Interested in knowing what seem to be the upcoming trends in emerging technology and/or practice for higher education ? The NMC Horizon Report: Higher Ed Edition 2012 has just been released.

The report

highlights six emerging technologies or practices that are likely to enter mainstream use with their focus sectors within three adoption horizons over the next five years. Key trends and challenges that will affect current practice over the same period frame these discussions.

These emerging technologies or practices are ones that will have an impact on how we teach, how universities and colleges connect with students and how students want to learn and connect with colleges and universities. The predictions are made every year and, as you might guess, some of them overlap and come to fruition but some change depending on what is happening and new developments.

A few highlights:

• Within the next year, mobile apps and tablet computing are expected to become mainstream
• In the next two to three years, game-based learning and learning analytics are expected to become mainstream
• In the next four to five years, gesture-based computing and internet of things are expected to become mainstream

My thoughts:

• The University of Regina is currently in the process of investigating the use of mobile apps and the Archer Library has already gone mobile. I don’t see that as much of a surprise, especially since it has been in the Horizon Report for a while now.
• Tablet computing I think has farther to go than just the next year. While there are good tablets out there and some instructors are moving toward adopting them, they are not necessarily affordable for students. Moreover, the rest of the technology framework is still catching up.
• Game-based learning was on the list last year and many of the web-based learning programs developing are pushing the idea of badges and making learning feel more like a game. It’s seen successful adoption in classes on campus too but as for how much it is going to impact your teaching? That will be up to you.
• Learning analytics are big business. The idea that we can find out how our students learn, which students are stuck where, how they answer questions, etc, is an intriguing one. The technology is coming and it will be interesting to see how it develops and what impact that will mean.
• Gesture-based computing is appealing because it is all about making computing intuitive. I’m reminded of the television shows and movies in which someone controls their screen by swiping, pinching and dragging or even flicking their hand on a grand scale. Video game systems are working on adopting this kind of action (Kinect, Wii) so it does exist. Apple uses this in a small scale with their touch-sensitive hardware like the iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, smart mice and touchpads. So I could see it coming to the classroom although it might be farther off than 5 years.
• The internet of things is similar to “augmented reality” but is more closely tied to connective information tied to items beyond something that obviously connects to the internet. The examples they suggest are things like RFID student cards which help track attendance, item tracking, temperature sensors, etc.

So go check out the report then let us know what you think. What technologies could you see making their way into your teaching (and learning)? Are any of these on your wishlist?

Tags: educause, future, teaching, tech