a great place to learn about new releases and how they can be applied to your instance. The launch of Search with ChatGPT was also a game changer this year, and continued innovation by the big players will continue to push the market to new heights. It will be interesting to watch the roll-out of IBMs 'Watson' and how this will impact applications for workflow within learning ecosystems. This was only launched late this year in the Australian market, so we have yet to see its full impact.

AI algorithms can analyse vast amounts of data, including learning styles, strengths, weaknesses, and progress, to create adaptive learning pathways and provide personalised content recommendations. This allows learners to focus on areas where they need improvement and progress at their own pace, leading to increased engagement and knowledge retention. Google, Microsoft, LMS, and other digital technologies are all adapting their products to ensure applications allow for personalised learning that meets the learner's needs, compliance or competency requirements. Technology that supports both learning and compliance processes continues to develop, and watching this space is incredibly exciting.

In conclusion...

My TOP 5 Trends going into 2025

• Continued innovation in applications and hardware that support Gen AI and mixed media (VR, Mobile, Podcasts, video, gamification, and wearable devices).
• Applications that support personalised learning (AI Tutors, AI that responds to learners' emotional state, or generate custom learning materials).
• Ethical and responsible use of AI in Education will continue to be a hot topic. Governments are making these provisions mandatory for companies to ensure that students are not working in places where they can come to harm. This is a 'watch this space' topic for next year too.
• AI-enhanced workflow improvements. Over the last 12 months we have seen an increase in AI being incorporated into workflow systems. Whether this be email, communication, marking, feedback, Gen AI assistance in docs, spreadsheets, PowerPoints, Project Management etc. In-app prompting or easy-to-access Gen AI tools within docs for content creation and collaboration enable efficiencies in daily or repeatable tasks.
• The Edutech AI Marketplace - Within a short space of time, the Edutech marketplace has become quickly confusing. Centralised places that can save people time in understanding the right tools they need to do the job will be important for the adoption of these technologies into the sector.

Like anything new, it takes time to understand its implications and application. I would highly recommend organisations take the time to train team members on how to use AI to improve their workflow and support student success with new technologies. I have learnt a lot from my PLN and have appreciated your comments and feedback. Have a safe and happy Christmas and New Year.

Kathryn