I’ve just finished reading the New Media Consortium (NMC) Horizon Reports for both Higher Education and K-12. For those unfamiliar with the NMC Horizon reports, they are the predicting voice on educational technology trends and cover not only global higher education and K-12 schools, but also libraries and museums. These reports are the product of a collaborative research project between NMC and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI). Their aim is to identify and describe technologies that are likely to impact teaching and learning. These reports have been around for 13 years, have been translated (to date) into 50 foreign languages, and have readership in more than 160 countries according to the NMC Horizon website.
The reports cover the challenges that impede technology adoption, the key trends that can accelerate educational technology adoption, and the important developments that are likely to affect education spanning over the next 1 to 2 years, 3-4 years from now, and 5 and more years. Their potential to be valuable guides for technology planning in educational establishments is without doubt; however, after asking about 20 faculty members and a number of principals and technology coordinators, I question how many education professionals actually refer to the reports to guide their curriculum planning!
As a doctoral student and teacher, I appreciated the scope of the reports, the detailed insights into how trends and challenges affect teaching and learning, and the implications that the reports’ findings can potentially have on policy, leadership, and practice.
The outlined trends presented in the Horizon Reports are such that schools would have to flexible and allow for creativity and entrepreneurial thinking. This, sadly to say, is a far cry from the reality of our standardized test driven K-12 environments and our budget conscious Higher Ed institutions. In addition, to successfully adopt these trends, the full commitment and involvement of all education stakeholders, from parents to policymakers, is vital. I saw no mention of preceding years’ trends and challenges in the reports, which is a shame, as a few remarks on the past years’ trends and challenges and extrapolations as to the reasons why the trends took place or not would have been valuable.
Simply Mona! 