Top 6 Technologies for the Next 5 Years

According to researchers from the 2010 Horizon Report K-12 Edition, cloud computing and gaming are among the six technologies that will have a major positive impact on K-12 education in the next few years. The article outlines key technology areas for the next five years has been broken down into technologies that will have an impact in the near futures, technologies in the early stages of adoption, and technologies that are further out.

Cloud computing and collaborative environments will have a significant impact on education. In the next two to three years game-based learning and mobile technologies will foster collaboration and engage students more deeply in the learning process. According to the article in the next four to five years augmented reality and discovery-based learning will have an impact on education. Augmented reality is the convergence of various media tools and mobile applications to create “a portable tool for discovery-based learning, enhancing the information available to students when visiting historical locations, doing field work, interacting with real-world objects, and paging through books.”

But there were challenges identified as critical –

1. Inadequate digital media literacy training for teachers
2. Out of date learning materials and teaching practices
3. Lack of agreement on how education should evolve, despite widespread agreement that change is needed
4. A failure of education institutions to adapt to informal education, online education, and home-based learning
5. Lack of support or acknowledgement of the forms of learning that usually occur outside the classroom

Many schools have provided more computers, interactive boards, software applications and opportunities for students to enroll in online courses and within the regular school day teachers need to provide learning through real life experiences because students need to see the connections between the world, their lives and the school. Outside of the regular school day students are finding online resources, practicing skills using games and interacting with their peers through social networks. Students shouldn’t have to power down when they enter the school and not be able to communicate with the outside world.

To read the entire article written by David Nagel:
http://thejournal.com/articles/2010/04/13/6-technologies-that-will-shape-education.aspx

To read the 2010 Horizon Report K-12 Edition:
http://www.nmc.org/publications/2010-horizon-k12-report