Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Key Trends, Challenges, and Developments in EdTech - 15 years into this century

Wow. 2015. 1999 seems so far away. I remember we were so scared about the Y2K problem and how it might impact our educational systems. Those 1999 problems are long gone. There are new challenges now.

The EDUCAUSE Horizon 2015 report on Higher Education is out now. The project assembled a panel of experts from countries like Canada, Italy, India, Japan, Germany, Turkey, Spain, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia, China, Denmark, the UK, New Zealand, and the United States to discuss the salient issues and whittle them down to tight lists. The Report is a very valuable read because it not only provides a summary of each issue but also provides further reading resources for each. These focused resources get you information fast. Specifically, the report describes the following:
  1. Key Trends Accelerating Ed Tech Adoption in Higher Education. It selects 6 of them and breaks them down into 3 categories: Fast Trends (next 1-2 years), Mid-Range Trends (next 3-5 years), Long-Range trends (5+ years).

  2. Challenges Impeding Ed Tech Adoption in Higher Education. It selects 6 of them and breaks them down into 3 categories: Solvable challenges, Difficult Challenges, and Wicked Challenges!

  3. Important Developments in Ed Tech in Higher Education. Again it selects 6 of them and groups them based on time horizon: less than one year, 2-3 years and 4-5 years.
The report comes in two flavours: the Preview (short 8-page version) and the full 56 page report. I definitely recommend the full report. Read it from cover-to-cover. If you are interested in knowing more about how the Horizon Report is built, the team of experts worked using a Wiki and you can view all the details here. If you have any specific reaction about the report that you would like to share, please leave a comment below.