The Horizon Report

In The Horizon Report: 2009 K-12 Edition, the New Media Consortium highlights technological trends expected to have a significant impact on education within the next five years.

The Horizon Report is divided into three key parts, summarized below:

Technologies on the Horizon (Pun intended)

Technologies on the Horizon within One Year

1) Collaborative Environments: Because educators recognize the increasing importance of collaboration in the workplace, teachers and students are collaborating with one another in virtual workplaces. Collaborative environments are those in which users can record their thoughts and others can respond to those thoughts at any place and time. Examples of these include wikis and Facebook. These collaborative environments are excellent places for students to critique one another's critical thinking.

2) Online Communication Tools: These tools (including Twitter and instant messaging) provide students with the opportunities to communicate with audiences throughout the world as well as with content-area experts. Examples include Edmodo and YackPack. Online communication tools help students connect with others around the world and practice their public voice.

Online communication tools appears to be the most promising technology addressed in the report. One of the most important things that teachers can do is to make students feel like their work matters. Online communication tools create a real-world audience for students and their work without all of the hassle that teachers had to go through without it. For example, if I wanted students to research a local government policy with which they disagree and prepare a letter to the editor about that policy, I can guarantee that few, if any, of the letters would be published. Now, there are online communities where all students' work can be published. Also, world history students can use Skype to communicate with students in the countries they are studying. This will put in context what the students are learning and increase engagement. These are only a few of the many obvious benefits of online communication tools.

Technologies within the Next Two to Three Years

1) Mobiles: Mobile devices, with their internet access, GPS systems, and other applications are becoming a more important way to provide access to information for users on the go. Educational uses for mobile devices include student responses to questions (without the expense of PRS systems) and research aids.

Although I agree that mobile devices may have some use for students, for several reasons, I think that the costs associated with use of mobile devices may outweigh the benefits. First, as we become a more mobile society, the response-time expectancy decreases. Mobile devices such as Blackberrys and cellular phones may lead to students' calling the teacher minutes before a project and asking a flurry of questions. This blurs the boundary between teacher free time and work time. Second, there are already significant problems with students using cellular phones to cheat on exams. There does not appear to be an obvious way to prevent this. Third, there is the most evident issue of cost. Not every student can afford the mobile device or the applications associated with that device. And, if teachers rely on mobile devices to communicate with students, students who cannot afford mobile devices are left in the dark. Fourth, I must confess that I am not a texting expert, but writing things out on mobile devices is a cumbersome process. I am just not convinced that mobile devices are going to give students that much more than other technologies would.

2) Cloud Computing: The cloud is “the term for networked computers that distribute processing power, applications, and large systems among many machines.” Rather than running on a single computer, cloud-based applications are run on a specific cluster of computers. Examples of technologies supported by the cloud include PageFlakes and Ning. Because users are storing their information on the cloud, they are relying on its continued existence. Through cloud applications such as Slide Rocket, students can publish slide shows and share them with the world.

Technologies within the Next Four to Five Years

1) Smart Objects: “[A] smart object is any physical object that includes a unique identifier that can track information about the object.” Examples of smart objects include Siftables and Poken. Smart objects may be particularly useful in libraries to do things such as linking books with author interviews. Teachers also may use smart objects to measure phenomena such as the weather, and students in class may analyze that data.

2) The Personal Web: The personal web refers to technologies that allow users to reorganize and manage internet data. Undergirding the personal web is the idea that online content can be modified and sorted based on users' personal interests. Although this technology is advanced, the personal web remains on the farthest horizon because of school internet restrictions and the lack of computers regularly available in classrooms. Regardless, the personal web is an excellent way to maintain large resource collections that are easily accessible for students and to obviate the need for index cards with tools like browser widgets. Examples of the personal web include Zotero and Diigo.

Key Trends Affecting Learning in Elementary and Secondary Schools

1) “Technology continues to profoundly affect the way we work, collaborate, communicate, and succeed.” Technology is increasingly becoming a form of communication rather than isolation. Instead of passively reading websites, users are interacting with one another through websites such as Facebook.

2) “Technology is increasingly a means for empowering students, a method for communication and socializing, and a ubiquitous, transparent part of their lives.” Through technology, students are introduced to a “real world” audience for their work.

3) “The web is an increasingly personal experience.” Rather than the one-size-fits-all curriculum students experience in the classroom, students are exposed to personalized content on the internet.

4) “The way we think of learning environments is changing.” The learning environment is not just the classroom; it extends to the community and spans all disciplines.

5) “The perceived value of innovation and creativity is increasing.” This is pretty self-explanatory; businesses want to hire innovative and creative individuals.

Five Key Challenges in Integrating Technology into the Existing Educational Framework

1) “There is a growing need for formal instruction in key new skills, including information literacy, visual literacy, and technological literacy.” We must determine what newer literacy skills are needed to succeed, and then we must teach these to both teachers and students.

2) “Students are different, but educational practice and the material that supports it is changing only slowly.” Curriculum, instruction, assessment, and tools used in the classroom must be adapted to the new, younger generation of students.

3) “Learning that incorporates real life experiences is not occurring enough and is undervalued when it does take place.” Teachers need to increase student engagement by assigning projects that incorporate students' real-life experiences.

4) “There is a growing recognition that new technologies must be adopted and used as an everyday part of classroom activities, but effecting this change is difficult.” Teachers should have more training time and professional development to be prepared to use the appropriate technologies in the appropriate manner in the classroom.

5) “A key challenge is the fundamental structure of the K-12 education establishment.” Schools must adapt to the changing world, but change is easier said than done.

I hope that you enjoyed the summary. Overall, this was an awesome article that taught me about a lot of technologies. I feel so cutting edge now!

Comments on AT Reading

Because we have only five people in our group and six times that we need to post blogs, this week there are only comments on the reading.