#H800 Horizon Report 2011

The 2011 Horizon Report from the New Media Consortium (NMC) and Educause provides some clear indicators for key trends and drivers for technology in education. As ever the report outlines key trends, critical drivers and short and long term forecasts. 

Each year, the Horizon Report describes six areas of emerging technology that will have significant impact on higher education and creative expression over the next one to five years. The areas of emerging technology cited for 2011 are:

Time to adoption: One Year or Less
Electronic Books
Mobiles

Time to adoption: Two to Three Years
Augmented Reality
Game-based Learning

Time to adoption: Four to Five YearsGesture-based Computing
Learning Analytics
 

There is an extensive collection of resources, although there seems to be very little in the way of critical reflection on the role of technology in education, its relation with content and pedagogy etc.

The fact that the NMC was founded in 1993 by a group of hardware manufacturers, software developers, and publishers might have something to do with that. Current corporate partners include Adobe Systems, Apple Inc. and Pearson College.

The report is great if you want a short description of the key characteristics and potential for education of the upcoming technologies, as long as you don’t expect a balanced account, supported by research data.