From Massive Open Online Courses and the "Flipped Classroom" to the Rockstar Teacher, new and emerging digital tools are transforming the way students of all ages learn. Here are the eight key trends responsible for the shift.

1. What matters now:
Education.
Marissa Gluck
Director, Huge Ideas
Alyson Navarro
Group Engagement Director
Tom O’Reilly
Director, Huge Content

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Education is an area ripe for digital innovation. Digital
technologies are already remaking the classroom with
assessment tools and personalized curricula. And investors
have noticed. According to venture capital database CB
Insights, education technology companies received $1.1 billion
in both 2011 and 2012 from investors. Here are eight trends
transforming the education ecosystem in the United States:
Demographic and economic shifts will force a new
model for higher ed.
In the U.S., higher education is facing a crisis. The price of
a college degree in the past decade has outpaced the cost
of living, increased twice as fast as medical care, and grown
three times faster than the consumer price index (Bureau of
Labor Statistics). Students and their families have assumed
historic amounts of debt in order to meet the rising costs of
higher education. The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau
estimates that student loan debt exceeds $1 trillion, now the
largest category of consumer debt other than mortgages.
As young graduates enter the job market, they are
“American Dream” no longer guarantees a job in an economy
still recovering from recession. Nearly 30 percent of 20- to
24-year-olds aren’t in school or employed. A recent report
from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reveals that the
combination of debt and unemployment is increasing the risk
of default. Eleven percent of student loans were delinquent
in the third quarter of 2012, or more than 90 days overdue,
compared to just six percent in 2003. Prominent academics,
political scientists, economists and activists warn that this
looming crisis could be an economic bubble larger than the
housing bubble that triggered the 2008 recession.
Demographics are also changing rapidly. According to
The College Board, by 2019 the number of white college
Hispanic students will increase 27 percent. Older students
institutions last fall, students aged 25 and older made up
38 percent of enrollment (National Student Clearinghouse).
students over 23 years old (Georgetown University Center
on Education and the Workforce). With an older, more
approaches of many colleges no longer make sense.
Unsustainable economics and a shifting demographic
landscape mean that education is ready for reform. These
conditions offer big opportunities to introduce an alternative
Massive open online courses (MOOCs) hint at that future.
Massive open online courses are large-scale interactive
learning programs that not only feature the traditional
elements of classroom learning and homework—readings,
problem sets and lectures—but also user forums to build a
community of students and teachers.
The New York Times declared 2012 the year of the MOOC.

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associated with top universities such as Harvard University,
Stanford University and MIT) have emerged, such as Udacity,
Coursera and edX.
than course credit, even as they claim the academic quality of
their digital courses is comparable. Some of this is due to a
longstanding academic bias against online learning, some of
it due to the economics of elite universities.
Still, a very small number of institutions are experimenting
with offering credit to MOOC students, and that number will
grow. San Jose State University in California has partnered
with Udacity to offer credentialed MOOC classes to its
students. California state legislators introduced a recent bill
(then shelved it until next year) aimed at getting state-funded
colleges to give credit for MOOC classes. One of the reasons
the bill was put on hold is because three public systems
in the state have already expanded their online offerings to
award credit for online courses.
State educational systems are also incorporating elements
of online learning to lower costs for existing students. In
September 2012 California passed two bills that provide
funding for the state university system to develop 50 open-
source digital textbooks to be hosted by an online library.
The legislation aims to narrow the capital and quality gap that
exists in the development of open educational resources such
as free textbooks and course readers, which are primarily
to save college students hundreds if not thousands of dollars
each semester.
Key Takeaway: Shifting demographics and untenable
economics will propel a movement to offer course credit from
MOOCs and an increase in the availability and quality of open
educational resources.
Student loan debt now exceeds
$1 Trillion

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While MOOCs have mostly been aimed at the university level,
emerging at the K-12 levels. In the traditional classroom
model, a teacher’s time is spent covering the material while
individual study time is supported at home by parents, ideally,
who even if they are available, most likely don’t know or
remember the material and have to (re)educate themselves to
support their child.
The “ ” inverts that model. Students
consume lecture material outside of school at their own
pace, and teachers spend classroom time clarifying problem
areas. Valuable instructional time can be spent reviewing
and mastering concepts in small groups or one-on-one
all, but there is evidence that non-traditional approaches to
education have some success, fueling a move towards a
blended model.
Key Takeaway: MOOCs are not just for higher learning:
They have the potential to be instrumental in alternative
classroom gains traction.
Education needs to take better advantage of digital
media’s native strengths.
To date, most digital education products have adapted digital
tools to merely enhance courses. While MOOCs such as
Coursera and Udacity are promising and will evolve, they are
essentially duplicating the existing lecture model for learning
in digital form. There is a big opportunity to create new,
There is precedent for creating new models that exploit the
best qualities of new platforms. Take, for example, Sesame
Street. Prior to the launch of that show, most educational
TV programs copied the existing classroom model (including
even some of the more creative programs like Romper
Room). Sesame Street eschewed the traditional classroom
approach to develop a model that used television’s innate
strengths. Drawing from sketch and variety shows, as well
as episodic dramas and comedies, Sesame Street applied
innovations in TV entertainment to education, paving the way
for a generation of new programs like The Electric Company,
Zoom, and commercial shorts like Schoolhouse Rock and Big
Blue Marble.
Children’s Television Workshop founder Joan Cooney said the
goal was to “master the addictive qualities of television and
do something good with them.” Today’s education innovators
need to master the addictive qualities of digital and do
something good with them.
Personalization is a major feature of digital products that
could help transform online education. Personalized or
“adaptive” learning works by tailoring a student’s progress
through material to their real-time progress. Like in games,
performs well or easier if she doesn’t, adaptive learning
programs can accelerate the lesson or slow it down to re-
emphasize points where the student’s responses indicate
more review may be needed. Many of the MOOCs are
already incorporating adaptive learning into their offerings.
Coursera and others also use peer and self-grading to
reinforce learning.
Adaptive learning platform Knewton began with a test prep
product, later striking a deal to deliver remedial education
with educational publisher Pearson to Arizona State University
students. Now partnered with textbook publishers MacMillan
algorithm to deliver personalized learning. Knewton’s
recommendations are based on multiple factors, including a
student’s knowledge base determined by performance, the
goals of the course, the content structure and which learning

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activities have been most effective for similar students. To
date, the company has also raised $54 million in funding,
making it one of the best-capitalized educational startups in
history.
Key Takeaway: Just as Sesame Street uses television’s
best qualities to teach, online education products need to
capitalize on the intrinsic strengths of digital media. Tailoring a
more personalized student experience is an appealing feature
of digital platforms that could work well for online learning.
Games propel motivation and learning.
In some ways, the traditional classroom suppresses certain
fundamental aspects of learning: collaboration, critical
thinking and calculating risk. Adding gaming mechanics to
learning re-introduces these concepts to the classroom. It is
another example of leveraging the addictive qualities of digital
Bringing games into education does not require a dumbing
down of curricula. Rather, adding gaming elements such as
points, badges, rewards and leaderboards, already familiar to
anyone who plays massively multiplayer online (MMO) games,
can be a compelling motivational tool in an educational
context. Already, researchers at universities such as the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University
of Wisconsin have been exploring the use of games that
encourage learning through play via multiple initiatives
including augmented reality on mobile devices, multiplayer
online games and simulation software.
Additionally, companies such as Fidelis have seen success
aimed at preparing military veterans for college and the
workforce. Adding badges and rewards has helped the
company tackle retention for a demographic that notoriously
struggles with transitioning back into school and work. And
the MacArthur Foundation has supported The GlassLab
project
changing learning and assessment through digital games.
The MacArthur Foundation, with the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, Electronic Arts, and the Entertainment Software
Association have funded GlassLab with the goal of
“integrat[ing]state-led content standards and measure[ing]
student learning by modifying popular video game titles and
creating original video games.”
Key Takeaway: Gaming is one of the most promising
ways to enhance online education. Introducing key elements
of games can help introduce greater critical thinking and
collaboration to the learning process.
Collaborative consumption is emerging in
education.
As in the travel industry, peer-to-peer sharing potentially
disrupts the existing educational model predicated on
transmission of learning from geography-based middleman
(teacher) to student. Just as Airbnb established the idea
that regular people opening their homes to strangers to rent
as an alternative to hotels was not just feasible but widely
appealing, startups such as Skillshare, Dabble, P2PU and
The Amazings are proving that people will turn to non-
traditional teachers, or teachers far outside their normal
circles, for knowledge.
The web’s ability to connect strangers, share resources, and
transfer knowledge makes it fertile ground for the education
industry. These companies have built an online marketplace
that matches students with teachers, some for digital courses
and others in the real world.
Skillshare’s philosophy emphasizes the idea that anyone
with a unique skill can be a teacher and learning can happen
anywhere. Classes range from Rock Poster Design to
Interior Design to iPhone Development. Similarly, UK-based
The Amazings offers classes that draw on the wisdom and
experience of older people to bridge the knowledge gap

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between generations. The community offers classes on
baking, knitting, quilting and other traditional crafts and skills.
One of the key aspects driving success of these models is
the self-governance of the communities. The site relies on
volunteers who are involved in multiple aspects of running it.
Reviews, feedback, and course revisions are guided by the
community, and the openness of these models encourages
accountability.
Key Takeaway: While these ventures still occupy a
niche, the attributes of the sharing economy–transparency,
reciprocity and trust–can reform key pieces of the education
ecosystem.
and out of the classroom.
Educators and administrators are slowly embracing the
potential of mobile, which was once considered a distraction
into the classroom are myriad: they‘re cheaper and more
portable than laptops or desktops, and with multimedia
capabilities including video, cameras, GPS and text, can be
extremely powerful learning tools. Some school districts have
adopted a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy as a way to
meet cost-cutting measures and work with technology that
already has a high penetration among student populations.
Mobile is not without challenges in the classroom. Issues
often cited include equity of access for students, developing
network security policies, overcoming student distraction,
and teacher training. Yet classrooms that have embraced
mobile technologies are already seeing dividends. Students
are already using their smartphones to record lessons, look
up information instantaneously, and practice spelling skills.
place in mobile technology education, providing students with
example, in Virginia, the Radford Outdoor Augmented Reality
(ROAR) project is a narrative, participatory game played on
smartphones that correlates students’ physical location with
their digital presence. Students play collaboratively, exploring
nearby locations, and when they come within 30 feet of the
digital artifacts embedded into the game, it triggers video,
audio and text.
Outside of the classroom, mobile apps that provide
educational content have exploded in popularity. In a
recent study by The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame
Workshop, one-third of game apps make an educational
claim, and education apps are the second most popular
category in the Apple App Store according to 148apps. One
of the most compelling characteristics of mobile devices
is that they inspire exploration of content, of the physical
environment, and with other users.
Key Takeaway: The advantages of incorporating mobile
learning into education are manifold. Mobile devices have
become more and more ubiquitous, they provide access to
potentially unlimited knowledge, and can even encourage
better communication between students and teachers. Most
take place anywhere at anytime.
Big data has multiple education applications.
Like other industries, education is beginning to discover
the power of data analytics. However, unlike commercial
applications using big data to identify new consumer targets
or predict behavior, analytics in education are focused on
providing more personalized experiences for students,
improving retention, and providing insight for educators,
administrators and policymakers.
Collecting data throughout the learning process allows
institutions to customize curricula for individuals. Unlike
MOOCs, which are a relatively inexpensive innovation within
the education ecosystem, applying data analytics will be
also resources across an organization including teacher input,
technical skill, and curriculum experts.
inBloom, funded by the Carnegie Corporation and Bill

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mentality of most school districts. To do this, the organization
is developing non-proprietary, open source technology
products to help educators and parents get a cohesive view
of a student’s progress. The goal is to simplify the data that
results from multiple sources, analyze performance, and
support personalized learning.
The personalized learning sector is also a hot one for
investors. According to NewSchools Venture Fund, a
education for low-income children, the sector attracted $425
million in venture capital in 2012. The Gates Foundation,
in addition to the $100 million it’s pledged to inBloom, has
also distributed $70 million in grants to schools and private
companies to develop personalized learning tools.
Key Takeaway: While MOOCs are inexpensive and easy to
scale, the application of Big Data to the education ecosystem
is where true innovation lies. While expensive and time-
retention and improved outcomes for students and teachers.
The rise of the Rockstar Teacher is coming.
The convergence of two trends mentioned above–the
driving another development: the rise of the Rockstar
Teacher. Teachers who embrace technology platforms for
classroom.
Duke University Fuqua School of Business Professor Dan
Ariely, for example, who has taught classes on behavioral
economics with Coursera, has shared some recent statistics
on his experience with online education. His Coursera class
has 140,000 registrations, with 67,000 who watched at
least one video, and 33,000 students who took at least one
quiz. Additionally, 6,000 students submitted the mandatory
peer-reviewed essay. His TED talks now have over two million
views. Peter Norvig, Google’s Director of Research, has also
than 160,000 students enrolled. And these numbers pale
in comparison to educators and entrepreneurs like Salman
Khan. Khan Academy videos have been viewed more than
283 million times in just a few years.
With this kind of scale, educators like Ariely, Norvig and
others have the potential to reach hundreds of thousands, if
not millions of students globally. The potential consequences
of the rise of the Rockstar Teacher are still unknown. Could
scale and ratings one day usurp the traditional tenure path
of publishing? Possibly. While the impact on the professional
path of teachers is debatable, it’s hard to see a downside for
students, who will have access to previously inaccessible but
talented teachers.
Key Takeaway: The rise of the Rockstar Teacher is still
nascent but potentially exposes talented teachers to a much
broader public. In the future, institutions may value scale,
ratings, and accessibility as much as they value publishing
research.

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Acknowledgements.
The authors acknowledge the following from Huge for
contributing their insights and feedback:
John McCrory, Content Strategy Director
Brendan Bolton-Klinger, Experience Lead