NMC Horizon Report

I found an interesting report put out by something called the New Media Consortium. They claim to be an international body of experts on educational technology, which sounds right up my alley. I was less impressed by the amateurish video on their About page, but the goals is still a good one -- to share ideas about new trends in education. They do seem to be focused on technology in the electronic sense, but the report I read contained trends that went beyond computers and software to include technology more widely defined (see below).

The NMC conducts research about educational technology, although I think they mean research in the broader sense, including gathering information about trends, not the narrower sense meaning conducting studies about the various technologies. They also hold a conference every summer (warning: another hokey video). But their main contribution seems to be the annual Horizon Report, which comes in several flavors, including K-12, Museum, and the one I read, the Higher Edition edition. This report is the product of collaboration between 53 "technology experts" from 13 countries on 6 continents. Technology experts can self-nominate, but it's not clear how easy it is to join the panel. So, take what follows for what it's worth. It's clear to me that the report is a compilation of opinions, albeit the opinions of people who consider themselves experts on technology in education and are willing to put their names to the report (they are listed at the end of the report).

The goal of the report is to identify the trends that will affect education in the next five years. They break them down into three categories: trends accelerating adoption of technology, challenges to adopting technology, and important developments in educational technology. Each category has three levels and two trends in each level. That's 18 trends they discuss, and that's a lot. The report is nearly 50 pages but the way they present the information helps you get to the most interesting parts. Each of the 18 trends gets only two pages, and there are clearly identified sections in each trend, including Overview, Relevance for Teaching, and Further Reading. This makes it easy to jump to the trend that looks interesting and get the point quickly. I found some of the links they provide (to sites outside NMC) quite helpful. It really is worth browsing the report.

The reason I found the report (if I remember correctly) is because an author of a research report on flipped classrooms cited it as evidence that flipping is a hot topic and current trend. Indeed, the 2014 Horizon Report does include flipping as an important development, with a time-for-adoption of one year or less.They provide a nice history lesson about flipping, links to several examples of flipped classes, and links for further reading with brief descriptions. Pretty helpful.

Some of the other trends they identify include learning analytics, social media, hybrid courses, the move from students as consumers to students as creators, competition from new models of education (MOOCs), 3D printing, and gamification. It's a broad view of education. I do think they missed a significant challenge for education: rising tuition costs, but maybe that didn't fall into their purview. And what about the digital divide?

Overall, I found the report, and the NMC, to be yet another source of information about education that I didn't know existed. It's not perfect, but I appreciate their efforts and goals.