Learning Research: 2011 Horizon Report

The Horizon Report is an annual publication that outlines six emerging technologies or practices that are likely to enter mainstream use within higher education over a five year period of time.

Near-term Horizon (adoption within one year):

Electronic Books - an easy alternative to printed materials. Most allow for bookmarking, annotation, commentary, and dictionary lookup, and some allow for richly visual and interactive interfaces that include multimedia.

Mobiles - a viable alternative to laptops. Smartphones allow for web browsing, reading, watching videos, navigating, and playing games. They also provide access to the Apple or Android application markets. Mobiles can be used for anytime, anywhere and just-in-time learning.

Mid-term Horizon (adoption within two to three years):

Augmented Reality - A computer-assisted layer of information over the real world. Can be activated by visual metaphors and cues via a camera or location based cues via GPS systems. Allows learners to interact with virtual objects and view or annotate existing spaces with an overlay of information.

Game-based Learning - Can be goal-oriented, social, non-digital, or serious, ranging from paper-and-pencil games to massively, multiplayer online games. They allow for experimentation, exploration, problem-solving, and decision-making within a safe environment.

Far-term Horizon (adoption within four to five years):

Gesture-based Computing - a new era of interface design that foregoes the keyboard and mouse and opts instead for touching, tapping, swiping, and moving to engage with information. Approaches to gesture recognition can include applying pressure, motion, shaking, rotating, or tilting to manipulate interfaces and objects.

Learning Analytics - data collected from student activity in order to assess academic progress, predict future performance, and identify potential issues. Collected data includes assignments, social interactions, and discussions as a means to personalize educational opportunities for students.

Reference:
2011 Horizon Report. Retrieved from: http://wp.nmc.org/horizon2011/