The 2011 Horizon Report is out. The report selects 6 technologies that will have an impact on education in the next five years. The six technologies include:
- Electronic Books
- Mobiles
- Augmented Reality
- Game-based Learning
- Gesture-based Computing
- Learning Analytics
Quite the risk takers – these prognosticators.
My additions:
Micro-payments – I hate the term “business model” because so many people talk about it, but I am not sure I understand what it means. However, I think funding is key to whatever will come next – I don’t believe free gets you very far. I think the future is online and I think some system (see Readability) for paying content providers based on student use might work.
Individualized educational progress – one of the things that initially got me interested in technology was the potential to address individual needs. I think it is time to accept the reality that students are capable of advancing at different rates and develop systems that will recognize progress rather than time spent.
Public wifi – we seem to be in a time when the public good is ignored in political decisions. But I predict the limitations of this perspective will soon become evident and services that meet the needs of the public will be advanced over business interests. Health care reform is clearly the present poster child. I think universal access to affordable Internet access will become more and more of an equity issue.
