Propuestas Formativas 2024 - Andrés Villalba

- Soft Skills and STEAM

Soft skills include communication skills, team-working, creative thinking,

interpersonal problem-solving, relationship management, and conflict resolution. In
other words, they are human skills that are unlikely to be replicated by machines
anytime soon. They will become increasingly important in a world where artificial
intelligence takes on many of our routine and mundane technical responsibilities. This
means that these skills will increasingly be taught as part of technical education as
they become more highly valued by employers and industry. According to human
resources experts, soft skills are increasingly important to company success but far
harder to measure and assess than "hard skills" such as mathematics, engineering, and
computer programming.

The world will see STEAM education placing a growing emphasis on these vital
skills, as well as increased efforts when it comes to measuring and assessing
organizational capabilities in this area.

- English for Teachers

One of a teacher’s prime reasons to learn English should be to give their students a
better chance at success in their future careers. People will ask themselves why some
young people are fit to be employed while others are not? The reason is that some do
not speak English. English has become nearly a requirement to be in any
multinational company, as it is a means of international communication.

Learning English helps not only with a student’s career, but a teacher’s as well. There
is an increasing demand in foreign countries for teachers that can speak English since
it has become such an important language to learn. An English teacher could easily
obtain a position since it is such a big revolving market, with 50% of teachers leaving
their positions after one year to return to their home countries, leaving schools
scrambling for more teachers.

Concerning the professional development of educators focused on the English

language, a certificate that every teacher should have in their resumé is the Certificate
of English Language Teaching to Adults or CELTA. This course is highly valued
worldwide and it is considered the top course on language teaching and English
language teaching methodology.

To conclude, English is very useful for teachers in many ways. In terms of their own
job market, their students’ and for recreational purposes. Having English in their
arsenal of knowledge puts them at a distinct advantage over other teachers who are
not able to speak English.

- Virtual and Augmented Reality

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are two forms of extended reality
(XR) that are becoming increasingly important within education systems. VR allows
users to step into a virtual world, and there are a vast and growing number of
"experiences" that let us do everything from step back in time and experiencing
history through our own eyes to training for difficult and dangerous tasks such as
conducting repairs in hazardous environments. Other use cases which will grow in
popularity during 2023 include virtual classrooms, which allow remote learning and
class activities to be delivered in a more immersive and experiential setting. In
healthcare training, VR is already being used for everything from enabling nursing
students to experience delivering emergency care to training doctors to perform
surgery.

Augmented reality still requires a device (e.g., a phone, tabled, or a headset) but is
different from VR, as it involves superimposing computer-generated images onto
what the user is actually seeing. The advantage here is that it can provide real-time
information – for example, warning a trainee in a manufacturing environment that a
piece of machinery may be dangerous. This is possible thanks to computer vision
algorithms that analyze the images captured by cameras in the headset. In schools, AR
textbooks are becoming available that contain images, and models that "come alive"
when looked at through a smartphone camera, enabling students to get a closer, more
in-depth look at anything from ancient Roman architecture to the inner workings of
the human body. Museums and sites of historical or scientific interest are also
increasingly adding AR to their environment and exhibits to create more immersive
education opportunities.

- Artificial Intelligence For Teachers

Artificial Intelligence (AI), described as the most transformative technology of the

21st century, is reshaping every industry and field of human activity, including
education. In the classroom, it is found in the form of virtual assistants that can help
both students and teachers to manage their time and complete their assignments;
tutoring systems that can provide personalized learning experiences for students of all
ages and abilities; powering remote and online learning systems where it can adapt
the pace of teaching to match students’ needs; language translation in educational
settings where pupils speak a wide variety of languages, and many other applications.
It’s even been reported that some schools in China have implemented facial
recognition technology using computer vision systems to monitor whether or not
students are paying attention in class!

According to UNESCO, AI has the potential to help tackle some of the toughest
challenges in education today, including addressing inequalities in the way schooling
is provided around the world and improving access to knowledge globally. However,
it also creates challenges of its own – with effort required to ensure that the rollout of
this highly disruptive technology is done in a way that is fair and doesn't itself
contribute to those inequalities.

- Social-emotional Learning (SEL)

Happy schools, happy teachers, happy learners: The more learners are happy, the
more prosperous society becomes. However, the fact indicates many mental health
issues that learners have to deal with in modern life. So, what can we do to improve
this situation? Now, give SEL a go. Then, you will see learners’ social interaction,
healthy relationships, and well-informed decisions promoted.
In this course we will check out highly-recommended activities to boost SEL to know
why this learning is listed among the top trends in education.

- Modularity and Bite-sized Learning (Microlearning)

Last but not least, bite-sized learning becomes a nice ending for the list of popular
trends in education today. This learning style answers the concern of short-term
attention. It is said that the average student’s attention span is between 10 and 15
minutes. But it seems to be shortened for small children. So, bite-sized learning was
born to offer clear and concise content to learners. Thanks to that, learners may
remain 100% attentive during every learning session.

- Reinforcing Reading Comprehension

Building the Brain’s Bank: One of the primary strategies of reading comprehension is
to visualize what one is reading. An image of the scene, the characters, the ideas or
even the words may help put meaning into context. This is also an asset when trying
to summarize the text, as the reader can translate the words from the page into their
own imaginary world. The act of summarizing itself is beneficial and especially
needed nowadays since most of our communication is passed on through short texts
or captions on social media and must convey complex messages in a few words.

As students advance in their language learning skills, reading comprehension

becomes easier. This is because each new word, idea or reference adds to the brain’s
“bank.” Connecting new knowledge with old knowledge makes it easy to understand
and remember the text later. That’s because you are activating prior knowledge and
linking a piece of writing to similar writings, cultural experiences, and the world,
deepening the meaning of the text and making it relatable.”

Reading comprehension is essential for language and literature, as well as developing

a student’s critical thinking and memory skills, focus and their ability to solve
problems — all necessary for every kind of student or professional.

An advanced education course in literacy can equip professionals with the necessary
skills to help students of all ages and backgrounds build reading comprehension and
literacy skills that will serve them in every area of life.