The 2008 Horizon report was recently released and as always contains valuable information on the latest technology trends impacting college campuses. The Horizon Report is a collaboration between the New Media Consortium and the Educause Learning Initiative and identifies emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching and learning. As in previous years, the report identifies six emerging technologies that will likely enter the mainstream within three adoption horizons:
One Year or Less
- Grassroots Video
- Collaborative Webs
Two to Three Years
- Mobile Broadband
- Data Mashups
Four to Five Years
- Collective Intelligence
- Social Operating Systems
Among the critical challenges outlined in the report, one really struck a chord with me:
“It is critical that the academic community as a whole embrace the potential of technologies and practices like those described in this report. Experimentation must be encouraged and supported by policy.” (emphasis mine).
And finally, the report lists seven metatrends that extend out beyond the five year horizon:
- Evolving approaches to communication between man and machine
- The collective sharing and generation of knowledge
- Computing in three dimensions
- Connecting people via the network
- Games as pedagogical platforms
- The shifting of content production to users
- The evolution of a ubiquitous platform
I was happy to see that this report maps well to my ideas about the top web trends. And be sure to check out the report’s extensive use of del.icio.us tags for additional information.