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Two weeks ago I floated the idea of creating a new project, a future of education and technology initiative that would go beyond the late Horizon Report. I wasn’t sure if anyone would respond, to be honest.  This is awkward stuff, thinking about starting a new project while an inspirational one is being liquidated.  It’s a bit inside baseball, too. Then people did respond.  From all over the…

Today I’d like to continue my practice of sharing news stories that seem especially future-significant.  It’s part of horizon scanning.  (Check this article for an introduction.) For each story I’ll include a quick description, some supporting links, and a brisk yet cautious discussion of why it might matter for the future. ITEM: two neural networks outperformed humans on a reading comprehension…

Our book club’s next reading is… Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That’ll Improve and/or Ruin Everything

Last week I asked readers to vote for our book club‘s next reading.  After a very energetic process (117 votes, 7 comments, plenty of stuff on Twitter and via email), we have a new title. The winner is…. Kelly and Zach Weinersmith, Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That’ll Improve and/or Ruin Everything (home page; Amazon) (2017). As I noted in the original post, Zack is the creator of the…

Preserving today’s digital universe for the future: an important call

In the years to come, how can universities, libraries, and museums best preserve the digital present for the future? This has been a vital question for decades, but has taken on a new dimension of late as automation and algorithms have started altering the landscape.  How do we preserve algorithms and the systems they structure?  Cliff Lynch, the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI)’s leader…

Over the rest of January the Future Trends Forum will explore several vital issues for the future of education and technology: Monday, January 8: Katie Linder, research director for Oregon State University’s Extended Campus, will introduce an exciting and possibly unique new project that she just launched.  The Online Learning Efficacy Research Database aggregates scholarly research about how…

A slowdown in the number of international students heading to American colleges and universities has started putting pressure on those campuses while surprising none of my readers, according to the New York Times.  All right, the Times didn’t assess your savvy, but you get the idea. To recap: American higher ed has aggressively sought out foreign students for years and for various reasons,…

The Horizon Report, produced by the New Media Consortium, seems to be ending with that group’s liquidation.  (To learn more about the NMC’s sudden demise read here and here.) What’s next? Will the Horizon project become a historical artifact and recede into the past? Or can we create a new project, one that explores the future of education and technology, using some of Horizon’s strengths while…

What should our online book club read next?  After all, what better way to start a new year than by reading a book together! (One note from our last reading: Benjamin Kahn published a fine blog post about Cathy O’Neil’s Weapons of Math Destruction.  You can find all of my posts, your comments, and links about that important book here.) Our cat Hunter likes to read with us sometimes. If you’re new…

On the winter solstice, the northern hemisphere’s darkest day, I shared some dark thoughts about the future of education, technology, and society. Things haven’t gotten much better since.  This morning Wunderground * sent me their daily weather update: Today is forecast to be MUCH WARMER than yesterday. HI 8° F | LO -10° FC Caps in original. We don’t have much snow – just a foot or so – but it’s…

As 2017 comes to an end, publications keep sharing my words. At NPR Anya Kamanentz interviewed me about what seems to be happening with for-profit higher education.  (Anya was a fine Future Trends Forum guest.  In fact, she was our sixth, way back at the start.) As part of a series, “Reflections From 2017 for the Journey Ahead”, EdSurge ran a short article looking at ed tech trends that surprised…

I am writing this post after numerous public and private conversations, including some with lawyers. To be completely clear, in case it’s not: I do not work for the New Media Consortium.  I am an independent actor, unaffiliated with NMC, and running my own small business. In the past I have had several contract relationships with NMC, both paid and unpaid. Those all finished some time ago. I do…

What next for the New Media Consortium? Today’s discussion on the Forum

What will happen with the New Media Consortium?  Wither the staff, their Horizon Report, and the network of people around it? That’s what we’ll explore in today’s Future Trends Forum.  From 2-3 pm EST we will reflect and create anew – which is very much in the NMC spirit. Please join us.

The number of people enrolled in American higher education declined in fall 2017. That numbers has declined steadily for the past six years. My readers, viewers, listeners, and clients know that I’ve been talking about this as a major trend for our time.  Weirdly, it’s not a popular topic across a good deal of higher ed, either because it’s too abstract or too depressing.  It has little public…

Nearly one week ago the New Media Consortium stunned the education technology world by announcing it was shut down and liquidate its assets.  It’s been a wild and weird few days. With this post I’d like to update everyone.  Please offer your additions, corrections, and thoughts in comments below. The court (United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of California) has appointed a…

As the holidays draw nigh, I’m announcing a new tradition: a year end fundraiser! As an independent education futurist, I work full time to produce research.  This appears in articles, chapters, books, videos, interviews, and podcasts.  I also produce this blog, the Future Trends in Technology and Education report, the weekly Future Trends Forum, and the regular book club, all together under the…

Today is the winter solstice.  It is the longest night of the year, for those of us on Earth’s northern hemisphere.  In that hemisphere’s northern country, where I live, it can also be a day of cold, snow, and ice, depending on weather and global warming’s progress, but the great darkness gives everything an especially gloomy cast. We rise before sunrise and watch the night fall before dinner. …