The New Media Consortium report released in 2017 features a number of significant trends aimed at improving the quality of distance learning and adding up significantly to its relevance in a diverse contemporary world. Among the six trends highlighted, the following two trends require utmost attention from both policy makers and administrators who are the immediate of the policies. These trends include: the need to nurture real world skills and cross-institution or collaborative-based learning (Jaramillo, 2017).
Nurturing real world skills has been identified as one of the key trends as a result of the current phenomenon whereby some graduates in courses that require practical application of skills end up delivering sub-standard job performance especially in fields such as nursing and engineering. This adversely affects the level of productivity across the globe. On the other hand, cross-institution learning approach has been identified among the NMC Horizon trends due to the need for globalization which requires the policy makers harmonize the standards of education across all higher learning institutions in order to instill international consciousness among the students.
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The need to achieve international order in war-stricken countries requires that students engage in cross-institution learning so that in the process, they can exchange ideas and concepts on how to contribute to the national stability in their respective countries. Similarly acquisition of real-world skills among nursing students ensures enhanced nursing practice in hospitals that employs those students upon graduation.
Both leaders and policy makers should propose to their respective governments the need to implement the above trends so that the governments should set up the required funds to facilitate their implementation. This will help realize the benefits involved in implementing the trends.
According to Solimano (1997), effecting relevant reforms in the global learning institutions is important in achieving globalization. Adopting cross-institutional based learning is among the reforms that can greatly contribute in the achievement of globalization. On the other hand, virtual reality-based instruction is effective in the achievement of the intended learning outcomes ( Merchant, Goetz, Cifuentes, Keeney-Kennicutt, & Davis, 2014).
References
Jaramillo, S. G. (2017). Horizon Report-2017 Higher Education Edition. CUADERNO ACTIVA , 9 (9), 171.
Merchant, Z., Goetz, E. T., Cifuentes, L., Keeney-Kennicutt, W., & Davis, T. J. (2014). Effectiveness of virtual reality-based instruction on students' learning outcomes in K-12 and higher education: A meta-analysis. Computers & Education , 70 , 29-40.
Solimano, A. (1997). Can reforming global institutions help developing countries share more in the benefits from globalization? (Vol. 2518). World Bank Publications.
