In this blog, our task is to reflect on an academic article or our choice relating to ICT trends. Talking to Jean and Martina has been very helpful as they are both a mine of information about all sorts of resources and it was through them that I heard of the Horizon Report which I had no idea about. The Horizon Report 2010 edition is produced as a collaboration between the NewMedia Consortium and the Educause Learning Initiative. It is based in the US but does have input from advisers around the globe. It is produced yearly and has been established since 2002 with yearly reports. The main function is to report on ICT trends, critical challenges and 6 new technologies which are classified as "near-term horizon"i.e. next 12 months, "second adoption horizon"i.e. next 2-3 years and "far-term horizon" i.e. next 4-5 years.
The key trends are listed as: the abundance of easy resources and relationships available through the internet; peoples' expectation of being able to live, work and learn where and when they want to; increasing cloud-based technology; increasing collaborative work between students. The key trends are certainly how I see what is happening in the use of ICT in today's world. Increasing cloud-based technology may be the most important trend as nothing else could occur without this. However, the easy and immediate access to information and relationships possibly is what underpins the other 2 trends as I can't see how either could occur without this.
Critical challenges are: the changing role of institutions; evaluation methods lagging behind new methods of authoring,publishing and researching; the importance of digital literacy throughout disciplines and the lack of formal training for teachers; shrinking education budgets. All this certainly makes sense to me. Our tertiary institutions are changing and having to do so under budget restrictions. This is not necessarily as bad thing. Tertiary institutions were quite rarefied places in days gone by and education should be accessible to as many as want it. Bloated budgets may comfort financial controllers but leaner, meaner institutions may perhaps look for better, more innovative ways of achieving goals. The lack of formal ICT training for teachers is a challenge for many of us. Hopefully we will be able to find someone to help us learn the skill we need to learn when we need it. Perhaps universities should look at this in more detail so we can access help when needed; the report also talks about decentralizing support services which may be more efficient.
The aspect of the Horizon Report 2010 I found the most interesting was the "technologies to watch". This was divided into "near-term horizon which listed mobile computing and open content as the two technologies to watch; "second adoption horizon" which had electronic books and simple augmented reality and" far-term horizon" which predicted gesture-based computing and visual data analysis as the hot technology for the next 4-5 years. Mobile computing is certainly a reality now for many people and I was interested to note that a hand-held mobile phone with internet access was a relatively cheap tool for those in developing countries. eBooks are also an interesting thought as one can have a whole library of resources on one device- good for the trees! I was pleased to find the future of ICT was focused on easy- to-use technology. I find the thought of gesture-based computing and augmented reality exciting. I can see real uses for both of these in the medical field in both practice and teaching. In fact, I was interested to note there is a programme around for rehabilitation of Parkinson's patients through gesture based computer games. Augmented reality would be a wonderful teaching tool for unfamiliar skills in practical medicine and there is already work on using visual data analysis in human physiology.
I started this report intending to read only the executive summary but have spent my whole Sunday morning coming to grips with the whole report. I found it very stimulating and thought provoking. I also liked the links that were provided at the end of each section to the various examples that were quoted. There is a rich and varied world out there for our access at the click of the mouse(or perhaps a gesture in the future) and all we have to do is get on board! The future is full of possibilities which even 30 years ago was the realm of sci-fi! Hopefully, we can continue to make progress with our use of technology to improve both our work and teaching. I look forward to seeing what will happen over the "far-term horizon"
Thank you Jean and Martina. I think I am finally excited about ICT!
Ref: http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2010-Horizon-Report.pdf
Charlene, as an historian, I find your review fascinating. You capture the pioneering spirit of the Old West that is imbued in the report. Technology is the new frontier, a potential land of plenty in the virtual New World, whose boundaries are to be pushed back, explored and exploited.
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