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Description: Only recently have educators, learners, and their parents started to observe the advantages of the implementation of technology in the classroom.  Let’s consider several edtech trends that influence the futurity of classrooms.

Time of Changes

Who would think that our world would change forever? The COVID-19 pandemic influenced and continues to influence the lives of people in all spheres. Education is no exception. Many educational institutions were transferred to distance learning. This was the first great change in the education system.

The notions of teaching and learning were changed. Modern learners need to get used to distance learning. This is where digital platforms are handy since they assist to keep the social distance. No matter that there are educational institutions that have started to be opened again, the trend of distance learning can endure for years.

Nevertheless, there are benefits to changes in education. For example, when students need assignment help, they can simply find the required information on the Internet. They do not need to go to the libraries and waste their time. Moreover, they can even hire an online essay writer who will do their task instead of them. These students should not even leave their homes.

Coming back to education tech trends, they are undergoing revolutionary changes. These trends are concentrated on connectivity opportunities, versatility, and learning that is oriented toward learners. Let’s move to the latest trends in technology used for education.

ELearning

We have already mentioned that the COVID-19 pandemic changed our world. It made distance learning the main trend because of the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Educational institutions started to be closed massively and online educational platforms began to be in huge demand.

As the name implies, eLearning is a type of education that is performed electronically. It can be carried in the form of interactive activities that are based on slides. Likewise, it can be an online course that assists companies to train their staff in required skills.

eLearning makes people gradually forget about paper books since learners can get educational content through devices such as computers, laptops, tablets, or smartphones.

This greatly saves time for students. Moreover, many perspectives for interactive learning appear. Passive experience is in the past since students can select what they desire to learn simply and fast no matter where these students are. What’s more, students learn via directly interacting with information on the screen.

A lot of eLearning courses started to appear that include animation, podcasts, and videos. This leads to the creation of a practical learning experience. During eLearning, students easily soak knowledge by reading or viewing content.

You may be surprised, but eLearning has existed for a long time. It is only now starting to be noticed more and it develops rapidly. Aside from being ecological, eLearning is accepted by many educators. They believe eLearning has many benefits and makes education more effective. For this reason, the number of online learning courses is increasing fast.

Video-Assisted Learning

In the past, the “video day” was associated with a television placed on a trolley. Everybody can remember how teachers wheeled this trolley into a class. But nowadays the Internet and digital devices have changed our representation of the “video day”.

The so-called video-assisted learning has become a new technology in education in recent years. Of course, this trend started to bloom in the conditions of distance learning. Animated videos are really useful for the enrichment of lessons and enhancements of intelligibility of content. At the same time, it can improve the performance of learners and lower the workload on educators.

Blockchain Technology

DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) is based on blockchain and provides a lot of advantages for education. Also, it offers a lot of benefits for data storage.

When you add new data, another “block” is added to the system. The volume of storage is technically boundless. It is possible to encrypt data and distribute it across several computers in the system. This can be performed simultaneously. Data transmission becomes decentralized and transparent.

You may wonder where blockchain technology can be utilized. For example, MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and ePortfolios broadly use this technology in order to check skills and knowledge.

The Distributed Ledger Technology systems can solve issues of authentication, scaling, and price for eLearning agencies. In addition, it can assist learner applicants to publish their achievements at the stage of job search.

Gamification

Who still believes that learning is a boring and not interesting process. There is one technology used for education that can change your mind.

Gamification is a great possibility to turn your learning into a fun and engaging process. Learners will find no reason not to take an active part in classroom games.

Learners can continue studying and practicing and at the same time join entertaining game activities. Elements of games assist to develop a positive and exciting studying environment for students.

The implementation of the gamification trend is widely expanded in the K-12 education sector. The reason is that kids are becoming engaged fast in gaming videos or receiving higher points in games.

Still, it does not indicate that higher education or corporate learning does not require exciting elements in order to raise the engagement level of students.

Data Will Become Bigger

It would be perfect if the learning process is personalized. This would assist to meet the needs of students. Previously, it seemed impossible to implement but nowadays it looks more like a reality.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread and online learning is developing, people have more data than ever before. Developers of teaching materials possess relevant information about the experiences of students. This enables developers to adapt and provide courses in a suitable format.

Some examples of such information are the theme of the course, the number of students, the performance of students (time for a course, completion, result of the exam), and feedback of students (rating and survey).

Learning Analytics

The actual perspective of learning analytics has abruptly expanded particularly for higher education. Learning analytics enable teachers to determine and inform about the learning of learners simply by the Internet. With the help of it, they can easily and better comprehend and optimize learning.

When educators familiarize themselves with conclusions from the learning processes of learners, they can respectively make better knowledge and skills of these learners. For instance, educators can define what type of information is enjoyed by learners the most.

It can be text, images, and videos. After that, educators can utilize this type of information more in their future lessons. In addition, educators can determine what knowledge was provided ineffective. This can be improved next time. For example, learners did not understand how to write a college essay. They require getting college essay writing help. Thus, you should fix this and explain this material once again.

What’s more, learning analytics can assist teachers to determine groups of learners who may possess academic or behavioral problems. According to that, educators can develop their own methods to assist these learners to reach their full potential.

AI (Artificial Intelligence)

Artificial Intelligence becomes an integral part of new technology in education. There were many predictions from people who claimed that Artificial Intelligence will appear as the primary trend and they seem to be right. What are the reasons for this trend to bloom?

Primarily, Artificial Intelligence can automate basic actions in education, for instance, grading. Now, educators can automate the grading of the multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions easily. At such a pace, automated grading for writing is not far away. 

Moreover, both students and teachers can get advantages from Artificial Intelligence. For instance, learners can likely receive help on essay writing from Artificial Intelligence tutors if educators are engaged in other duties. In addition, AI-driven programs can offer both students and teachers useful feedback.

For this reason, there are some educational institutions that utilize AI systems in order to track the performance of learners and warn educators when problems with the performance of students can appear. This is not surprising for Artificial Intelligence to be a strong helper for teaching in classes.

STEAM

Programs that are based on STEAM are one of the EdTech trends in comparison to STEM programs. This new improvement applies pithy content in the area of Math, Engineering, Science, Art, and Technology in order to solve real issues by means of creative design and practical training.

Speaking about the main benefits of STEAM, it is worth mentioning that STEAM assists learners to show heightened interest in the outside world. In addition, STEAM creates a secure environment for the students. These learners can easily express their ideas and think outside the box. The convenience of practical training can likewise assist learners to collaborate better with others.

Immersive Learning with Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality

When Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality started to appear in education, the learning process has undergone great changes. Experiential learning became in demand and this contributed to the development of learning with Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality.

The learning process has begun to become more interactive in comparison to traditional methods. Virtual Reality ensures a constructed reality, at the same time Augmented Reality provides an improved representation of a real image.

In such a way, they assist to explain complicated conceptions that simple images or even laboratory experiments can not demonstrate to learners. For instance, Virtual Reality is extremely useful when you are passing a medical training course.

In particular, Virtual Reality provides learners the possibility to undergo a real operation in a low-risk environment.

Social Media In Education

Would you believe it if somebody tells you that social media can become a part of the learning process? Students of all ages can not imagine their lives without social media. They spend much time on social media so why not make it a strong tool to improve learning.

That’s the explanation of how the idea to utilize social media for learning appears. At first, a lot of educational institutions began to utilize social media as a communication instrument. With its help, learners can collaborate better with others. Learners can easily share learning materials, discuss with other participants of a group, and comment on other people’s posts simpler. 

Social media will always be in demand since it assists to create a culture of collaboration and exchange. This, in its turn, leads to the improvement of the learning process.

Importance of Educational Technology

Educational technology can be determined as promotion of learning and productivity increase by creating, utilizing, and controlling corresponding technological processes.

Teachers who actually utilize educational technology can provide a clearer definition of this notion. They call it a conception of transforming traditional learning and teaching into digital form. The most important distinction for them consists of ways of transferring knowledge. With the help of technology innovation, they can make the teaching process more effective.

Why should educational technology matter? Well, there are many reasons for teachers to shift to educational technology. They start to replace the traditional paper-and-pen teaching method and this is why:

• Technology stands for the innovation of people. Thus, when educators use technology in teaching, they can be called innovative. Educational technology enables educators to provide multimedia for different learning styles for example animation and live video. In addition, educational technology allows educators to develop online courses where learners can study in their personal space and at their personal pace.

• With the help of technology, everybody can stay in touch. Learners can communicate with educators, discuss issues, share their viewpoints, and act collaboratively in different situations.

• Educational technology enables educators to teach online and offline. At the same time, learners do not always possess enough time or possibilities to attend a specific class at a concrete time. But educational technology assists these students to learn anytime and at any place.

• We can conclude that both students and educators will benefit from using educational technology. They do not need to be IT experts in order to do fascinating things with the assistance of educational technology. And this is why educational technology is so needed in our lives.

Time for Summing-Up

We can conclude that we have a lot of information to digest concerning education tech trends. You should remember that technology gets in the educational sphere and completely renews teaching and learning processes.

Particularly eLearning represents an educational instrument that enhances accessibility and convenience learning as well as changes learning behaviors and desires of students to learn.

Aside from eLearning, we have presented you with a piece of information about other edtech trends. These are just some of them since the world does not stand in one place. It changes and develops together with the educational sphere. And who knows what following education tech trends are waiting for us. 

The ease of mobility of mobile devices makes developers more desirable and more demandable than desktops and laptops. In addition, the advanced technology used by web developers has made it possible to enable apps to function smoothly on desktops and mobiles.

Developers generate device responsive apps (specifically for mobile), thanks to the extensive usage and download done by most users. In this article, we would like to mull over mobile app security and its best practices that keeps cyber attacks away. 

Freelancing can be stressful, no matter which niche you operate in. Because of the pandemic, many people were forced to transition to remote working which made many industries even more competitive when it comes to freelancing.

Luckily, the different technological advancements can make a freelancer’s life much easier. Not only do you get access to many free and paid desktop programs, but there is also a wide range of mobile apps to choose from. Hence, here are the best phone apps for advancing your freelancing career.

#1 Asana

You’ve probably heard of Asana already considering just how popular this app is. By far one of the most well-known task and project management tools currently on the market, Asana is known for its user-friendly interface and an abundance of different useful features.

There are many options for customization too, so you can change the way you view your dashboard, which labels you use for separate tasks, and so on. One of the best things about it is that Asana also has a desktop version, so you can access it both from your mobile device (smartphone or tablet) and from your laptop or PC.

#2 Clockify

In addition to task and project management, time-tracking is particularly important for freelancers. Luckily, there are many options to choose from, and one of the most well-known of these is Clockify.

The tool can be used for time-tracking your projects, especially the ones where you charge clients per hour. The app has both a free and a paid version, but even the free version has plenty of features to take advantage of if you don’t want to pay for it.

#3 Google Docs

Of course, depending on the operating system you use, you will be using one of the popular word processor options. But what you should really think about are the times when you don’t have access to your computer or need to easily share your text files with clients or colleagues. In both cases, Google Docs should be your number one choice.

It’s free and it’s pretty much an online version of Microsoft Office Word. If you have a Google account, you already have access to this tool as well as other web-based document tools like Slides, Sheets, and Forms. Alternatively, you can use Microsoft’s Office 365 which has a similar set of tools.

#4 Slack

When it comes to communication, you will probably be using a variety of platforms to text, call, and otherwise contact your clients. But no matter what your situation is like, you should still have a professional messaging platform for communication that you know will protect your and your clients’ privacy.

That’s exactly what Slack is. It is quite versatile and allows you to set up different workspaces for different teams (if you work with other freelancers) and different channels for communication. Depending on your needs, there are different pricing tiers you can choose from, but you can also just stick to the free version.

#5 Zoom

Unarguably, Zoom is one of the most voice and video calling applications at the moment. Not only is it good at its job, but it also comes with some additional features such as integration with calendar apps like Calendly and HoneyBook.

Candice Summers, a tech writer and expert who works on reviews for essay writing services, explains, “There are many alternatives to Zoom that you can try: MS Teams, Hangouts, Skype. But I personally like to stick to Zoom because of its simplicity and how good its mobile version is. I like communicating on the go, so that’s important for me.”

#6 Gmail

While there are quite a few options you can choose from when it comes to determining your email provider, using Gmail is probably the best route you can take. It’s free, reliable, easy-to-use, and incredibly popular.

One of the best things about Gmail is that its app functions just as well as its online desktop version. Moreover, you can be logged into several accounts at the same time which allows you to switch between your personal and professional emails in just a few clicks.

#7 Google Drive

Yet another product from Google that is essential for freelancers is Google Drive. If you are using Google Docs or any other similar online document tool (Sheets, Slides), you will definitely need to get acquainted with Google Drive.

The tool is free and allows you to easily share a variety of files. It can be accessed both from desktop and from mobile devices. While you do get a lot of space initially, you still have the option to upgrade to more storage space eventually.

#8 Evernote

Despite the fact that most (if not all) smartphones and tablets already come with some kind of note-taking app, it’s a good idea to think about other options. In fact, by using a professional note-taking app, you can actually take the process to another level.

Evernote is a great example of this. You can jot down your ideas, take notes on the go while communicating with clients, or even make outlines for meetings. The best thing about it? It syncs your notes to all your devices which reduces the risk of data loss. There are also many additional features like adding images and videos which can enhance your notes.

#9 ClickUp

While Asana is definitely a great option for task and project management, there are still many other options of such kind that you can check out. One of these is ClickUp. The tool is easy to use and offers a wide variety of features.

ClickUp lets you create workspaces which allows you to keep many calendars specific to every client you work with. There are both free and paid options, but the great news is that the free option has so many features already that you likely won’t need to upgrade to a paid one unless you have a very big team working with you.

#10 Todoist

Despite using project management and time-tracking apps, you could still find yourself falling behind and missing deadlines. That’s why an app like Todoist can truly be powerful for increasing your productivity.

Frank Cornwell, an expert from the top custom essay services site, says, “I use Todoist to write out everything you need to do on a particular day. It’s similar to other note-taking and reminder apps, but it’s unique in its own way. That’s why I like it so much.”

#11 Mint

Another extremely useful mobile app every freelancer needs is Mint. It’s absolutely free and quite straightforward in its setup. To put it simply, Mint is both a planning and a budget-tracking app that will help you take better care of your finances.

Mint allows you to track bills, set financial goals, manage your budget, receive alerts, get financial advice, and more. You also get different syncing options for your bank accounts, credit cards, and even your PayPal account.

#12 Mindly

Most freelancers have to work on many different projects where creativity is heavily involved. Even if you think that you are focusing on the “technical stuff” like coding, you still need to outline many aspects of your projects. That’s where Mindly comes in.

This mind-mapping app offers the perfect set of features for organizing your ideas and brainstorming. You can start with the main concept and then link to more and more subsets. Not only can you work with text, but you can also add images which makes the whole mind-mapping process much more effective in the long run.

#13 Canva

Even if you don’t work with graphic design or illustrations, using an app like Canva could still be important for your overall freelancing career. There are several ways in which you can use Canva:

• You can create samples or demo versions of your work for your clients (if you do graphic design and the like).
• You can make schematic presentations for your clients for the different projects you work on.
• You can create content for your social media accounts to promote yourself as a freelancer in your respective field.

#14 Grammarly

Just like with Canva, you don’t need to specialize in something (in this case, writing) to use Grammarly. Here are some ways in which you can use this tool:

• You can check your articles and other textual documents for mistakes (if you are a content writer, copywriter, or otherwise involved with writing).
• You can check your emails and other communicational texts when working with clients to ensure that you present yourself as a professional and educated person.
• You can check other content you work with (e.g. social media posts, project briefs and presentations).

Grammarly can be used as an online tool, a Chrome extension, or even as a keyword on your mobile devices.

#15 Buffer

Speaking of the social media side of freelancing, you will definitely need a tool to help you manage all of your accounts. This will allow you to align your social media marketing strategy where all your activity gets you the best results in the long run. That’s exactly why you need Buffer.

Katherine Young, an expert from an essay writing service, says, “I’ve met so many freelancers who truly enjoy using Buffer. It’s great for managing a wide variety of social media platforms and provides you with all the features you need, including scheduling, analytics, and more.”

#16 Trello

Another alternative Asana you might want to check out is Trello. Though it is not as popular as Asana, Trello is still quite a well-known app in the task and project management niche which is exactly why it’s worth checking out.

The interface is different from Asana, but many features are the same. You can have different workspaces for different projects or teams. There are also many customization options, both for the interface and for the way tasks are set up and managed.

#17 Dropbox

Of course, Google Drive is likely the number one option for many people, especially due to its connection to other services from Google such as Gmail, Google Docs, and others. That being said, there is one major alternative for cloud storage and file sharing – and that is Dropbox.

It’s a free tool, but you also have some paid options. Moreover, it can either be used for personal or professional purposes. Essentially, its features are very similar to those of Google Driver, so it’s up to you which one you prefer.

#18 Wave

By far one of the most well-known invoicing apps out there, Wave is favored by many freelancers thanks to the features it offers. You can either use the free option or choose a paid one, but even the free one will give you great functionality.

One of the best things about Wave is its ability to sync and integrate with other tools and services, including Stripe, QuickBooks, Shopify, MailChimp, HubSpot, and many more. The list is quite extensive.

#19 QuickBooks

QuickBooks is perhaps the most popular small business accounting software which allows entrepreneurs and business owners to manage all their income, expenses, and more. However, the tool also offers invoicing options particularly useful for freelancers.

QuickBooks is sometimes compared with PayPal in the way it works, particularly the fees you would be paying when sending invoices to clients. If you are used to PayPal, then QuickBooks will definitely be a great option. You also get the opportunity to track your invoice’s status which makes managing finances even easier.

#20 PayPal

Last but not least, this list wouldn’t be complete without PayPal. As mentioned above, QuickBooks’ invoicing option is similar to the way PayPal works, but many freelancers still opt to stick to PayPal simply because they are used to it.

After all, it is probably one of the most straightforward tools of its kind currently available. Both its web-based and mobile versions function well, so it’s easy to access your account and all the essential features even on the go.

Conclusion

While you aren’t expected to use every single one of these tools, checking out at least a few of them will definitely help you find something that will make freelancing easier for you. Use this list to give you an idea of the most popular apps you can use and then start trying them out at your own pace.

Launched over 27 years ago, PHP is one of the most widely used programming languages in the world right now.

It powers over 80% of the websites on the internet, including some major platforms like WordPress. The popularity of the language can be primarily credited to its adaptability, as it allows designers to create and add updated functionalities to improve the end-user experience. 

There have been some strong opinions against PHP, leading to some wondering if they should use the language to build their future projects. If you are one of them, here is a list of the top start-ups using PHP in their tech stack, which should help you gauge the capabilities you can install in your app.

Do you want to get your business a full-stack payment processor? Many of the businesses continue to turn to Stripe in this regard. It is mainly because this helps simplify the check-out process efficiently for their businesses.

Don’t you know about the Stripe tech stack yet? Then simply keep reading this article as it will let you walk through important aspects of the Stripe tech stack. You can get to know more about it with ease.

So, here we go:

This article will overview Go and list ten of the best startups using this technology.

Over the years, Go (or Golang) has become a significantly popular choice among developers for powering the server-side backend of high-performance concurrent services. It instantly compiles to machine code and has been particularly designed to be more efficient with a relatively fast edit/refresh cycle.

While Go is primarily used in building the backend for web deployments, it can also be used to power the backend of a smartphone application. For instance, the user interface of an application can be coded in JavaScript and the backend can be built on Golang. 

This article will provide an overview of Scala and ten of the best startups using this technology.

Owing to the fast-paced production cycles, developers have started turning to highly flexible languages in order to boost their productivity.

Among various new scripting languages, Scala, a statically typed compiled language. It has a much more concise code, prompting many businesses to switch to Scala to improve scalability and handle complex tasks.

Here, we take a look at what is Scala, its benefits, and some of the top companies using Scala in their daily activities.

The significance of integration tools is enhancing day by day because they connect different platforms and turn them into unified networks. In this way, platforms and applications give more productive results. But it is still complicated for young businesses to choose reliable integration tools independently.

Therefore, this guide presents a thorough overview of the top integration tools for startups with their core competencies and pricing structure.

Project management is crucial for businesses to manage the organizational resources to accomplish different tasks and duties. Nowadays, companies are getting much help from advanced project management tools to plan, monitor, complete and execute their projects.

Withal, it is difficult for startups to shortlist a single tool in this regard. That is why we are sharing one of the top project management tools for startups with their core competencies and pricing models.

Startup companies prefer to utilize cost-efficient and time-saving procedures to make payments, and online payment tools are helping them in this regard.

Compared to conventional payment making ways, it is very smooth for startups to make payments by using any payment application within a few clicks.

However, if you are not aware of reliable payment tools or apps as a startup, then you must consider our list. Surely, this article is presenting one of the top payment tools with their core features and pricing details.