The document analyzes trends in learning technologies by examining search volume data from Google Trends. It finds that searches for terms like "elearning" and "blended learning" have increased gradually over time, while searches for "social learning" and "informal learning" have remained steady. "Mobile learning" searches have risen globally with some country-level differences, and searches for "MLearning" are much lower than for "mobile learning." Interest in "MOOC" has exploded recently, according to search volumes.

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Learning Technology Trends
According to Google
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Steve Rayson, October 2012
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Hot Trends in Learning
Technologies
In the last five years we have seen a lot of hype
about learning technologies and approaches.
Buzz words include:
- mobile learning
- blended learning
- informal learning
- mooc (massive online open courses)
- social learning
- avatars
What is hype and what is reality?
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Hype or Reality?
We decided to examine what people are
really searching for using Google trends.
Google trends shows the relative volume of
searches over time and can be filtered by
country, as volumes may vary by country.
Can be difficult to separate some search
terms but provides a good approximation of
interest measured by search volumes.
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Elearning
Worldwide search volumes since 2004
Gradual increase since start of 2007
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Social Learning
Do you think searches for “social
learning” have:
- increased
- stayed the same
- decreased
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Social Learning
Worldwide searches for “social learning”
declined since 2004, stable since 2007
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Blended Learning
Do you think searches for “blended
learning” have:
- increased
- stayed the same
- decreased
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Blended Learning
Worldwide searches for “blended learning” declined
since 2004, recent increase in search volumes.
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Informal Learning
Do you think searches for “informal
learning” have:
- increased
- stayed the same
- decreased
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Informal Learning
Worldwide searches for “informal learning” stable
since 2005.
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Mobile Learning
Hype or Reality?
Do you think searches for “mobile
learning” have:
- increased
- stayed the same
- decreased
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Mobile Learning
Gradual increase in worldwide searches
since 2004. Varies by country.
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Mobile Learning
UK Only Figures
Slight decrease in searches for “mobile
learning” in UK since 2006, constant since 2007.
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MLearning
Maybe people are searching for Mlearning
not “mobile learning”
How do you think volume of searches for
Mlearning compare to “mobile learning”
- more
- same
- less
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Mobile Learning v Mlearning
Mobile
Learning
MLearning
Worldwide Mlearning searches much lower
than Mobile Learning. How do both compare
to volume of Elearning searches?
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Relative Search Volumes
Elearning
Mobile
Learning
MLearning
Searches for elearning up to ten times
or more higher and growing faster.
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Relative Volumes
How do you think the volume of searches for
Elearning, mobile learning and mlearning
compare to popular tools such as Moodle?
- more
- same
- less
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Relative Search Volumes
Searches for Moodle (green) growing
strongly, elearning (yellow) limited growth.
Mobile and mlearning relative volumes zero.
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Mobile Web Design v
Responsive Web Design
Responsive web design
Mobile web design
Advances in html5 have led to more interest
in responsive design than mobile design.
Responsive design means a single version
that works on all devices.
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MOOC
MOOC - Massive Online Open Courses
Do you think volume of searches for for
MOOC are:
- Growing
- Staying the same
- Declining
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Volume of MOOC Searches
Interest in MOOC exploding based on
volume of Google searches
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MOOC v Mobile Learning
MOOC
Mobile Learning
Growth in interest in MOOC exploding, compared to
steady growth in interest in mobile learning.
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Avatars
Do you think searches for “avatars”
have:
- increased
- stayed the same
- decreased
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Avatars
Worldwide searches for “avatars” fallen strongly since 2005, however,
this is not specifically elearning interest in avatars, as term is used more
widely on the web, overall interest though has declined strongly.
Using single term Avatar gets distorted by film of that name but that also
shows a clear spike then decline.
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Summary of Google
Search Volumes
The real ‘hot’ topic appears to be MOOC.
Interest in responsive web design and Moodle also
growing strongly.
Mobile and elearning some worldwide growth but
not explosive.
Blended learning, social learning and informal
learning stable as search terms.
Avatars falling strongly as a search term.
Mlearning relatively small search volumes.
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