Makerspaces, wearable technologies and adaptive learning technologies
are three of the six technologies that will have a profound impact on
higher education within the next five years, according to the NMC Horizon Report: 2015 Higher Education Edition, released Wednesday by the New Media Consortium and the Educause Learning Initiative.
The annual report is developed by a panel of higher education
experts to identify major developments in education technology and
technological trends that will help shape teaching and learning in the
near future. The researchers also identify the six most significant challenges facing education in the coming years.
Technological developments are sorted into three categories: those
whose impact will be felt soon (or is being felt now), those that will
come into p[lay in the mid-term (two to three years) and those that are a
bit further out on the horizon (four to five years).
The Near Term: 1 Year or Less
Leading off the 2015 list of important technological developments in the near term is BYOD, followed by the flipped classroom.
BYOD made this list this year, according to the report, not because
it's new or having a major effect on IT spending at this point but
because of the growing evidence that BYOD is leading to productivity
gains and allowing for more personalized instruction and learning.
"The link between the use of personal devices and increases in
productivity gets stronger each passing year as more organizations adopt
BYOD policies," according to the report. "The integration of personal
smartphones, tablets, and PCs into the workflow supports an on-the-go
mentality, changing the nature of work and learning activities so that
they can happen anywhere, at anytime. Employers and higher education
institutions are finding that when given the opportunity to choose their
device, users are saved from the effort and time needed to get
accustomed to new devices and can therefore accomplish tasks with more
ease and efficiency."
The flipped classroom, which also appeared in last year's Horizon
Report as a significant near-term technological development, is a model
of teaching in which traditional methods of instruction instruction are
experienced outside of the classroom — and where classroom time is
spent discussing, rather than presenting, material.
About 29 percent of faculty in the United States are now using
flipped instruction to some degree, and another 27 percent plan to add
it to their repertoire within a year.
According to the report: "Flipped learning is seen as especially
suited for higher education because the rearranging of class time gives
students in large introductory lecture courses more opportunity to
engage and interact with their peers. Instructors also make more
efficient use of their time by focusing on content that is especially
challenging for students — handheld clickers in large seminars are often
paired with this method in order to help understand students'
comprehension of material and customize discussions accordingly."
The Mid-Term: 2 to 3 Years
In the mid-term, researchers identified makerspaces and wearable technologies as significant technological developments.
The report defined makerspaces as "community-oriented workshops where
tech enthusiasts meet regularly to share and explore electronic
hardware, manufacturing tools, and programming techniques and tricks."
These spaces are, according to the researchers, becoming increasingly
relevant owing to a dramatic shift in "what types of skillsets have
real, applicable value in a rapidly advancing world. In this landscape,
creativity, design and engineering are making their way to the forefront
of educational considerations, as tools such as 3D printers, robotics,
and 3D modeling Web-based applications become accessible to more people.
Proponents of makerspaces for education highlight the benefit of
engaging learners in creative, higher-order problem solving through
hands-on design, construction and iteration. The question of how to
renovate or repurpose classrooms to address the needs of the future is
being answered through the concept of makerspaces, or workshops that
offer tools and the learning experiences needed to help people carry out
their ideas."
Wearable technologies are also becoming increasingly relevant to education.
"Wearable technology is poised to see significant growth in the
coming years, spurring experimentation in higher education because the
demand for wearables is seen to be coming in large part from
college-aged students; a recent poll showed that 21 percent of U.S.
adult students use wearables," the report noted. "Further, another
report by GlobalWebIndex revealed that 71 percent of students ages 16 to
24 want to use wearable technology such as smart watches, wristbands or
glasses."
Consumers are adopting wearables at a faster pace than academic
institutions. Universities for the most part have yet to incorporate
wearables formally into the curriculum, except in athletics and
medicine, where the applications are obvious.
The Long Term: 4 to 5 Years
Researchers identified adaptive learning technologies and the Internet
of Things as the two most significant technological developments hitting
education in the next four to five years.
Adaptive technology is seen as a means to break free of a
"one-size-fits-all" approach to education and is suited well for online
and hybrid learning environments, "where student activities are
conducted virtually and can be monitored by software and tracking
applications," the report noted.
"While adaptive learning technologies are still at least four years
away from widespread use in higher education, a number of studies
highlight their potential for transforming traditional learning
paradigms...."
The researchers noted that the next step in extending the use of
adaptive learning technologies is the development of standards and best
practices.
The Internet of Things was the final technological development
identified by the researchers as one that will have a major impact on
education in the coming years.
"Use of IoT in educational environments is finally coming into focus
as terms such as 'hypersituation' are being coined to explain the
potential of IoT in learning situations," according to the report.
"Hypersituating is the ability to amplify knowledge based on the user's
location. In other words, learners that carry connected devices with
them can benefit from a host of interdisciplinary information that is
pushed to them from their surroundings. For instance, a learner
exploring a city with a rich historical past can explore their
environment through an architectural, political, or biological lens,
depending on how the surroundings are equipped. IoT can also create an
environment where learners are informed by crowdsourced contributions
and observations from the community via networked objects."
The complete report is freely available as of today at go.nmc.org/2015-hied.