Don’t miss the new Horizon Report!
Since 2002 the New Media Consortium and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiatives have released the yearly Horizon Report, which “introduces six emerging technologies or practices that are likely to enter mainstream use within three adoption horizons over the next five years” in the realm of learning and inquiry.
The last few editions of the report have highlighted these trending technologies: social computing and personal broadcasting (2006); social networking and user generated content (2007); “grassroots video” and collaboration webs (think free and easy online tools) (2008); mobile devices and cloud computing (2009). The 2010 edition featured mobile computing and open content. All of these concepts are probably familiar to you and we can safely say the authors and advisors who create the report each year are spot on with many if not all of their choices.
This year the report identifies these six technologies on the adoption horizon: electronic books and mobiles in one year or less, augmented reality and game-based learning in two to three years, and gesture-based computing and learning analytics in four to five years.
Beyond technologies to watch are some key trends the group monitors year to year, including:
People expect to be able to work, learn, and study whenever and wherever they want.
The world of work is increasingly collaborative, giving rise to reflection about the way student projects are structured. (page 3)
And these are some key challenges:
Appropriate metrics of evaluation lag behind the emergence of new scholarly forms of authoring, publishing, and researching.
Economic pressures and new models of education are presenting unprecedented competition to traditional models of the university.
Keeping pace with the rapid proliferation of information, software tools, and devices is challenging for students and teachers alike. (page 4)
Finally, the concept of learning analytics offers a future where a student’s education is custom tailored for their lives, learning styles and pursuits via “data mining, modeling and interpretation (p. 28).” It only follows that the K-12 and academic libraries might also better serve their users with an understanding of an individual’s learning profile.