A Future of Virtual Education

Ultra Lateral Learning

Jan 10, 2020

Education is evolving at a faster pace than any period in recent history. In fact, 85% of the jobs that today’s students will enter into in 2030 haven’t been invented yet (source: Dell Technologies), meaning there is a growing awareness that curriculums and methodologies need to evolve to meet tomorrow’s reality. In this month’s theme - Ultra-lateral Learning - we explore how the future of learning is expanding beyond the four walls of a traditional classroom.

We look at new platforms of adaptive language, video games that tackle mental health, hybrid sensorial playgrounds, open-source creative libraries and other formats that examine how modern education is responding to an innate human need of play, discovery and personal fascination. In the presentation we define four emerging themes of change, which are brought to life with contextual insights, opportunity areas and best-in-class case study examples.

Four key themes of Change

1. Digital Citizenship

Brands are launching new products, services and systems that provide teaching tools for coding, programming and other languages that seamlessly link the physical and digital world

2. Playground Sensoriums

Learning spaces and places are being transformed from a passive lesson to an activated experience, encouraging people to interact with and discover the world around them first-hand

3. Emotional Education

Products are teaching lessons in emotional intelligence, building a new sense of empathy and storytelling towards mental health, self-awareness and inclusivity in younger generations

4. Inclusive Alphabets

Graphic and typography design is being explored as a tool to aid different levels of abilities, helping a range of audiences learn and absorb information through various stimuli

What is the opportunity in this space?

- Learning is not only for the younger generation; as we all strive to learn new lessons, passions and aspirations. Gen A and beyond will expect new levels of technology literacy as well as dynamism and adaptability in education as they do the rest of their lives, everything from banking to gaming.

- Becoming a brand educator; brands can become civic educators and provide open-source platforms that can be a touchpoint where an audience can invest in a brand’s world that feels accessible, fun and fascinating

- Pushing the capabilities of graphic design; design can aid in people’s differing abilities to learn. This goes beyond the need for aesthetic alone to create something that has function, elevating visual potential to trigger our minds to see and feel the unbelievable.

If you would like to hear more of our thinking on Ultra Lateral Learning or if you would like some additional and tailored thought starters for you and your company please get in touch.

Image credits from top to bottom of the page: Grise video game by Nomada Studio; Interland by Google; One Mindful Mind by NeuroGen Brain and Spine Institute