NMC Forecasts Tech on the “Horizon” for K-12
A companion to the New Media Consortium’s Horizon Report for higher education, the K-12 horizon report explores technology trends likely to impact elementary and secondary education in the near future.
The report predicts that “cloud computing” and collaborative environments will take off in schools over the next 1-2 years. (The technology is ready and easy-to-use now, but we will have to see whether school Internet usage policies shift to open the door to wider use of such tools. Currently, many K-12 schools block access to social web tools and online apps.)
In the intermediate (2-3 year) range, the Horizon Report forecasts game-based learning and mobile devices will gain broader acceptance. (With the mass interest in Apple’s new iPad and with a host of competitive tablets on the way predicted to undercut even current netbook offerings on price, mobile devices may take off even faster than predicted, especially if kid-friendly, touch-enabled apps come online quickly.)
Finally, in the 4-5 year range, NMC looks for “augmented reality” and flexible displays to begin moving into K-12 use.
A “discussion starter” slide deck is below. The full report is available here as a downloadable PDF, and here in interactive wiki format.
