Shaping the future learning environments with smart elements: challenges and opportunities

Abstract

The evolving learning environments Unarguably, technology has become an irreversible force driving the transformation of teaching and learning practices. Cloud computing, learning analytics, big data, and artificial intelligence are being adopted in today's teaching and learning, though to different extents. For over a decade, educational researchers have been exploring how different innovative means could be integrated into traditional learning in order to enrich learning experience and enhance learning effectiveness. Enabled by various pedagogical and technological innovations, brand new learning environments can be created to optimize learners' ability to learn. They are collectively referred as the commonly known "smart learning environments" which can best delineate the future learning environments. Embracing a variety of concepts, including but not limited to flexible learning, personalized learning, mobile learning, adaptive learning, and blended learning, for obvious reasons, there are no one single form of smart learning environments. The concepts, and even definitions, of smart learning environments have continuously emerging. A smart learning environment can be conceptualized as a learning environment that emphasizes learning flexibility, effectiveness, efficiency, engagement, adaptivity, and reflectiveness (Spector, 2014), where both formal learning and informal learning are integrated (Gros, 2016). It is basically an adaptive system that improves learning experience based on learning traits, preferences and progress, features increased degrees of engagement, knowledge access, feedback and guidance, and uses rich-media with a seamless access to pertinent information, real-life and on-the-go mentoring with the use of technologies to continuously enhance the learning environment (Singh & Hassan, 2017). In recent years, educational researchers have been actively investigating a smart learning environment. As of March 2021, a simple search of the keyword, "smart learning environment", from Google Scholar and Scopus yields 1990 and 1773 results respectively. Over 80% of these results are published within 5 years, and almost all refer to the tertiary education settings, including higher education, further education and open education.

How teachers manage their classroom in the digital learning environment – experiences from the University Smart Learning Project

“…Smart learning could create a creative and comfortable learning environment to freely create new ideas, interact, share, perceive, diagnose and analyze learners' learning process ( Fayez et al., 2021 ). Teachers could design their appropriate teaching activities ( Dai et al., 2021 ; Cheung et al., 2021 ; García-Tudela et al., 2021 ). The personalized and adaptive learning, interaction affective, learning data, assessment, formal and informal learning need also to be centered on to understand and manage the individual characteristics, enhance the cooperation, and understand learners strengths and weakness ( Cheung et al., 2021 ; Hwang and Fu, 2020 ).…”

La transdisciplinariedad de los recursos educativos abiertos, una alternativa para generar metacognición a nivel posgrado

“…De acuerdo con el recorrido teórico sobre los componentes de este estudio, así como con el análisis de diversas investigaciones sobre la eficiencia terminal a nivel posgrado y su relación con el desarrollo de estrategias metacognitivas, tales como la comprensión lectora y el lenguaje escrito a través del uso de los REA y utilizando el diseño instruccional, se logra distinguir una relación sistémica transdisciplinaria (figura 10). flexibles para propiciar ecosistemas de aprendizaje que conlleven a personalizar y autorregular la formación académica (Cheung, Kwok, Phusavat y Harrison, 2021;Fawns, 2018).…”

Asynchronous Delivery of a 400 Level, Partially Peer-Graded, Oral Presentation and Discussion Course in Systems Neuroscience for 60 Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…There are reported benefits and drawbacks of online learning [10,11], and the degree of success appears to relate to how well the technology is employed to enhance engagement and interactivity, over in-person learning opportunities for enrolled students [12,13]. Having students carry out preparatory learning on their own through research, reading, and watching videos, and then having them engage later to discuss what they have learned in a group classroom setting, whether in-class or virtually, creates the so-called "flipped classroom" that can result in significant improvement in student learning compared with traditional teaching methods [14][15][16].…”