2008 Report Profiles Six Key Emerging Higher Educational Technologies

New Media Consortium (NMC) and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) have released the annual Horizon Report for 2008. The annual report describes the continuing work of the NMC's Horizon Project, a research-oriented effort that seeks to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have considerable impact on teaching, learning and creative expression within higher education.

Each year, the Horizon Report describes six areas of emerging technology that will have significant impact on higher education within three adoption horizons over the next one to five years.

"Campus leaders and practitioners alike use the report as a springboard for discussion around emerging technology," noted Larry Johnson, chief executive officer of the NMC. "As this is the fifth edition of the report, it also offers an opportunity to look back at the overarching trends over time. What we see is that there are several long-term, conceptual themes that have affected, and continue to affect, the practice of teaching and learning in profound ways."

In defining the six selected areas for 2008 -- grassroots video, collaboration webs, mobile broadband, data mashups, collective intelligence and social operating systems -- the project draws on an ongoing discussion among knowledgeable individuals in business, industry and education, as well as published resources, current research and practice and the expertise of the NMC and ELI communities. The Horizon Project's advisory board probes current trends and challenges in higher education, explores possible topics for the report and ultimately selects the technologies to be profiled.

The 32-page 2008 Horizon Report is free and has been released with a Creative Commons license to facilitate its widespread use, easy duplication and broad distribution. It can be accessed here.

<>