What are the Main Trends in Online Learning? A Helicopter View of Possible Futures

Abstract

The COVID-19 crisis has given rise to the question, what are the main trends in online learning? What might the future look like? While predicting the future is best left to those who appear to have a crystal ball, the need for big picture helicopter thinking has never been more apparent as online learning remains under the spotlight. This paper responds to this challenge and the tendency to overlook the field’s rich history during the pandemic. It establishes that defining online learning is not a straightforward task, and there are widespread differences in using the term. A multifocal perspective is then adopted to identify seven macro-level trends, which help frame the analysis and enable the discussion to zoom in and out from different angles and viewpoints. The discussion covers much ground and draws on a wide range of literature to illustrate how the digital education ecosystem is simultaneously converging, getting larger in scale, more open and closed, and is growing in diversity. Inherent tensions across these contradictory trends, along with concerns about the growth, influence and sustainability of the EdTech industry, demonstrate how online learning is part of a wider social practice. Thus, the trend analysis endeavours to balance the language of opportunity with the need for deeper criticality. Woven throughout the paper is the spirit of hope and the crucial role that educators play in helping to shape and reshape possible, probable, and preferred futures.