New report: Trends in Learning 2024

Foreword

Every year, The Open University (OU) produces Trends in Learning, our in-depth report into innovations in workplace learning. We identify emerging trends that are either already having an impact on the world of work or will do in the future. We analyse the trends and then explore them further with subject matter experts from the learning community, digging deep to find out what these trends mean for organisations, now and in the longer term. We look at how are the trends are being integrated into learning practice and what learning professionals need to know and do to stay abreast of change. We then share our insights in the report.

The trends are chosen from another OU report – Innovating Pedagogy. This annual research report also looks at innovations in learning, but from an educational perspective. Researchers at the OU’s Institute of Educational Technology identify the trends in partnership with a different institution each year. This year’s Innovating Pedagogy was produced in collaboration with the Vanderbilt LIVE Learning Innovation Incubator in the US, an organisation focused on new ways of thinking about technology’s role in teaching and learning. 

About Agnes

I lead the Learning Futures programme at the OU, a research-based programme that explores emerging themes and innovations in educational technologies, teaching and learning practices. We have been producing these two reports – Innovating Pedagogy and Trends in Learning - for over 10 years and have noticed in that time that the trends have become increasingly thematic. Rather than standalone trends, there are themes. For example, there are three AI-related trends in Trends in Learning this year - talking AI ethics at work, intelligent content and the AI conversation imperative. They all merit being explored in isolation, but also overlap and have many elements in common and can be viewed as a thematic group. 

It is important that learning professionals understand these themes, as well as the trends within them. The world is constantly changing, work is constantly changing and it can be hard to keep up. Some of these trends are quite complex and abstract in the initial stages, which can make it difficult for people to appreciate how they will be implemented in the corporate world. We hope that by sharing them with you and inviting subject matter experts from within the learning community to share their insights and experiences, we can help L&D understand their potential impact and relevance.

Professor Agnes Kukulska-Hulme
Institute of Educational Technology 
The Open University

2024's trends

Talking AI ethics at work

How to use AI in an ethical manner. And ‘is AI ethical?’ It is important that people think about and understand ethical issues.

Intelligent content

Intelligent textbooks are often multimodal, making the learning much more interactive, immediate and visual.

The AI conversation imperative

An understanding of the possibilities of conversations with AI and how you learn through conversation.

Fostering peace at work

With the amount of conflict in the world, organisations need to think about how to foster peaceful relations in the workplace.

Climate action

People understand that climate change is an issue, but how much do they actually understand it in their context, in the workplace?

Assessments through extended reality

These assessments allow for in-depth and meaningful analysis and reflection of learner performance.

About our six trends

We have chosen six trends from this year’s Innovating Pedagogy, trends that we think are most relevant to the learning and business community. First off, the three AI-related trends: talking AI ethics at work, intelligent content and the AI conversation imperative. The other three trends are fostering peace at work, climate action and assessments through extended reality. Interestingly, AI crops up in the climate action and assessments through extended reality trends as well. Given that AI is impacting on all aspects of work and life, perhaps it is unsurprising that it crosses over into other trends.

We will begin with the three AI-related trends that we have chosen. AI is such a hot topic and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. Organisations in every sector, of every size, have either adopted AI technologies or plan to do so soon. It’s inevitable. The more informed organisations are about what these technologies can do, how and why, the more likely it is they will work for them. There is so much hype around AI – positive and negative – it can be hard to cut through the noise.

Many of these trends – AI-related ones, climate action and fostering peace – are very future-focused. What kind of world do we, as employers, employees and global citizens, want in the future? People and organisations across the world are grappling with vitally important issues that have the potential to have a big impact on how we live and work in the future – climate change, ethics, conflict, technological innovation... These are significant issues and it’s important that organisations invite and enable people to participate in shaping the future.

Read on to find out more about each trend and the implications for workplace learning.

Talking AI ethics at work

AI ethics has been an emerging topic over the past few years – how to use AI in an ethical manner. And ‘is AI ethical?’ It is important that people think about and understand ethical issues. In the Innovating Pedagogy report, the focus is on young people and about the importance of giving them opportunities to voice their opinions and their concerns about AI and ethics. There is a need in society for young people to be engaged in a technology that is the way of the future and will massively impact on them, whether it’s children in education or young people in the workplace.

More on Talking AI ethics at work

Intelligent content

There has been a gradual development with content and textbooks. First we had print - static textbooks. Then we also had e-books, which you could read online and maybe interact with them through one or two elements. The next step in this development is intelligent textbooks. They are often multimodal, making the learning much more interactive, immediate and visual. This makes them less like a book and much more engaging for learners. It bridges reading and writing, encouraging the learner to read (or hear) and then produce something as a result of the learning – explaining your understanding by generating something yourself, as a learner, and having that assessed within the book. It's almost like an alternative tutor.

More on Intelligent content

The AI conversation imperative

When ChatGPT appeared on the scene, the first reaction was a lot of excitement. Then there was another reaction around ‘people are going to use it inappropriately and what does it mean in terms of bias and lack of control over data, etc?’. I think we’re moving a bit past that now to ‘how do we use it constructively in teaching and learning and training?’ There is an understanding that there are some skills and literacies involved that need to be developed, so that people can formulate their requests appropriately. Also, skills in sustaining the conversation – it’s not just one question, one answer. People can have a more prolonged dialogue. They can challenge answers and ask for slightly different answers. It’s a skill we all need to develop – an understanding of the possibilities of conversations with AI and how you learn through conversation.

More on The AI conversation imperative

Fostering peace at work

There is an increasing amount of conflict in the world, so organisations need to think about how to foster peaceful relations in the workplace. There are people from all nationalities, countries, regions and religions of the world in the workplace, physically and virtually, and these diverse perspectives and experiences need to be integrated. Relationship building is very important, as is giving people opportunities to come together and engage in healthy discussion. It’s about tolerance and empathy and global citizenship. People need to be encouraged to look beyond their local setting to a global perspective and understanding.

More on Fostering peace at work

Climate action

People understand that climate change is an issue, but how much do they actually understand it in their context, in the workplace? Or feel confident to lead or engage with activities around climate action at work? People need to be given the resources and confidence to move forward with climate action. Learning teams need to educate themselves first, so that they can help educate others. Organisations need to address climate change in their context by raising awareness and helping people look at it across all disciplines. They need to foster interdisciplinary learning and environmental responsibility among employees.

More on Climate action

Assessments through extended reality

Extended reality (XR) includes virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). When people use extended reality to practice certain skills or to demonstrate their ability in a skill, it makes complete sense to conduct the assessment through extended reality, because that’s where they have been doing the learning. The assessment should be aligned with the learning. You can assess on quite a deep level – for example, in a health and safety setting, not just ‘do you understand the safety procedure?’, but ‘how did you react when presented with this safety incident?’ It is an authentic and compelling way of assessing people’s understanding, skills, knowledge and behaviour.

More on Assessments through extended reality