Dive Brief:

• The New Media Consortium has released a preview of the latest edition of its K-12 Horizon Report, produced in collaboration with the Consortium for School Networking, looking ahead at the five-year horizon for schools to identify what tech is poised to drive major changes, what challenges exist, and how schools might overcome them.
• For District Administration, University of Colorado-Denver Digital Learning Architect Len Scrogan writes that some technology presents a single lane trap, where it serves only one purpose, but there are tech tools out there that meet all of the report's core recommendations.
• Citing zSpace STEM Lab as an example, he explains how it creates authentic learning opportunities and shifts students from consumers to creators, helps teachers foster complex thinking, allows collaborative learning approaches, and can help prepare students for modern society by giving them opportunities to be “makers.” 

Dive Insight:

One of the more difficult challenges identified in the report is the need to rethink the role of teachers. Educators understand the need to bring the teacher from the front of the classroom where he or she directs every learning experience, but how to actually accomplish that is a challenge schools will likely struggle with in the years to come.

The rise of makerspaces was highlighted in the report, with the time-to-adoption horizon expected to be just one year or less for a critical mass of schools. Farther out, researchers expect 3D printing, adaptive learning technologies, digital badges and wearable technology to take their place in the mainstream of schools.