Keep Your Sights on Ambient Insights 2012

I found Ambient Insight’s 2012 Learning Technology Research Taxonomy to be informative and possibly useful for educators, learning technology specialists and venturers. This report is comprehensive in detailing the current and recent trends in educational technologies by categories. The categories include: 7 international regions (e.g. North America, The Middle East), 8 buyer segments (e.g. Higher Education, Healthcare), 8 types of learning products (e.g. Game-Based Learning, Mobile learning) and 6 types of suppliers (e.g. Software as a Service, Learning devices). Besides providing a good understanding of the “basics” of learning technologies (availability and usage) and an overview of what is happening in education around the world, this report also highlights some specific, recent changes and areas for growth, application of new technologies and ultimately money-making ventures for educators/technology specialists. One noteworthy statement concerning the PreK-12 school districts in the United States is the growth of virtual schools to help cut costs. This raises a question whether we will see a similar trend in Canada and how that might affect teachers/teaching. The prediction in Higher Education, also in the U.S., that there will be more full time students taking classes online versus in-class by 2016 raises a similar question for Canadian educators.  Preparing for such changes will not only serve educators well from a teaching perspective but having this knowledge will bode well for creative minds in launching interesting, potentially lucrative, ventures to reach students in new and different ways.

This is certainly a company that I will look to for future reports as a means to keep updated on current trends in learning technologies. By taking the time to read what is happening globally in education will also help in making decisions when it comes to making purchasing decisions.  For example, recently my department purchased several iPads for use across all programs. Knowing that there are less expensive, content-specific educational tablets (personal learning devices) available provides an alternative that might save precious dollars and not leave teachers scratching their heads wondering “Thank you but…what do we do with these?”.

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