Written byRob Reynolds
One of our goals at Xplanation is to share our general research forproduct planning and design with others in the education, educationaltechnology, and content publishing communities. We are committed tosharing our research and insights both as an obligation as a communitymember as well as an effective manner for participating in the dialoguein this dynamic and rapidly changing arena.
We certainly believe that sharing our research ideas and conclusionspublicly helps establish clear product philosophy for Xplana. Even moreimportant, however, is the fact that the research observations we sharevia The Xplanation represent a case of “putting our money where ourmouth is.” The conclusions we share via our blog are the sameconclusions that define our product roadmap and business decisionsaround the industry. This does not necessarily mean our research is moreaccurate than the work of others, but it does signify an additionallayer of personal and corporate reflection that goes into our work. In avery real sense, our research conclusions lead to specific investmentand product features. Last year, for example, we tagged more than 4000articles and generated numerous statistical summaries and reportsrelated to our trends. These helped guide our sponsoring company —Xplana-MBS Direct — in its development of the new social learningplatform, Xplana.com.
With that in mind, here are our Education and Technology Trends for2011. This year, we are presenting the trends in terms of “movements” or“transitions” that we feel will shape culture, technology, andeducation over the coming year. These trends represent the broadcategories and the, beneath these, we list specific topics we aretracking within each. We will use these trends guidelines for our daily,weekly, and monthly research over the next year.
Education and Technology Trends — 2011
Delivery –> Discovery (content) — Our traditionaleducation models, from architecture and business to pedagogy andcontent design, have been predicated on the notion of “delivery.” Thatis, information is packaged into closed and finite container models anddelivered to targeted age/learning/discipline groups. This deliverymodel assumes a great deal of homogeneity with regards to learning, andnecessitates that all learners in a group receive instruction withinsimilar time frames and utilizing similar learning styles. Over the nextyear, we will see important strides made in shifting our educationalmodels away from delivery and towards “discovery.” This will championdevelopment in the areas of search, personal and adaptive learning, OER,digital textbooks, and metadata.
Key Topics
Narrowcasting –> Nanocasting (distribution) — Oneof the most significant trends in media and publishing is the explosionof channels related to content and its access. The 80’s marked thetransition from broadcasting to narrowcasting in media with the adventof cable TV. In the new digital age, we are moving rapidly towards theintense personalization of content, to a model where every userrepresents his or her own custom distribution channel. We have alreadymoved from “one size fits all” to “a unique size for every person.” Ineducation, this means a proliferation of mobile learning apps, customcontent solutions, and the explosion of new technologies focused onpersonalized learning paths. Who and where each individual student is,along with their local needs, will increasingly drive the business.
Key Topics
Content –> Services (business models) — For thepast forty years, educational content providers have built an empirebased on siloed content with an emphasis on content ownership andcontrolled distribution. And this model flourished within a stable andslowly evolving Higher Education system. New technologies, new educationbusiness models, and cost pressures, however, are dictating aggressivechanges in the realm of educational content. In a world where much ofthe content is static or duplicated across content providers, we arebeginning to witness a devaluation of content and general and a rise inthe value of services. The coming year will see further developments inthis trend and we will witness intensified competition in the area ofcontent services among publishers.
Key Topics
Message –> User (experience) — In the digitalage, the user is increasingly a content producer and an activeparticipant within the media environment. Far from the age where userspassively received media messages, we now live in a time when users helpform (or become) the messages. In other words, the user is the newmedium. This means radical revisions to product and content design, andto the dual roles of instruction and learning in the educationalenterprise. It also means a new slate of content production tools andimproved e-commerce models that allow users to bypass the traditionalpaths of publishing and promotion.
Key Topics
Cloud –> Universe (technology) — Cloud computingis ubiquitous and its impact will continue to grow, particularly in theareas of social networking, communication, and productivity tools(Google Docs etc.). Over the next year, however, we will watch as thecloud expands and frees users not only from the tether of their localhard drives, but also from other boundaries that have separated themfrom content and other users. The cloud will continue to have localimplications but it will be the primary facilitator for globalization ineducation.
