Emerging Technologies

The NMC Horizon Report: 2013 Higher Education Edition recognizes six new technologies that will have an impact on colleges and universities in the near future. This report is a product of the partnership of NMC (New Media Corporation, “an international community of experts in educational technology”) and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI). It outlines the results of the NMC Horizon Project, which has been collecting data since 2002.

Emerging technologies were chosen by an Advisory Board comprised of fifty-one members from across the globe. This group selected six emerging technologies, which they then subdivided into three categories by time. The experts see the escalation of massively open online courses (MOOCs) and tablet computing within the next year. They note, “…the competition in the tablet computing market is a significant driver of innovation.” In the 2-3 year time frame, higher education will see an increase in games and gamification and learning analytics. Analytics software is being used in the advising process by some schools. And, 4-5 years from now 3D printing and wearable technology will become much more prevalent. Six key trends were noted: openness, massively open online courses, informal learning experiences, personalizing the learning experience and measuring performance, the changing role of educators, and shifting education paradigms. Six challenges to adopting new technology were also identified, the number one challenge being digital media literacy. How will librarians respond to this challenge?

For more information or to download the report, go to the NMC website.