The future of language learning hub

When you search for ‘the future of language learning’, most results are blog posts written by edtech companies. They, of course, understandably, claim that their product is the future of language learning. Many people ask this question. This is why addressing it, helps boost these companies’ SEO, essentially helping them rank higher in search results and sell their product.

Some results are articles by the media, who are following the latest tech hype and speculating about what the future might look like with this technology. They very often don’t understand any technical or pedagogical implications, so will often interview edtech companies or consultans, or tech enthusiastic educators.

And then there are edtech consultants who sell their services to both the edtech companies and corporations. Can they be objective? Another group is the so-called ‘tech futurists’ or ‘tech evangelists’. They are passionate about any technology that is currently hyped and will try to make you believe that this is THE future. They probably believe it themselves.

How about educators?

And finally, educators who are tech enthusiasts and early adopters. There fall into two groups:

a) Those who want to make a quick buck from the hype, or at least become some sort of celebrity. Who can blame them? What they share will not always be pedagogically sound. They will also frequently dismiss any worries about safety to use, privacy, sustainable, equitable, etc. (I’m generalising, I know.)

b) Those who take their role as educators seriously. These are often equally enthusiastic about trying a new technology and sharing their findings, but they will point out any downsides, and they will engage in dialogue with other educators, asking for feedback, and learning from trial and error, and genuinely wanting to help learners and colleagues.

All of these groups will provide an answer to the question. But those really interested in the answer to what the future of language learning is are often none the wiser.

What it isn’t

Intuitively, we know that the answer can’t be one product, platform or service, maybe not even technology. But the reason so many are asking this question is often related to technology. With each wave of new technologies and the hype around them, this question comes up repeatedly…

• For teachers to know how to upskill and not become redundant.
• For language schools to know how to stay relevant and in business.
• For publishers to know what products to develop next (or which edtech companies to acquire).
• For edtech companies to know which app or platform to develop.
• For learners to find out what can help them learn a language better, faster and cheaper…or the secret hope that they might not need to learn languages any longer because finally instant translation technology works ◡̈

What all of them have in common, though, is that everybody asks about the future as if there is only ONE and as if it is a FACT.

When as future-minded language educators, publishers, and edtech companies…

My job is to open the doors to alternative futures and guide you in becoming a future minded language professional or business.