Info Tech: The NMC Horizon Report > 2015 K-12 Edition Released Today
From the New Media Consortium:
The NMC and CoSN (the Consortium for School Networking) are jointly releasing the NMC Horizon Report > 2015 K-12 Edition in a special session at the annual ISTE Conference. This edition describes annual findings from the NMC Horizon Project, an ongoing research project designed to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have an impact on learning, teaching, and creative inquiry in K-12 education.
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Key Trends Accelerating K-12 Education Technology Adoption The NMC Horizon Report > 2015 K-12 Edition identifies the “Increasing Use of Blended Learning” and “Rise of STEAM Learning” as short-term impact trends accelerating the adoption of educational technology in K-12 education over the next one to two years. The “Increasing Use of Collaborative Learning Approaches” and the “Shift from Students as Consumers to Creators” are mid-term impact trends expected to drive technology use in the next three to five years; meanwhile, “Rethinking How Schools Work” and “Shift to Deeper Learning Approaches” are long-term trends, anticipated to impact institutions for the next five years or more.
Significant Challenges Impeding K-12 Technology Adoption
A number of challenges are acknowledged as barriers to the mainstream use of technology in schools.
“Creating Authentic Learning Opportunities” and “Integrating Technology in Teacher Education” are perceived as solvable challenges — those which we both understand and know how to solve. “Rethinking the Roles of Teachers” and “Personalizing Learning” are considered difficult challenges, which are defined and well understood but with solutions that are elusive. Described as wicked challenges are “Scaling Teaching Innovations” and “Teaching Complex Thinking,” which are complex to define, much less to address.

Important Developments in Educational Technology for K-12 Education
Additionally, the report identifies bring your own device (BYOD) and makerspaces as digital strategies and technologies expected to enter mainstream use in the near-term horizon of one year or less. 3D printing and adaptive learning technologies are seen in the mid-term horizon of two to three years; digital badges and wearable technology are seen emerging in the far-term horizon of four to five years.
Filed under: Public Libraries, School Libraries

About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.