Educause Horizon Report
Each February, the New Media Consortium collaborates with the Educause Learning Initiative to create the Horizons Report, which "identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have an impact on learning, teaching, and creative inquiry in higher education.” The report includes three categories, predictions for the next 1-2 years, 3-5 and beyond five years. This February, they released their 14th edition. Since it is a lengthy document, I will share highlights.
(Short-Term, 1-2 years)
Blended Learning: This trend has topped the list for the past five editions. The focus has “shifted to understanding how applications of digital modes of teaching are impacting students. Findings showcase an increase in creative thinking, independent study, and the ability for the student to tailor learning experiences to meet their individual needs.
Collaborative Learning: Technology plays an important role in the implementation of this trend: cloud-based services, apps, and other digital tools promote persistent connectivity, enabling access and contribute to shared workspaces. Through adaptive learning, data can be shared to illuminate student performance to inform improved instructional design.
(Mid-Term, 3-5 years)
Measuring Learning: As societal and economic factors redefine what skills are necessary in today’s workforce, colleges must rethink how to define, measure, and demonstrate discipline mastery, creativity and collaboration. The proliferation of data mining software, online education, mobile learning and LMS's are coalescing toward learning environments that leverage analytics and visualization software to portray learning data in a multidimensional manner.
Redesigning Learning Spaces: Educational settings are increasingly designed to support project-based interactions with attention to greater mobility, flexibility and multiple device usage. To improve remote communication, institutions are upgrading wireless bandwidth and installing large displays that allow for collaboration on digital projects. As higher ed continues to move away from traditional, lecture-based lessons toward more hands-on activities, classrooms begin to resemble work and social environments that foster organic interactions and cross-disciplinary problem-solving.
(Long-Term, 5 or more years)
Advancing Cultures of Innovation: Focus has shifted from understanding the value of fostering exploration of new ideas to finding ways to replicate it across a span of diverse learning institutions. A significant element for progressing this movement is the call for higher ed to alter its status quo to accept failure as an important part of the learning process.
