2014 Horizon Report: Technology Trends for K-12 Education
Author: Rick Phelan
Published: 07.01.14
Where is technology going in the next five years? The Horizon Report is a resource that can help schools anticipate the future. It maps key education trends along with emerging technologies. Leaders can use this information to guide actions and direct resources.
For the past 13 years, the New Media Consortium’s Horizon Project has been researching emerging technologies and their impact on people around the globe. Working in collaboration with the Consortium of School Networking, the New Media Consortium (NMC) produces a comprehensive report each year. The report details the top emerging technologies, trends, and challenges that K-12 education will face over the next five years. Report sections are authored by an international advisory board of K-12 educators and researchers. The 2014 Horizon Report for K-12 was released a few weeks ago. Here is a snapshot of the information it included.
Key Trends
The 2014 Horizon Report identifies key trends based on what is currently happening in the context of K-12 education and in the world at large. The advisory board conducted a “review of current articles, interviews, papers, and new research to identify and rank trends that are currently affecting teaching, learning, and creative inquiry in K-12 education.” The key trends for 2014 are identified below.
FAST TRENDS
Driving educational technology adoption in schools over the next 1-2 years
- Rethinking the Roles of Teachers
Teachers are increasingly expected to be adept at a variety of technology-based approaches for content delivery, learner support, and assessment; collaborate with other teachers both inside and outside their schools; routinely use digital strategies in their work with students; act as guides and mentors to promote student-centered learning; and organize their own work and comply with administrative documentation and reporting requirements.
- Shift to Deeper Learning Approaches
Project-based learning, problem-based learning, inquiry-based learning, challenge-based learning, and similar methods are recognized as ways to foster greater active learning experiences. As technologies such as tablets and smartphones are more readily accepted in schools, educators are leveraging these tools, which students already use, to connect the curriculum with real-life applications.
MID-RANGE TRENDS
Driving educational technology adoption in schools within 3-5 years
- Increasing Focus on Open Educational Resources
Open Educational Resources also known as Open Content are teacher-created electronic materials that are adaptable, easy to access, and up to date. These materials are openly shared through the Internet at no cost to educators and students. The growing scope and variety of Open Content materials is noted in the 2014 report.
- Increasing Use of Hybrid Learning Designs
A key element in the adoption of hybrid learning models is student engagement and personalized learning. Within a hybrid learning approach, teachers adopt instructional activities in both brick-and-mortar classrooms and virtual computer environments to meet student needs and guide effective learning. Educators move to hybrid models for a variety of reasons, including that of using time more effectively.
LONG-RANGE TRENDS
Driving educational technology adoption in schools in 5+ years
- Rapid Acceleration of Intuitive Technology
The 2014 report notes a “growing array of alternative input devices that allow computers to recognize and interpret natural physical gestures as a means of control.” The report notes that intuitive technologies will drive access and integrate technology more seamlessly into people’s lives.
- Rethinking How Schools Work
This year’s report recognizes a growing momentum to shift how schools operate. Some of these shifts involve changes in the traditional classroom experience (e.g., interdisciplinary curriculum, greater student engagement) while others involve operational models for schools themselves (new schedules, absence of school bells, re-arrangement of work spaces, collaboration with businesses, and virtual learning environments).
Emerging Technologies
The report identified two emerging technologies for the near-term (assumes the likelihood of entry into the mainstream for schools within the next 12 months).
- Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) | BYOD refers to the practice of people bringing their own laptops, tablets, smartphones, or other mobile devices with them to a learning or work environment. BYOD has profound implications for primary and secondary education because it creates the conditions for the integration of technology and student-centered learning.
- Cloud Computing | Schools are finding opportunity and value from the use of distributed offsite Internet services. Known as “cloud computing,” these offsite servers are helping schools with computing, communication, data storage, and collaborative work. Cloud computing has become widely recognized as a means of improving productivity and expanding collaboration in education.
Two emerging technologies for the mid-term (assumes the likelihood of entry into the mainstream for schools in 2-3 years) were also identified.
- Games and Gamification | The gamification of learning environments has achieved recognition from educators who see the power of games to increase engagement, productivity, creativity, and authentic learning. Teachers are discovering sophisticated gaming environments that make for purposeful learning activities related to all areas of the curriculum.
- Learning Analytics | Examining trends and patterns from huge sets of student-related data, learning analytics offers educators support to personalize learning. “The widespread adoption of learning management systems has refined the outcomes of learning analytics to look at students more precisely. Student-specific data can now be used to customize curricula and suggest resources to students in the same way that businesses tailor advertisements and offers to customers.”
Emerging technologies for the far-term (assumes the likelihood of entry into the mainstream for schools in 4-5 years) include:
- The Internet of Things | The Internet of Things is a network of connected objects that link the physical world with the world of information through the World Wide Web. Embedded chips, sensors, and tiny processors attached to objects provide useful information about them. Internet users can access object information such as temperature, color, location, speed, pressure, and humidity. The number of connected “things” on the Internet is expected to surpass human Internet users by 2020. Potential education applications for this worldwide network of devices is anticipated.
- Wearable Technology | Wearable technology refers to devices that can be worn by users. It can take the form of jewelry, eyeglasses, backpacks, or actual items of clothing such as shoes or jackets. The benefit of wearable technology is that it can conveniently integrate tools that track sleep, movement, location, and social media. Educators see a range of educational opportunities from wearable technology.
Challenges
The Horizon Report advisory board examined recurring challenges that were expressed in interviews and research papers and through observations. The K-12 challenges that leadership teams need to attend to in developing 3-5 year plans include:
Solvable Challenges—Those we understand and know how to solve
- Creating authentic learning opportunities
- Integrating personalized learning
Difficult Challenges—Those we understand, but for which solutions are elusive
- Complex thinking and communication
- Safety of student data
Wicked Challenges—Those that are complex to even define, much less address
- Competition from new models of education
- Keeping formal education relevant
More Information
For more details about the information shared here, download the complete report from the NMC Horizon Project website.
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