NMH Horizon Project Report Discusses Future Trends of Education and Technology

The NMC Horizon Project is a decade long review to determine how emerging technologies will impact education.  There are six technologies that will continue to influence higher education in the near and long-term future. These technologies will continue to pressure the overall nature and strategic approaches colleges adapt in creating more financially viable organizations.  The projections are broken into near term, mid term, and far term horizons. 

Near Term Horizon (12 Months):

MOOCs and tablets are likely to make inroads into higher education. MOOCs offer non-degree seeking students certificates are often offered for free. It is likely in the future, even though the report doesn’t mention this colleges may charge for such classes. The second near term influence of technology will be the use of tablets that offer portability and computing power at a price most students can afford.

Mid Term Horizon (2-3 Years):

Gamification and student assessment appear to be the growing trends. Games and badges are designed to help students play games while having to use content and information to move through one level to the next. Student assessment measures will be refined to provide a stronger analytic method of student and organizational performance. 

Far Term Horizon (5+ Years):

3D printing and wearable technology are likely to make their way into the classrooms. 3D printing is already in some engineering and arts related classes and affords an alternative approach to making images and designs. Wearable technology will focus more on augmenting reality and highlighting key lessons. This affords students the ability to envision alternative environments and set-ups.

In addition to the trends in technology are trends in general educational levels which include a push for professors to adapt technology for greater completion of research as well as for student learning. Customizable learning experiences are likely to become more common that will help to connect with students on a deeper level than face-to-face discussions. Administrators will likely become savvier at student assessment and evaluation. 

Based upon the importance the following trends are likely:

1.  Openness — concepts like open content, open data, and open resources, along with notions of transparency and easy access to data and information — is becoming a value.

2. Massively open online courses are being widely explored as alternatives and supplements to traditional university courses.

3. The workforce demands skills from college graduates that are more often acquired from informal learning experiences than in universities.

4. There is an increasing interest in using new sources of data for personalizing the learning experience and for performance measurement.

5. The role of educators continues to change due to the vast resources that are accessible to students via the Internet.

6. Education paradigms are shifting to include online learning, hybrid learning, and collaborative models.

You may obtain your own report HERE