New report: Trends in Learning 2023

Foreword

The Open University (OU) has been producing its annual Trends in Learning reports for over a decade, exploring innovations in workplace learning and what they mean for the business community. We look at how learners are learning today and what’s on the horizon - what’s new and exciting? What innovations and perspectives are changing how we learn? How do we think about and design learning? And how will that impact on how we shape and access learning in tomorrow’s world? 

The trends we chose – and there are six in this year’s report – come from another annual OU report. The Innovating Pedagogy report focuses on innovations in the education sector, discussing new approaches to learning and how thinking and practice are changing. We take the trends that are most relevant to the workplace and look at them through a business lens. Some of the trends are still emerging and it will be a little while until their true form is understood, while others are already big news (ChatGPT, for example) and have started to have an impact on learning and the business landscape. Some we have had our eye on for several years, but it’s only now that they are on the cusp of entering the mainstream.

Both of the reports draw on the most recent, insightful thinking and research from the OU’s Institute of Educational Technology. Each year, we partner up with a different organisation from around the world, incorporating their research and insights into learning trends. This year’s partner is the University of Cape Town’s Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching. 

So, what six trends have we chosen for this year’s report? They are: advances in AI, the metaverse and learning, challenge-based learning, entrepreneurial learning, seeing yourself in the curriculum and multimodal learning. In the report, we discuss each of the trends in turn, why we think they are important and the impact they are already having or will have on workplace learning. We have also interviewed six people, experts in their field, to find out their opinions and experiences of the trends, sharing their insights in the report. 

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

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