Teaching and Learning Innovation

The NMC Horizon Report is the centerpiece of the NMC Emerging Technologies Initiative established in 2002. Its main objective, is to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to impact  the teaching and learning processes, information management and creative inquiry in many and different ways . The main mission of this project, is to help educators and leaders across the world build upon the innovation happening at their institutions by providing them with research and analysis done by experts in the field.

In the 2013 report, there are six technologies highlighted likely to be use in the course of the next five years.  On the near-term horizon, which assumes that these new technologies may be available for schools within the next 12 months,  two of the technologies that may enter the mainstream for schools, are cloud computing and mobile learning. Cloud computing has already impact the way people communicates, work with others, stores their data and the way they access it. Mobile learning is becoming an integral part of education. Today, more and more students are having access to devices, which allows them to learn, communicate and collaborate in many different ways, taking advantage of all the possibilities that this technology offers. On the mid-term horizon, which assumes that these technologies may be available for schools within the next two to three years, there are basically two technologies likely to be adopted, these are learning analytics and open-content.  The 2013 Horizon Report describes learning analytics as the "Field associated with deciphering trends and patterns from educational big data, or huge sets of student-related data, to further the advancement of a personalized, supportive system of higher education." In other words, is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of improving the learning process. The open-content  tool represents and important change in the way students study and learn. It offers a greater number of people the possibility to have access to education by lowering costs and making learning accessible to regions that are difficult to reach.  Based on the Open Content Alliance, it is about building a digital archive of global content for universal access. On the far term horizon, this means four to five years away, the two technologies that the NMC Horizon Report highlights, are 3D printing and the virtual and remote laboratories. 3D printing is becoming much more affordable and accessible. Stratasys states that "Bringing 3D printing into the classroom exposes learners to the same cutting-edge technologies they’ll encounter in their careers. It gives them a jump-start on tomorrow’s challenges." On the other hand, virtual and remote laboratories gives students the possibility to experience scientific experiences without the associated costs of building and maintaining a physical laboratory. It also has the advantage, that students can repeat their experiments as many times as they need and wish without facing extra costs, and they offer greater precision and efficiency. They give students the possibility to have a realistic view of system behavior. Additionally to all these advantages, students can have access to professional laboratory tools from anywhere and whenever they need.