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Academic Digital

Horizon Report: Technological gizmos to revolutionise study

“Hannah Fearn reports on predictions of emerging technology that will improve teaching and learning

A strange new world in which students study on their mobile phones and learn in both virtual and “augmented” realities is less than five years away, according to technology experts.

The 2010 Horizon Report, published by the New Media Consortium in the US, predicts how emerging technologies will affect teaching and learning worldwide.

This year’s edition, released last week, says that in the short term mobile technology will have the biggest effect on pedagogy. However, within three years, e-books and “augmented-reality” technology will also play a major role in universities.

The academy, it claims, faces a host of challenges posed by technology. Emerging providers delivering higher education online are eroding the value of the university “gold standard”, it warns.

The role of universities in preparing students for work is also changing as “digital-media literacy continues its rise in importance as a key skill in every profession”.”

Read full story. Horizon Report preview (PDF), or website.