Future AT

What are some new and promising educational technologies that will be utilized in the classroom?

There are plenty of new assistive technologies on the horizon in education. Here are some technologies that will be implemented within the next five years: 

• Cloud Computing: refers to expandable, on demand services and tools that are served to the user via the Internet from specialized data centers and consume almost no local processing or storage resources. 
• Learning Analytics: an educational application of web analytics, a science that is commonly used by businesses to analyze commercial activities, identify spending trends, and predict consumer behavior. 
• Wearable Technology: refers to devices that can be worn by users, taking the form of an accessory such as jewelry, sunglasses, a backpack, or even actual items of clothing such as shoes or a jacket. The benefit of wearable technology is that it can conveniently integrate tools that track sleep, movement, location, and social media. 

What are some resources for these technologies?

More information about cloud computing can be found at go.nmc.org/cloudand. This website shows research about the effectiveness of the cloud in many different educational settings. 

More information about learning analytics can be found at go.nmc.org/lace. This website shows data about the use of learning analytics in the classroom.

More information about wearable technology can be found at go.nmc.org/thermo. This website gives more information about wearable technology and gives examples. 

Citation: 

Johnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Estrada, V., and Freeman, A.

(2014). NMC Horizon Report: 2014 K-12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The

New Media Consortium.