#6: Report: Millions of students reveal surprising online learning trends

[Editor’s note: This story, originally published on February 23rd of this year, was our #6 most popular story of the year. Happy holidays, and thank you for tuning into our 2017 countdown!]

In perfect timing with Digital Learning Day, international social learning platform GoConqr surveyed over 2.5 million students and teachers currently using the platform from over 160 countries last year (2016) to better understand their online learning habits and how learning is changing in general.

According to the report, which surveyed students and teachers ranging from secondary to postgraduate levels, the biggest online learning trends encompassed behaviors in collaborative learning, mobile learning, types of subjects studied, active learning patterns, and differences in learning and teaching styles.

Some of the key findings of the report reveal that students and teachers are using online platforms as an additional source to help with subjects either not taught under general education curriculum, or are subjects considered difficult to learn and therefore require more time to learn at a personalized pace.

Also, despite the prevalence of social networking, online study tends to be a solitary activity, with 79 percent of those surveyed choosing not to study collaboratively when they are online. However, this percentage is decreasing over time as traditional learning methods are being replaced with online and blended teaching styles.

According to Dualta Moore, GoConqr’s CEO, the increasing application of technology—not only in the classroom, but in the whole process of learning, study and revision—raises the question of whether, in the coming years, “after school study will continue to be a largely solitary task” or, on the other hand, “the increasing popularity of online educational resources and study groups will increase collaborative learning “.

GoConqr’s poll of millions of students and teachers across the globe revealed interesting findings across a number of areas, including:

Geography

• The U.S. has the most variety in eLearning tools
• The U.K. has the strongest focus on science-based subjects
• Germany has the top viewers of peer content: 72 percent of German users view other peoples’ resources
• Columbia has the top creators of content: 93 percent of Columbians create their own resources
• Brazil has study groups with the largest number of people: +30 percent are members of a group
• The U.A.E. has the highest percentage of mobile users: 77 percent
• Australia has the most active study groups: 22 percent of those in study groups contribute regularly

(Next page: Fascinating online learning trends from the report)