New technology trends in education: Seven years of forecasts and convergence

Martin, S., Diaz, G., Sancristobal, E., Gil, R., Castro, M., & Peire, J. (2011). New technology trends in education: Seven years of forecasts and convergence. Computers & Education, 57(3), P1893-1906.

This article looks at the trends identified over a 10 year period in seven Horizon reports on technology. See Post on 2014 Horizon Report for Higher Education for details about the report.

The trends identified over the 10 year period were not always accurate but were not not far off the mark. Some cases they were spot on and others they were not in the ball park but generally they were good.

The main categories identified were:

• Social Web
• Semantic Web
• Learning Object
• Augmented reality
• Immersive Environments
• Ubiquity of mobile devices

The only one of the above they were not correct about was augmented reality, which has morphed recently into quantified self, in my opinion, in the Higher Education Report. the above topics are broad and have been split into more measurable groups over the years and continue to take shape.

I believe that the article highlights the importance of mobile devices as a new catalyst for these technologies. If we were still stuck to desktop PC that required a wire connection I do not believe that the same penetration would have happened.