Beyond the Buzzword: What These Education Trends Are Really About

[MarisaBluestone]

Authentic Assessment. Active Learning. Title 2. Workforce Readiness. Edutainment. Flipped Classrooms.

These are some of the many buzzwords that you’ve heard in professional development sessions, seen across whiteboards and dropped in the dozens of webinars hitting your inbox. They show up everywhere and, depending on the day, they can sound like either inspiring ideas or eye-roll-worthy jargon. 

But here’s the thing: there’s a reason these terms keep buzzing. They point to real challenges in education. But once they go mainstream, these terms often lose their depth and get tossed around without much clarity. In other words, their use outpaces understanding. Oftentimes these words point to real solutions that are worth our time, if we look past the surface.

Let’s break down what three of the most common buzzwords actually mean, why they’re everywhere right now, and how they connect to the work teachers and learning companies (like ours) are doing every day.

Authentic Assessment

Why you’re hearing it: Because traditional assessments aren’t always cutting it in the age of AI. Especially when we want to know what students can do, not the answer that GPT gave them or what they’ve memorized.

In a nutshell, they’re assessments that ask students to apply higher-order, critical thinking skills in real-world contexts. You can find authentic assessments in grading practices, project-based learning and research-backed tools that focus on learning transfer. In the classroom they could be, among other things, portfolios that show students’ progress over time, debates that allow students to demonstrate knowledge or writing tasks that mirror professional work. 

Done well, authentic assessments support deeper thinking, creativity and long-term retention. And as more educators rethink grading and outcomes, we’re seeing a shift toward making learning meaningful, not just measurable. Read more about authentic assessment:

• Demystifying Authentic Assessment: What It Means, Why It Matters, Tips to Use it 
• Beyond the Bubble Test: Bringing Authentic Assessment to Every Discipline

Active Learning

Why you’re hearing it: Because sitting passively in class isn’t working, especially when engagement is low and attention spans are shorter than ever. 

Active learning flips the script on traditional lectures. Instead of absorbing information, students are actively doing something with it, like solving problems, debating peers, answering real-time polls, or connecting concepts to case studies. It’s showing up more often in flipped classrooms, peer instruction, and even simple check-ins that get students thinking. 

The goal isn’t to make everything hands-on all the time, but to create regular moments of interaction that boost attention and deepen understanding. The research tells us that when students engage actively, especially in structured ways, learning outcomes improve. Find low-lift ways to implement active learning in your class:

• 7 Surprising Ways You Can Use iClicker in Class … and at Work
• Six Practical Ways AI Can Make Learning and Assessments More Engaging
• From “Is This on the Test?” to “Here’s What I Think”: 10 Ways to Make Critical Thinking Happen

Title 2

Why you’re hearing it: Because designing for “most” students isn’t good enough, and more people are realizing it. Also, because accessibility is about everyone, not just the students with a letter from the disability office.

Accessibility conversations have expanded from checklists to a deeper rethinking of how we design learning environments. Yes, it includes things like screen reader compatibility and captioned videos, but it also means offering materials in multiple formats, reducing unnecessary complexity, and anticipating a range of learner needs from the start. 

Instructors are leaning into universal design principles not just because they have to (hello Title 2) but because it helps everyone, not just students with accommodations. Inclusive learning is becoming less of an afterthought and more of a foundation, whether it’s rethinking course structure or refining classroom communication so all students feel like they belong. Check out some of our blogs with practical solutions:

• Where to Start When Designing an Accessible Course
• From Challenges to Solutions: Advice for Enhancing Accessibility in Your Classroom
• Five Practical Steps You Can Take To Ensure You’re Ready for Recent Changes to Title II
• Your Title II Questions … Answered
• Why Collaboration Matters for Accessible and Inclusive Teaching and Learning
• Short-Term Wins, Long-Term Change: A Real-World Accessibility Roadmap
• Belonging is a Strategy not a Vibe

Buzzwords get a bad rap. And these are the buzziest of them all. But behind each one is a signal that there’s a problem that deserves our attention. So before we tune out these opportunities, it’s worth asking how we can help make sure the conversation doesn’t stop at the jargon. And stay tuned, we’ll cover three more buzzwords in September and we've got a series of webinars on these buzzwords that explore the reasons why they matter.