‘Ten Trends’ for 2012 revealed

CORE Education announced its annual ’10 Trends’ for this year at more than 1,000 delegates at the Learning@School conference held in Hamilton in the final weekend of January.

Annually, CORE explores the 10 major emerging ICT that will impact upon education in New Zealand and other parts of the world in the coming year. Each trend has been identified for its likely impact on the way it may change the educational landscape in early childhood centres, schools and tertiary institutions, plus on the wider e-learning technologies and practices. In introducing the new trends, Derek Wenmoth from CORE said these trends were not specific predictions as such but were presented to provoke further research, investigation and discussion in order to determine how that may affect strategic planning within educational institutions. Its purpose was to provide a broader picture.

The theme of the new Ten Trends is that digital technologies are expanding the opportunities and ways we can all engage with information. Whereas historically, communication has been conducted via oral/aural and printed mediums, today, communication is accessible in a range of new and exciting ways such as: e-Books, data visualisation and Gesture-based computing.

In his address, Mr Wenmoth discussed how each of these is impacting not only in society, but on education, a this trend already rapidly affecting educators and students.

The trends, beginning in February are:

1) Smart web – growing online intelligence

2) Ubiquitous learning – anywhere, at any time, with any devices

3) Personalisation – the demise of a one size fits all approach

4) Openness – news ways of increasing access to participation

5) Citizenship – new ways of regarding what constitutes a citizen

6) Virtual learning – an effective way for many of gaining access to education

7) Data engagement – exciting new ways of engagement

8) Thinking 3D – New technologies opening new visual opportunities

9) Social learning – opportunities and complexities brought by new social channels

10) User+control – programming and controlling the new technologies.

Elaboration of these trends, including a video on the Ten Trends, can be found on the CORE Education website.