MEGA-TREND OF THE FUTURE: RICE UNIVERSITY TURNS TO ONLINE LEARNING

Universities across the U.S. are trying to come up with ways to safely get students back into the classroom, but persistent COVID-19 infections and questionable vaccine efficiencies have forced some schools to continue using online learning as an alternative.

Rice University in Texas last week announced new COVID-19 protocols. The state does not allow mandatory vaccinations, but the school’s guidance is as strict as legally possible. Students on campus were expected to be vaccinated and those exempted for religious or medical reasons are required to submit to weekly tests. All students must be tested for the virus before returning to campus regardless of their vaccine status.

“I’ll be blunt: The level of breakthrough cases is much higher than anticipated,” Bridget Gorman, the dean of undergraduates, wrote in a letter to students, The Wall Street Journal reported. The school also said that there have been breakthrough cases on campus despite a 98.5 percent vaccination rate for students.

There is also an indoor mask mandate. The school’s start date was delayed and students who have not arrived on campus were encouraged to stay at home to learn remotely. 

Gerald Celente, had forecast “Interactive U” online learning in his bestselling book called Trends 2000 over two decades ago. He laid out the framework of how he envisioned education would evolve in the next century in a 2017 article titled, “INTERACTIVE-U: THE INDIA MODEL.”

He called the old-school, brick-and-mortar education system that got its footing in Prussia after the Napoleonic Wars—has come to the end of its useful life cycle. The coronavirus outbreak has shown that in-person learning can be replaced, which will only further accelerate the move to all-interactive learning. 

“Interactive, online learning will revolutionize education…” he wrote in 2017. Moreover, he forecast that “the growth of the home education and Interactive-U trend will accelerate rapidly once tele-videophony or other comparable multimedia-interface technologies become available and affordable.”

(See “INDIA’S ONLINE-LEARNING AN INVESTMENT WINDFALL SOLIDIFYING ‘INTERACTIVE U’ FORECAST IN TRENDS JOURNAL” and “INTERACTIVE U IN THE U.S.A.”)

The Journal’s report also pointed out that Northern Illinois University will also use remote learning as a backup in the event that the positivity rate on campus jumps above 8 percent. The report said professors across the country have been appealing to schools to move classes online.

TREND FORECAST: The Trends Research Institute, in making VR-ED a Top Trend for 2017, forecast the explosion of advanced virtual-reality and artificial intelligence technology would expand to educational and training settings, building a foundation for learning that will replace today’s outdated Industrial Age education model with a cost-effective, high-reward, low-risk approach to education.

That foundation has been built. And India has created the future that Celente had envisioned. 

At the time that Celente made the prediction, Byju had about 500,000 subscribers and today that number has exploded to more than 100 million. 

Byju, and numerous other interactive learning tech companies, are combining videos, game-based VR/AI technology and similar automated technologies to create effective Interactive-U educational courses.

TREND FORECAST: With interactive education, students will be able to access the best and most accomplished experts in selected fields of study rather than the one-size-fits-all, outdated educational programming that is now the norm.

Trends are born, they grow, mature, reach old age, and die. The Industrial Age education model is dying, and the Interactive U. model is still in its infancy.

Thus, the Ontrendpreneur® opportunities that seize upon its growth will provide great rewards.