Technology in education: from the first online courses to machine learning

In the last ten years, technology in education has evolved making the Internet its access and expansion platform. The training process has become more flexible and autonomousresponding in a personalized way to the expectations of the students.

The impact of technology in education translates into new modalities, environments and training opportunities.

Evolution of technology in education in the last decade

Education has been able to take advantage of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to continue its process of educational innovation. It has seen the need to adapt to an increasingly digitized and multimedia society. To this end, the incorporation into the training process of progress in other areas.

These are some of the significant milestones of the evolution of technology in education:

• 2000: mixed or blended learning appears, also called blended learning or b learning.

• 2004: start of Web 2.0 or social web, incorporating greater interactivity and user centered design.

• 2008: the first steps of mobile learning or m learning are taken.

• 2013: private online courses with limited groups of participants give way to massive courses. They appear like this MOOC or Massive Online Open Courseswith hundreds or thousands of participants connected from platforms like Miríadax.

• 2016: the collection of large volumes of data using big data techniques allow the development of data analytics associated with learning or learning analytics.

• 2018 2020: incorporation of the disruptive technologies with more and more common uses in education.

Technology in education is enriched with contributions from the virtual reality, augmented reality and robotics. Likewise, storage and collaborative work in the cloud facilitate teamwork in cloud environments.

While adaptive software with autonomous learning and deep learning are applications of artificial intelligence in education.

Based on the above, we must mention four other important milestones that are part of previous decades:

• 1976: The first online courses appear, some offered by the University of Phoenix.

• 1980: the concepts of virtual campus and Learning Management System (LMS or Learning Management Systems) are introduced.

• 1995: launch of the first educational social networkClassmates.com.

• 1996: the concept of electronic learning or elearning is introduced.

Advances in educational modalities due to the incorporation of technology in education

Advances in technology in education have produced changes in educational modalities. Innovation is reflected in new approaches with more interaction, use of web platforms and electronic devices.

UNESCO recognizes that the incorporation of ICT is a way to facilitate universal access to education. Strengthening integration and reducing differences in learning is also part of its benefits.

Some of the advances in educational modalities from the incorporation of technologies are:

Virtual classroom as an educational space

From the environment in face to face classes, we move on to the digital space that brings us together no matter where in the world we are.

Technology in education allows virtual classrooms to be enriched with resources included in learning environments. Tracking participant activity allows you to collect data for useful analytics to improve training.

globalized learning

Currently, courses can be taken in institutions from all over the world and even follow training plans of fully digital educational centers. Thus, interacting with classmates, teachers or tutors from any country is possible.

access one Endless source of training options, knowledge and educational resources only requires one condition: access to the Internet and especially to the web. Technology in education is both a means of advancement and a tool of access.

Multiple training modalities

With the Internet as a platform, technology in education has achieved a greater reach. In this way, it has ceased to be only face to face, remote or mixed, to be extended to a larger set of modalities, among others:

• online learning or e learning, disappearing space time barriers.

• mobile learning or m learning, incorporating mobility in teaching and using mobile devices as a motivating tool for students. The smartphone or smartphone becomes a very useful tool for access to educational content.

• Collaborative learning or c learning, which incorporates into the training dynamics activities that allow students to be creators of content and knowledge, not just consumers. The creation of communities, connectivity and integration is also an important part of this modality.

• Ubiquitous learning or u learning, where educational and technological strategies are integrated that make it possible for learning to take place anywhere and at any time.

The incorporation of technology in education has been a constant in the development of human history. From the abacus, through the primitive use of paper to the creation of the printing press, technology has not stopped innovating as a tool for education.

The new technologies based on the Internet increase the possibilities of access to training in its multiple modalities. The trends of the coming decades already herald even more exciting developments. The educational space will never be the same again.