New Media

Consortium
(NMC)
Overview
Presentation
TECH280 ORANGE GROUP:
Rebecca Abellana-Delvo
Aritz Cardeas
Erica Hampton
Kelly Patchen
Kirsten Thompson

Overview/Introduction:
The New Media Consortium (NMC) Horizon Report is a yearly collaborative
report jointly sponsored by New Media and the Consortium for School
Networking (CoSN). The NMC Horizon Report charts five-year key emerging
technologies for teaching, learning, and creative inquire around the globe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KskZkNOe_qY

The Panel of Experts generates a list of

technologies, trends, challenges, and issues
that have an impact on K-12 education.
Today we will be looking at 3 issues/questions that steer the
collaborative research and recommendations of the NMC Horizon
Report:

Technology Trends: What is on the 5-year horizon for schools worldwide?

Significant Challenges:

What trends in technologies will drive educational change?

Important Developments: What are the developments and challenges encountered in

the short, medium, and long term? How can we strategize effective solutions?

NMC Horizon Report: 2015 K-12 Edition:

Challenges, Trends and Development in Technology

NMCs 6 KEY TRENDS Accelerating

Technology Adoption in K-12 Education
Ranging from
long-term

short-term

Rethinking how schools work

Shift to deeper learning approaches

Increasing use of collaborative

impact trends.

learning approaches

Shift from students as consumers to

creators

Increasing blend of learning

Rise of STEAM learning

Long-Term Impact Trend:

Rethinking How Schools Work
This is expected to drive education tech adoption in K-12 for five or more years.
Response stems from the overly structured, typical school day, that should be
driven by innovative, multidisciplinary approaches.
Focused research to reinvent the traditional classroom paradigm and rearrange
the entire school experience to increase learning.

Long-Term Impact Trend:

Shift to Deeper Learning Approaches
Learning becomes student-centered and fluid while building collaboration and critical
thinking skills.
Integrating technology is the heart of: knowledge acquisition and personalized and flexible
learning!
Development of soft skills (people skills) and communication skills over the course
Integrated Curriculum and establishing Project Based Learning (PBL) Curriculum

Mid-Term Impact Trend:

Increasing Use of Collaborative
Learning Approaches
This is expected to drive education tech adoption in K-12 for three to five years.
As world is integrated globally via internet, educators must use online
technologies beyond their immediate environment.
Students can participate in projects which will require them to network beyond
classroom and community (whether it is from skype, peer-to-peer, etc.).

Mid-Term Impact Trend:

Shift from Students as
Consumers to Creators
Learners are exploring the act of creation rather than through the act of consumption.
The growing array of digital tools available support this transformation empowers
learners to demonstrate their mastery and forms that surpass traditional tests and
worksheets.
Deeply engaging learning experiences help students become the authorities as they are
active producers, inventors, and entrepreneurs and become the authorities on subjects
explored through their investigations.
Teachers need training in developing collaborative skills.

Short-Term Impact Trend:

Increasing Use of Blended
Learning
This is expected to drive education tech adoption in K-12 for one to two years.
Blended-learning is instructional method that combines online learning and face-to-face.
Blended learning utilizes competency-based models that allow for teachers to develop
personalized learning for students, promote their own skill mastery in technology, and
understand the new responsibilities and roles they have in utilizing technology in the
classroom setting.

Short-Term Impact Trend:

The Rise of STEAM
A growing emphasis on STEAM programs has led school leaders to believe there is a need
for curriculum that integrates disciplines such as arts, design, and humanities into the
sciences. A multidisciplinary movement known as STEAM learning.
STEAM education is designed to help meet the needs of our 21st Century and prepare our
students for todays world and careers by engaging them in projects that develop critical
thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication and citizenship.

Next the report examines SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGES

Impending Technology Adoption in K-12 Education

Creating authentic learning opportunities

Integrating technology in teacher education

Personalizing learning

Rethinking the roles of teachers

Scaling teaching innovations

Teaching complex thinking

Solvable Challenges are those we

understand and know how to solve.

Integrating Technology in Teacher Education is a solvable challenge

Current and future educators need to continuously sharpen their skills to

prepare learners for an ever evolving world of technology.

Solutions and resources are readily available for teacher training and
professional development.

Integrating Technology in Teacher

Education

Teacher training doesn't acknowledge continued rise and of digital media

literacy Importance and key skill in every discipline and profession
Challenge is digital literacy is less about tools and more about thinking
Research found that inadequate training and teachers attitudes in
educational value of technology has strongest impact on obstacles to
successful tech integration.

Level of teachers teacher competence directly correlates with student learning outcome

Implications for Policy, Leadership,

or Practice
Some successful approaches for Integrating Technology in Education:

ConnectED - Obama administrations program invest in improving the skills of teacher through support and
training in using educational tech tools for improving student learning
Strengthening National Capacity for Training on the Job- a program in Republic of Congo aimed to improve
access to quality teacher training (Included online publication of materials & training on how to use tools)
Supporting Competency Based Teacher Training Reforms to Facilitate ICT- Pedagogy Integration- project by
UNESCO Bangkok supporting member states in creating national standards that will align education programs
with their policy vision and goals

University pre-service teacher programs mitigating issue as well

TEACH-NOW- teacher prep program where pre-service teachers learn by doing projects together with an
instructor

Difficult Challenges are those we

understand but solutions are elusive
Personalizing Learning is difficult because it not adequately supported by
current technology or practices.
Schools must overhaul their curricula in favor of designs that favor the individual
over the one size fits all standard.

Personalizing Learning

Increased focus on student centered learning is driving the development of new tech that provides
choice & allow for differentiated instruction
Competency-based education is a potential solution

A solution by more progressive schools has been a model of rotating between computer-mediated
exercises and teacher-class interaction

Objective is for students to demonstrate mastery of explicit, measurable, and transferable skills.

Education experts caution that these types of personalized learning solutions being sold to schools to raise
test scores ultimately miss the goal of making learning a more meaningful experience

Personalized learning is greatly constrained by the pressures of standardized assessments

Implications for Policy, Leadership,

or Practice
Some successful approaches for Personalizing Learning

Success found in Finland and New Zealand

Finland underwent policy reform that favored individual success of students and shifted from having their
national core curriculum centralized to localized one & where Admin and teacher define educational goals
New Zealand gov. offers schools autonomy over their teaching and learning activities

Race to the Top program funded several K-12 projects that focused on personalized learning

Recommendations by charters schools and other successful pilots

1.Enhancing tech

2. Shifting the teachers role/Innovative roles for teacher

3. Renovating physical spaces/fluid learning environments,

4. Administrative autonomies required to implement a learner centered system

Wicked Challenges are those challenges

that are complex, hard to define, and are
extremely difficult to address.
Teaching Complex Thinking Complex thinking refers to the ability to
understand complexity.
A skill that is needed to comprehend how systems work in order to solve
problems.
Many schools are responding to the challenge by teaching complex thinking by
offering coding classes and coding projects.

Teaching Complex Thinking

Code.org project 1.4 million computing jobs by 2020 but only 400,00 computer science students
to fill them (Less than 2.4% (and declining) college students graduate with this degree)

Ed. leaders are pushing for the integration of coding into K-12 curriculum
Many school responding to challenge

Success in teaching complex thinking will require leaders to bridge disciplines to create new
curriculum that preps students for future workforce

Current data boom shows a strong need for future data scientist- a skill not yet taught in school

Schools will be expected to shape learners who not only have complex thinking skills but also can use
data and visualizations to support their learning.

Implications for Policy, Leadership,

or Practice
Some successful approaches for Teaching Complex Thinking

Policy makers are placing complex and computational thinking as priorities in educational
agendas by developing initiatives
Englands National Curriculum outlines 4 stages of thinking in students. One, is computer
science as a foundational discipline for every child to master like reading and math.
The challenge for countries will be the creation of effective standards for policy use
The National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking (NCECT) hopes to assess programs that claim to
cultivate critical thinking skills. This in turn will provide school leaders with standardized methods when
creating their approaches.

Educational leaders are creating websites & online portals that gather high quality resources for
teaching and evaluating complex thinking.

Finally, the NMCs Report focuses on

IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS in K-12 Technology
Assigns technology to adoption timelines:

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)

Makerspaces

3D Printing

Adaptive Learning Technologies

Digital Badges

Wearable Technology

Important Developments in
Education Technology
Time-to-Adoption Horizon: One Year or Less

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)

This practice refers to people who bring their own technology (ie. laptops,
tablets, smartphones, or other mobile devices) to the learning environment.
Many schools and corporate companies are finding that most people are
entering school and work with their own devices, in which they connect to the
main network. This practice not only reduces overall spending on technology,
but it reflects the current lifestyles and ways of working.
In 2014, a Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) survey found that 81% of
respondents either had a BYOD in place or were planning to have one.

BYOD Overview

As more organizations adopt this policy, the increase in productivity is apparent.

This practice supports an on the go mentality allowing work and learning to happen
anywhere at any time.
When users are able to bring their own device, they are able to accomplish tasks more
efficiently and with ease because they are used to their personal device.
A number of reports support that BYOD is gaining acceptance in schools all over the
world.
A recent study by Gartner, projected that by 2018, over 50% of users will access the
Internet via tablet or smartphone.

The impact that BYOD has on

Education...

BYOD allows students and educators to control the tools that make them most efficient and
productive.
BYOD has a profound impact for K-12 education because it creates settings for studentcentered learning to take place. Students are able to pick topics that they are passionate
about and use their personal devices as research tools.
Educators are able to use BYOD environments for demonstrations, virtual fieldtrips, live
performances and help with homework.
Finally, it provides students access to digital learning tools across the curriculum and
requires teachers to rethink learning activities in order to take advantage of school
investments.

One Year or Less:

Makerspaces

Makerspaces are expected to be adopted in K-12 education.

Makerspaces are physical areas designated for building, tinkering, and experimenting.
Schools are increasingly leveraging makerspaces to engage learners in hands-on design,
construction, and iteration.

Its focus is on using digital fabrication to solve local challenges including water technology, sustainable
energy, and new craftsmanship among other 21st century themes. Makerspaces facilitate activities that
inspire and motivate students to gain innovative skills applicable in the real world.
It has the potential to empower young people and disadvantaged youth to become leaders of
change in their communities.
Increases in students attendance, math scores, and rising interests in science and engineering
careers has been seen since implementing makerspaces in certain areas.

Two to Three Years: 3D Printing

Integrating Technology in Teacher Education is a solvable challenge.

Current and future educators need to continuously sharpen their skills to prepare learners for an
ever evolving world of technology.
Solutions and resources are readily available for teacher training and professional development.

One form of technology that enables authentic exploration of objects and concepts is known as 3D
Printing. 3D Printing refers to technology that creates and makes physical objects from three
dimensional content from a computer software program.
This technology can help students visualize graphs and mathematical models in math. For geography,
3D printing can help students better understand geological formations at scale and enable more hands
on learning.

Adaptive Learning Technologies

This refers to software and online sites that adjust to individual students needs as they interact
and learn. The platforms adapt to the students progress and adjusts content and instruction
depending on the students performance of tasks.
Adaptive Learning recognizes the need for personalized instruction and for tailoring educational
opportunities. They display dashboards that can be monitored by teachers and allows them to
better evaluate the effectiveness of their curriculum, identify at risk students, provide
interventions and provide more personalized learning opportunities.
Students demonstrate significant growth in testing and express excitement when reaching new
levels in a game like activity. Adaptive Learning is increasingly providing support towards
higher education placement.

https://www.edsurge.com/research/special-reports/adaptive-learning/

Four to Five Years:

Digital Badges
Digital badges are seen as a way to grant certification for formal and informal learning in the form of
microcredits which access learned skills based on outcomes rather than seat time.
More schools are looking to badges as a more alternative method of validating learning achievements,
not just for students but for teachers as well.
One of the earliest and largest applications of badging was implemented in the city of Chicago. It had 3
main goals: to help every youth in Chicago learn something and gain evidence of that learning; to
encourage discovery and motivate more learning; and to communicate that learning with schools and
businesses.

Relevance of Badges in Education

Badges track achievements grades K-12 in preparation for further education

Badges are also being used to innovate teacher professional development and recognize
continued education
To familiarize teachers with the concept of badges before it is implemented with students
Encourages efforts to validate skills learned such as; problem solving, persistence,
communication, and other attributes.

Wearable Technology
This refers to computer based devices that can be worn by users tracking different things such as;
sleep, movement, location, and social media interactions.
An example of wearable technology dates back to the 1980s, a wearable calculator watch. Today,
there are smart-watches and fit bits that are used to monitor heart rate, steps taken, and other health
related information. There is even a leapfrog band for kids, which encourages them to stay active and
healthy.
Wearable technology has a profound impact on students with disabilities. They have developed a
hearing aid for hearing impaired users that enable them to answer phone calls through their watches,
mute unwanted noises, and stream music directly into their ears with no cord.

The New Media Consortium 2016

The 23rd Annual NMC Summer Conference was located in Rochester, New York, June 14-16, 2016.
The conference was an opportunity to connect with leaders within the educational industry who are
pushing the envelope to infuse innovation and creativity into learning experiences worldwide
They gain tremendous insight on planning for, implementing, and evaluating cutting-edge technologies
and learning approaches.
Visit http://www.nmc.org for more information.

...because the ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. - Steve Jobs