Essentials Magazine Essentials Fall 2017 | Page 28

A Look Inside the NMC/CoSN Horizon Report: 2017 K–12 Edition
The Potential Impact of
Emerging Technologies
on Teaching and Learning
What is on the five-year horizon for
schools? Which trends and technology
developments will drive educational
change? What are the critical challeng-
es and how can we strategize solutions?
These questions regarding technolo-
gy adoption and educational change
steered the discussions of 61 experts
to produce the NMC/CoSN Horizon
Report: 2017 K–12 Edition, in partner-
ship with the Consortium for School
Networking (CoSN) and made possible
by mindSpark Learning.
Six key trends, six significant chal-
lenges, and six developments in educa-
tional technology profiled in this report
are poised to impact teaching, learning,
and creative inquiry in K–12 educa-
tion. The three sections of this report
constitute a reference and technology
28 essentials | fall 2017
planning guide for educators, school ed-
ucation leaders, administrators, policy-
makers, and technologists. These high-
lights capture the big picture themes of
educational change that underpin the
18 topics:
1) Advancing progressive learn-
ing approaches requires cultural
transformation. Schools must be
structured to promote the exchange
of fresh ideas and identify successful
models with a lens toward sustainabil-
ity — especially in light of inevitable
leadership changes.
2) Learners are creators. The ad-
vent of makerspaces, classroom config-
urations that enable active learning, and
the inclusion of coding and robotics are
providing students with ample opportu-
nities to create and experiment in ways
that spur complex thinking. Students are
already designing their own solutions to
real-world challenges.
3) Inter- and multidisciplinary
learning breaks down silos. School
curricula are increasingly making
clear connections between subjects
like science and humanities, and
engineering and art, demonstrat-
ing to students that a well-rounded
perspective and skill set are vital to
real-world success.
4) The widespread use of tech-
nology does not translate into
equal learner achievement. Tech-
nology is an enabler but does not
alone compensate for gaps in student
engagement and performance attrib-
utable to socioeconomic status, race,
ethnicity, and gender.