I have been thinking about the future student experience. You can quite easily argue that digital is already embedded into the current student experience. Much of what they do at university is now dependent on digital; from connectivity, cyber, to authentication, access to resources. Online resources are more the norm these days, and resources like ebooks are proving more popular with students. The use of learning platforms (the ubiquitous VLE) is embedded as are video platform tools such as Teams and Zoom.

So what of the future?

As, we know predicting the future, is easy, getting it right though it nigh on impossible.

What we have seen over the last ten years though is widespread adoption and usage of digital technologies. Whereas twenty years ago we would be trying to “sell” the benefits of learning technologies, today the use of technology for learning and teaching is pretty much the norm.

Those with long memories may remember the many presentations I gave over ten years ago now on the future of learning. I was on the conference circuit then talking about the future impact of digital and technology on the learning experience. Some of what I said came true, other aspects less so. Look I told you, predicting the future, is easy, getting it right though it nigh on impossible.

One feature that I never really saw people predict was the widespread use of AI (well large language generative models) by students. The long term impact of that has to be seen, but in the short term we are seeing extensive use of AI by students in many different ways. 

Getting back to where I started this blog post, the future student experience. Thirty years ago when I was teaching, I didn’t have the Internet (I didn’t get access (with a 56k modem) until 1998). The college I was working in as a lecturer did have a single computer with internet access and that was really slow. My students did use technology, but it was in the main using a word processor to write assignments, and Excel for doing finance stuff. I did use presentation software, but in the main that was for printing acetates which I then used with an overhead projector (OHP).

The current student experience is so different to where it was twenty years ago. Back then colleges had been connected to JANET and virtually all had decided to have a VLE. Usage of that said VLE though was inconsistent across not just the sector, not just the college, but also departments and teams. Many learning technologists of that era were trying to persuade and sell the use of said tech to academics, who were a little sceptical. At the same time though IT teams were expanding the network infrastructure, professional services were digitising their processes, and email became much more ubiquitous. Though there was still some wariness about learning technologies, digital technologies were been or had been embedded into the operational side of education. It was this that probably had more impact on the role of digital in education than anything else.