Running head: FUTURE TRENDS REPORT -REFLECTION

ASSIGNMENT 4
Futurist Trends Report - Reflection

By
LESLEY-ANN BLACKBURN
ID#806007929

A Paper Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements of EDID6506: Trends and Issues in ID, IT and DE

University: The University of the West Indies Open Campus

Course Coordinator: Dr. Camille Dickson Deane
Course Facilitator: Dr. Camille Dickson Deane

Running head: FUTURE TRENDS REPORT -REFLECTION

Throughout this course, the pervasive message has been that

technological invention drives the trends that we as Instructional
Designers will study. Within the last ten years, the field has evolved
rapidly to rationalize the invention of MOOCs, Learning Analytics and
accessible learning through a mobile device, just to name a few. In
light of this Instructional designers are tasked with the challenge of
explaining how these new tools can be used effectively in the process
of teaching and learning. With the coming of each New Year new ideas
and technologies emerge, the instructional design landscape changes
and the cycle continues. The following presents my reflection as well
as a brief report on the trends that are expected to continue or emerge
in 2017.
By 2017, I estimate that technologies will continue to push the
boundaries on a few key areas. These include the way in which
creativity and innovation are harnessed from people, starting with
students. In a world where there are so many issues to fix and
challenges to overcome, the focus will be on ways in which we can
generate and collect these new ideas to solve these issues. Think tanks
have been around for some time however access to these are limited
and restricted to entrepreneurs, business professionals and Ivy League
schools. However with the emergence and use of Innovation Studios
and Makerspaces, the focus will now be on casting a wider net to
capture creative and innovative ideas to solve the worlds problems;
and these nets will be cast in the school systems.
Both Innovation Studios and Makerspaces provide collaborative spaces
and tools to allow students to create solutions to real world problems.
These creative solutions may be part of their course work (Educause
ELI Brief, 2013). According to an article in Campus Technology, an
Innovation Studio has been built at Penn State University and is
opened to all University staff, students and faculty (Meyer, 2015). In
both instances, experts may be available to guide students with their
projects however they may also receive assistance from other novice
users. By 2017, I expect to see more schools implement innovation
studios or use makerspaces as part of their teaching and learning
process.
Technology will also continue to push the boundaries on the way in
which learners interact with content, either bringing that content closer
to the user or making the content even more interactive. Interactive
Virtual Realities as a learning tool can help students connect the dots
between theory and practice and open up the possibilities for
instructional designers to develop learning scenarios around this. An
article that appeared in Fast Company on the Oculus Rift headset and

Running head: FUTURE TRENDS REPORT -REFLECTION

the Leap Motion 3D describes how students can use these tools to
learn the periodic table (Schwartz, 2014). By 2017, I estimate that
technology will continue to improve on interactive virtual realities
allowing students to fully immerse themselves into the content for
example a field trip to the solar system can see students walking
among the stars as they exam planetary bodies and the characteristics
that make them unique. Similarly 3-D printing has become a new trend
within the last few years allowing users to create new objects such as
toys in the first instance but has now extended to the creation of
engines by Tesla and Rocket parts by SpaceX (Kerr, 2013). With the
success of these reproductions, I expect that 3D printing will push the
envelop by creating materials that persons can actually use for
example food.
Edugagets are also projected to make an impact on instructional
design by 2017. Apple and Samsung among other mobile companies
as well as tech companies such as Fitbit have been racing to develop
new applications and tools that can provide valuable user information.
Notwithstanding the traditional use of mobile devices for
communication, they have been reincarnated into utility tools allowing
one to track their heart rate, give posture advice and track fitness
levels. Additionally, users can track their location through a compass or
GPS, scan documents that can be printed, create music or improve
ones photography skills. By 2017, mobile phones and wearables will
become less of what they intended to be and become more of an
educational tool or educational gadget that can be used for teaching
and learning.
In this technology age, education has been affected; mostly positively,
through technology. The rise of MOOCs has lead to a democratization
of higher education. Users from all over the world can attend a class at
some of the worlds most prestigious schools without being
matriculated. While there have been initial concerns about the
retention and completion rate of MOOCs (see Jordan, 2014), the trend
has continued to be strong with some companies such as Coursera,
expanding their services to include university level credits for a small
fee. Additionally online homework help communities have also allowed
users to seek assistance from experts in their subject area or even
novice users on their work outside of the classroom. Both trends
symbolize the movement from more formal learning systems to
complex, informal learning systems that are competing for the
attention of the learner. NMC.org in its annual trends in Higher
Education report went as far as to name this as a wicked trend since
its difficult to define and to address (NMC Horizon Report, 2015). By
2017, I estimate that this trend will continue to be an issue.

Running head: FUTURE TRENDS REPORT -REFLECTION

Cyber security has also come an important trend due to the number of
hacking incidents that have taken place in the US and in other
countries around the world. This has prompted new legislation such as
the Cyber Security Information Act of 2015, which allows government
agencies to share cyber security threat information with private
entities as well as to detect, prevent or mitigate cyber security threats.
(Cyber Security Information Act of 2015). The potential for this can
extend to schools increasing the security on their learning technologies
such as Learning Management or Student Information Management
systems to ensure that the information stored there is secure. By 2017
I estimate that this trend will also extend into mobile applications and
wearable technology tools that store user information, prompting these
companies to incorporate more fail-safe mechanism to protect the
information that is stored.
This activity required a lot of reading and experimenting to learn about
the various trends and tools that exist in order to project what may be
on the horizon for 2017. While some of the trends discussed here will
continue albeit in a modified or revamped form, I expect some new
trends to impact and change the way we think about teaching and
learning and by extension Instructional Design.
A link to the infographic predicting the trends in technology for 2017
can be found in the following link:
http://masteringinstructionaldesign.weebly.com/assignment-4.html

Running head: FUTURE TRENDS REPORT -REFLECTION

References
Cyber Security Information Act of 2015. S.754. (2015). Retrieved from
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/754
Educause ELI Brief. (2013). 7 things you should now about
Makerspaces. Retrieved from
https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eli7095.pdf
Jordan, K. (2014). Initial trends in enrolment and completion of massive
open online courses. The international review of research in open and
distance learning. 15 (1). Pg 133-160.
Kerr, D. (2013). SpaceX to build spacecraft parts with motion tech and
3D printers. Cnet. Article Retrieved from
http://www.cnet.com/news/spacex-to-build-spacecraft-parts-withmotion-tech-and-3d-printers/
Meyer, Leila. (2015). Penn State opens an Invention Studio. Campus
Technology. Article retrieved from
https://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/09/28/penn-state-opensinvention-studio.aspx
New Media Consortium. (2015). Horizon Report; Higer Education
Edition. Retrieved from http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2015-nmc-horizonreport-HE-EN.pdf
Schwartz, A. (2014). Interactive Virtual Reality in 3-D. The newest
learning tool. Fast Company. Article retrieved from
http://www.fastcoexist.com/3026765/interactive-virtual-reality-in-3-dthe-newest-learning-tool