Group Constructor: Practical Games Based Learning Resource

We often talk about the merits of games based learning (e.g. ‘Developing Communication Skills via Games Based Learning’, tips for use (e.g. ‘Getting Started with Games in the Classroom’, case studies of serious games in action (e.g. ‘Proof of the Pudding Part 2’ and so on.  But, if you plan to use games based learning, there are some foundations that need to be in place.  If you want to use collaborative games based learning, then constructing teams is important.  Group Constructor takes the pressure off this task and allows you to focus on delivery.

Group Constructor is a free program from LangCorr that creates efficient groups.  Intended for teachers, Group Constructor reduces the time needed to construct groups for games based learning activities to an absolute minimum.  Most teachers will appreciate the power of getting groups right, especially with a more lively activity such as games based learning.

Group Constructor allows teachers to construct groups based on 12 parameters, including gender, level, competence and behaviour.  Teachers can also set up their own personalised parameters.  They can also decide if they would like to separate certain students or make others work together.  The program then constructs efficient groups based on the parameters activated by the teacher.  It also saves data about classes, so once students have been submitted to class lists, it takes less than a minute to construct efficient groups.  Students can also be involved in setting up class lists etc. which can encourage them to think about their own working habits and behaviour.

For more information, see the demo below:

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The Future of Ed-Tech and How to Get Started Now

Every now and then, we like to stray from the topics of games based learning and gamification and talk about something related but different.  We are fascinated by new technologies and what they can do for education and learning.  This blog post will look at some of the education technologies that might be a bit out of reach for the majority right now.  They might look a bit sci-fi, but this new tech could prove to be the future of education.  We’ll then give you a few ideas about how you can get started with implementing more ed-tech right now.  Please click on the tiny infographic too to the right from LearnDash to see a full-sized version with teacher and administrator opinions of ed-tech and some interesting statistics.

Google Glass
If you have never heard of Google Glass, the article, “A Teacher’s Guide to Google Glass” gives a good introduction as well as ways that the new tech might be useful for teachers.  Google Glass is likely to be out of most teachers’ price range right now, but educators have been getting excited about how it could revolutionise teaching.  The article, “How Google Glass Can Be Used In Education” is very informative and gives lots of inspiring ideas with a wonderful infographic.  For more real-world examples of how Google Glass is being used right now, have a look at “The Incredible Way a Michigan Physics Teacher Uses Google Glass”.

Augmented Reality
It might be a short while before augmented reality becomes mainstream too, mostly because the applications of the technology for education haven’t been discussed as prevalently as other technologies such as Google Glass.  But the article, “Augmented Reality is Going Mobile – And Coming to a Classroom Near You” is a very detailed analysis of what this tech could have to offer to the education world.

3D Printing
Again, this technology might be a little pricey right now, but as prices reduce and as people begin to discuss more and more applications of the technology for education, 3D printing might just be common-place in schools in only a couple of years.  This article discusses the “Importance of 3D Printing in Education”, including merits such as increasing interactivity and learning by doing.  For more examples of how schools are using this new tech, read “5 Ways Schools are Already Using 3D Printing”.

How Can I Get Started With Ed-Tech Right Now?

Before I give you some of my ideas, it would be very worthwhile to watch this short video from edutopia, “An Introduction to Technology Integration” which gives a great overview of why technology can be so powerful.

• Social Media: social media is an easy, natural, cheap and meaningful way of using more technology in your classroom.  Here is some suggested reading: “4 Ways To Improve School Communication Using Social Media” and for Twitter beginners, “100 Ways to Use Twitter in Education, by Degree of Difficulty”. 
• Blogging: again, blogging is relatively easy, cheap and meaningful.  It can be used in a variety of ways e.g. as a learning tool in itself (creative writing etc.), to promote school events, to connect with parents, to promote the school and so on.  Suggested reading: “10 Quick and Simple Ideas for Blogging in Class” and “A 60 Seconds Guide to the use of Blogging in Education”. 
• Virtual Field Trips: an easy way to give students more realistic and immersive experience of a topic or location from around the globe.  Field trips can include virtual tours of museums and art galleries, moon tours, virtual rainforest trips, arctic tours and so on.  Suggested reading: “10 Wonderful Virtual Field Trips for your Students” and “20 Awesome Virtual Learning Experiences Online”.
• Classroom Management: whether you want to incorporate gamification into your classroom management strategies or not, there are lots of ways of managing your classroom using technology.  These range from simple noise level monitors to full blown, gamified management systems with avatars, badges, leader boards and so on.  Suggested reading: “5 Classroom Management Apps Every Teacher Needs to Know About”.
• QR Codes: these are like bar codes that link to multimedia content when scanned with a device like a smart phone or tablet PC.  Suggested reading: “5 Real Ways to use QR Codes in Education”.
• Pinterest: I think Pinterest is a revolutionary tool for many people and teachers and pupils are no exception.  Have a look at our Pinterest boards for examples of how we use the tool.  Suggested reading: “How Pinterest is used in Education”.
• Scoop.it: an online tool for gathering information from blogs and news sites across the web that interest you or relates to a certain topic.  Suggested reading: “Why Scoopit is Becoming an Indispensable Learning Tool”.
• Interactive study guides: more and more apps are being developed for teachers and students and technology could be used to create interactive study guides.  Suggested reading: “6 iPad Apps that Help you Create Interactive Study Guides”.
• Projects: we have written about Project Based Learning before (“10 Benefits of Project Based Learning”), which is likely to become a popular feature of education in the near future.  Technology can be used to not only jazz up the presentation aspect of projects but also increase learning.  Suggested reading: “6 Brilliant EdTech Tools for Student Projects”  
• Tablet computers: you might not be able to integrate tablets right now and, as with everything, it is about what you do with the tech than the tech itself, but I couldn’t miss tablets from my list.  Suggested reading: “6 Examples of Successful Classroom Tablet Integration”.

Those are just a few ways that teachers could implement more technology into their classrooms.  Obviously there are many more ways, but these offer a good starting point.  It is important to remember though that technology should not be introduced just for the sake of it.  It can be powerful when used correctly and alongside fantastic teaching and is not a substitute for excellent tuition from teachers.  Careful thought and planning should be undertaken before any tech is introduced.

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Gamifying the Classroom: 10 Inspiring Articles

1. Let’s play school: Gamification and the future of education - This short article discusses how gamification in education can increase motivation and engagement.  The article contains insights from Khan Academy president Shantanu Sinha who argues that games are motivational as they allow people to progress at their own pace, they give immediate feedback and praise and they allow people to push their own boundaries.

Infographic by SuperFunner via this article.

2. Study’s the Name of the Game - This article provides a balanced introduction to gamification including various statistics.  It explains how one school uses games in science classes to achieve self-directed, organic learning.  Gamification enables the students to become fully immersed, engaged, motivated, lower their fear of failure and become better time managers.  The article also discusses research done on university students that found students absorbed more information than reading a book.  Importantly, the article warns against students becoming too extrinsically motivated and that gamification can actually be used to develop the intrinsic motivation to learn.

3. Six Ways to Look at Badging Systems Designed for Learning - While we at pixelfountain believe gamification should be more than simply awarding badges, this article has some interesting insights.  Some of the ways that the authors see badges working in education include: badges acting as alternative assessment, as learning scaffolding and to develop lifelong learning skills.

4. Gamifying Homework - This article discusses research done by Richard Landers on undergraduate students to encourage them to do their homework.  The researcher developed a social network for the students that included basic gamification principles and 28% of the students willingly chose to do extra work that wouldn’t affect their grades.

5. How to Use Game Dynamics in the Classroom - This article gives a brief introduction of another piece of research about using gamification in undergraduate courses.  The experimental group will have the chance to complete various challenges, which will earn them points.  The control group will have the same lectures but will be asked to complete quizzes (containing the same questions, but with no points system).  The groups will be compared on engagement, attendance and academic performance.  I am unable to find the results of the study, but it will be interesting to see if gamification had an impact.

6. The Gamified Classroom - Part 1: The Unique Obstacles Teachers Face - This article argues that gamification will encourage engagement in classrooms.  However, it also discusses potential problems: budget and scalability.

7. The Gamified Classroom – Part 2: Technology’s Role in a Gamified Classroom - Part two of the series explains how children should be taught 21st century skills rather than focussing on teaching them how to use the technology of the moment as this will be obsolete in not very long.  It also discusses how education should be student centred, however, unless there are fundamental shifts in the education system, this is difficult.  However, technology could be a way of achieving this as much gamified content is differentiated for different levels and personality types.  The article goes on to explain that children know how to use technology for entertainment, but the job of a teacher should be to show them how to use them for other purposes.  They should develop their 21st century skills in conjunction with the technology, but not dependent on it, to work collaboratively on projects, for research and so on.

8. The Gamified Classroom – Part 3: The Importance of Motivation - This part dicusses the work of Educational Psychologist Jere Brophy.  Brophy argued that Motivation = Expectancy (of success) x Value (of succeeding).  Brophy developed a series of factors that he found motivating and the article discusses how gamification could be used to reach the same ends.  Factors include: provide opportunities for choice and provide opportunities for students to respond actively.  The author argues that gamification works better that traditional education as it offers a narrative; learning has a purpose greater than simply achieving grades, and this is why it is so motivating.

9. Education Meets ‘World of Warcraft’ - This article highlights some interesting teaching methods.  A teacher begins each semester by greeting his class with “Congratulations, you have an F” and adds, “But you can level up”.  He designs his class like a Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game (MMORPG) such as World of Warcraft by dividing his class into guilds which must complete quests (such as making a presentation) to earn points and advance to the next level.  The article discusses the results this innovative teacher has achieved and discusses more about why gamification works and other ways that it has been used (such as to promote good interpersonal skills, not just good grades and attendance).

10. Gamifying the Classroom with World of Classcraft - This software uses the principles of MMORPGs in a classroom setting with the ultimate goal of making the whole class into a game.  Students earn experience points by doing positive actions in class, these lead to them levelling up and gaining special abilities (for themselves, peers and the class).  The software makes use of an online leader board and can be used across the curriculum.

If you haven’t already read them, have a read of our blog posts on gamification:

• Gamification - Different Types of User 
• How to Bring Gamification to the Classroom: Best Practices 
• Gamification of the Workplace 
• A Nice Overview of Games Based Learning (Gamification) – Infographic 
• Gamification of life 
• Behavioural Economics and Education 
• Gamification in Education 
• Gamification and Behavioural Change 
• Gamification, Education and Behavioural Economics 

How to Bring Gamification to the Classroom: Best Practices

Recently, I was privileged enough to be asked to guest post at gamifeye.com.  I wrote them a post about gamifying the classroom.  This phrase can be understood in several ways.  First, games based learning is a hot topic right now and teachers are wanting to bring games into their classrooms.  Secondly, teachers want to gamify the classroom in itself, in terms of monitoring progress and behaviour and so on.  I offer lots of ways that teachers might go about easily bringing gamification into the classroom; the best practices.  Click this link to read the whole post.

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Outstanding Lessons and Games Based Learning

For anyone who doesn't know, or who doesn't live in the UK, ‘Ofsted’ stands for The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills.  They essentially inspect schools (and other children’s services) and grade them based on various criteria.  This has a considerable effect on the school’s reputation.

The top ‘grade’ you can achieve through Ofsted is outstanding and teachers and schools all over the UK are striving to achieve ‘outstanding lessons’.  But what does this mean exactly?  How can games based learning help more lessons to be outstanding?

Outstanding lessons will obviously vary greatly depending on the lesson being taught.  However, what is common to achieving this standard is the quality of teaching and learning.  Ofsted say that outstanding teaching includes “a focus on pupils making exceptional progress as a result of inspiring teaching, from teachers having excellent subject knowledge and the innovative use of new technology” (information from http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/outstanding-lesson-11943).

In other words, one of Ofsted’s main criteria for outstanding lessons is the innovative use of new technologies.  This, in itself, would be a good reason to use games in lessons.  However, if we look at the criteria more closely, we can see how games based learning can tick more than one box.

Outstanding teachers must fulfil the following criteria:

• Subject expertise and flair
• The involvement of every pupil in the learning process
• Intelligent questioning involving every pupil
• The use of a wide variety of resources as appropriate including new technology
• Involving pupils in the learning process and developing independent learning.

For me, it goes without saying that teachers should have a reasonable level of subject expertise.  However, subject flair is a little more interesting and perhaps more difficult to prove.  One cannot impose passion for a subject on teachers but a good way to exhibit it may be to use a related game in lessons.  Being up-to-date on goings on in their field and finding new ways to instil knowledge that they find interesting is impressive and games exhibit this.

Good learning games should also involve every pupil in the learning process.  Games can tap into multiple learning styles (‘Games Based Learning Supports Multiple Learning Styles’) meaning that all children should be able to access the learning at some level.  Collaboration is also a great benefit of learning games.  Although some technology limits the amount of players, the ideal situation is for all pupils to be learning collaboratively from one game (see the pedagogy page of our corporate website).

The next criterion is intelligent questioning involving every pupil.  In my blog post ‘Unorthodox Uses of Games in Education’, I talked about a teacher using Angry Birds to teach his pupils.  Pupils built catapults to launch real life angry birds and all the while the teacher asked them questions about the physics behind what they were doing.  This can also be done with computer based learning games.

The final criterion involves developing independent learning.  This is really about motivating and inspiring pupils.  It is unlikely that children will become enthused about a topic if the lesson is uninspiring and involves a dull presentation with written exercises to follow.  This is the bulk of most education.  Children can become enthused by a topic and want to learn more about it on their own.  If you make something fun, i.e. by using a learning game, surely they are more likely to do this.

Outstanding lessons are judged on teaching practices, but they are also judged on how the students behave in a lesson.  The key factors (from http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/outstanding-lesson-11943) include:

• Are the pupils highly engaged?
• Do they move from listening to being positively motivated?
• Do they learn and make progress?
• Do they obviously enjoy the lesson and have fun, and are they keen to discuss what they have learned and what they might be doing in the next lesson?
• Do the pupils ask appropriate (and challenging) questions?
• Do they show a keen interest in the tasks?
• Are they proud of their work?
• Are the pupils involved in deciding any part/content of the next lesson on the topic?

Most (if not all) of these criteria can be met with the use of games based learning as part of the curriculum.  Games are excellent for engaging and motivating students and providing fun and enjoyment (see blog post: ‘Motivation, Motivation, Motivation').  A teacher observing one of our games-ED lessons said:  “The children were fully engaged for all the session and the ‘buzz’ in the room was one of real active learning” (from 'Marrying up to the Situated Learning Theory').  Children also talked to their parents following the session about how much they had enjoyed the learning simulation and what they had learned.  This is obviously a step up from the usual question of “What did you do today at school sweetheart?” being met with the response, “Stuff”.

Games are also a great way of showing progress.  Many games have some sort of score, ratings, badges, achievements and so on to show progress.  A teacher overseeing one of our games-ED lessons commented: “[The children] were genuinely interested to see the impact their purchases had made on the town. They were disappointed to see the results/consequences of their purchases in Year 2 and were keen to rectify them in Year 3!”  One of the pupils in the primary school also commented, “I liked finding out what score you got at the end and looking at the improvements.”  Playing a game multiple times enables you to clearly see skill / knowledge development.

From our experience of running our learning simulations in lessons, all of these criteria can be met.  If you want more of an idea of how learning games can help you achieve outstanding lessons, have a look at these previous blog posts, ‘Marrying up to the Situated Learning Theory’, ‘Proof of the Pudding’ and ‘Proof of the Pudding Part 2’ and have a look at our corporate website: games-ed.co.uk.  There are some demos of our products on there too, if you are interested.

There are obviously other factors that are important for outstanding lessons and using learning games in every lesson would be considered inappropriate.  However, it is extremely easy to see how using games in lessons can show evidence of outstanding teaching.  And more than simply providing evidence, games could achieve these outstanding outcomes for students and make real improvements to the standard of lessons and their learning.

Please follow @paulladley on Twitter, games-ED on Pinterest and like games-ED’s Facebook and Google+ pages for blog updates and other interesting games based learning bits and bobs.

Digital Games in the Classroom

A recent study by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center has produced some interesting findings about games based learning.  The full article can be found here.  I have selected the best snippets (in black) and provided some of my thoughts (in green).

“New York, NY, May 2, 2012 - The first national survey of teachers who are using digital games as part of their students' instruction, released today by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, found that digital games are becoming a consistent and valuable part of classroom activities. Fifty percent of teachers of grades K-8 reported they are using digital games with their students two or more days a week, with 18 percent using them daily.” 


…  


“Nearly 70 percent of educators reported that lower-performing students engage more with subject content with use of digital games, while three-fifths reported increased attention to specific tasks and improved collaborations among all students. Teachers said games make it easier to teach a range of learners in their classroom. Sixty percent said that using digital games helps personalize instruction and better assess student knowledge and learning.”


We have found similar benefits of games based learning in the classroom, as discussed in Proof of the Pudding parts 1, 2 and 3.  Sir. Ken Robinson argued that collaboration is increasingly important today in the world of work (see blog post) and this is one of the main focuses of games-ED products (as discussed here).


...


“"With over 90 percent of all school age children now playing digital games on a regular basis, and many underserved students struggling to benefit from traditional approaches, it is common sense to deploy interactive technologies to engage students in more personalized and joyful learning," said Dr. Michael Levine, Executive Director of the Cooney Center. "The survey confirms that in many classrooms teachers are asking students to put down their pencils and play."”


Again, these ideas are similar to those of Sir. Ken Robinson (see blog post); that current education systems are based on the ideas of the Industrial Revolution and are therefore, outdated.  Children are bored in lessons and given labels such as ADHD, which may simply be because they are used to being constantly stimulated by technology and their modern environments.  Education as it currently stands may in fact simply be boring and seems to definitely be stuck in the past.  As Dr. Michael Levine says, “it is common sense” to implement more interactive and engaging technologies, as that is what children are used to now.


...


“The number one obstacle teachers cited to integrating digital games into the classroom is cost. The second most reported obstacles cited in the survey are lack of access to technology resources and emphasis on standardized test preparation.”


Some of these obstacles are talked about in the ‘Five Things to Think About When Using Games in the Classroom’ blog article.  With games-ED software, only one computer is needed to play the games.  This avoids the cost of buying games consoles and the hassle of booking IT suites etc.  The Games Based Learning Analysis and Planning Tool by Paul Ladley also talks about initial costs, hidden costs and value for money.  The cost obstacle may be an issue for commercial entertainment games if you have to buy multiple licences.  This is often not true of purpose-built games.  For example, games-ED products only require one license which offers great value for money as they can be used across the curriculum, with different age groups and so on.


...


“A summary of the findings are available for download at www.joanganzcooneycenter.org/images/presentation/jgcc_teacher_survey.pdf.”


Author: Sian Ladley

Michael Gove on education and IT

Michael Gove (Education Minister) speaking at BETT 2012. Text taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/jan/11/digital-literacy-michael-gove-speech

What can technology do for learning?

Three points immediately:

• First, technology has the potential to disseminate learning much more widely than ever before. Subjects, classes and concepts that were previously limited to a privileged few are now freely available to any child or adult with an internet connection, all over the world.

• Second, just as technology raises profound questions about how we learn, it also prompts us to think about how we teach. Games and interactive software can help pupils acquire complicated skills and rigorous knowledge in an engaging and enjoyable way. Adaptive software has the ability to recognise and respond to different abilities, personalising teaching for every pupil.

• Third, technology brings unprecedented opportunities for assessment. Teachers can now support pupils' learning by assessing their progress in a much more sophisticated way, and sharing assessments with pupils and parents.

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The Full Speech ( Bits in red pick up on games and a previous post on the ICT curriculum).

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Thank you very much, Dominic, for that kind introduction. I'm delighted to be here at BETT today.

And I have to start by congratulating all the companies in this Hall.

British companies are world-leaders in the field of educational technology, and going from strength to strength – the members of Besa, for example, increased exports by 12% in 2010. Crick Software, which has worked in the USA, Chile and Qatar and which already supplies 90% of UK primary schools, recently secured their biggest single order ever, supplying half of all schools in Moscow with Clicker 5 literacy software (fully translated into Russian).

Promethean, which makes interactive whiteboards and educational software, signed a memorandum of collaboration with the Mexican Ministry of Education last June to work in primary and secondary education throughout Mexico.

These are just a few of the hugely impressive achievements of British companies – and there are many more all around us. I'd also like to mention particularly all those shortlisted for the BETT awards tonight. Good luck to all nominees, and congratulations (in advance) to the winners…

How technology has changed the world, and the workplace

All around us, the world has changed in previously unimaginable and impossible ways. Most of us carry more advanced technology in the smartphone in our pocket than Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin used to reach the Moon.

Every day we work in environments which are completely different to those of twenty-five or a hundred years ago.

Where once clerks scribbled on card indexes and lived by the Dewey Decimal system, now thousands of office workers roam the world from their desktop.

Where once car manufacturing plants housed lines of workers hammering and soldering and drilling, now a technician controls the delicate operations of a whole series of robots.

When I started out as a journalist in the 1980s, it was a case of typewriters and telexes in smoky newsrooms, surrounded by the distant clatter of hot metal.

Now newsrooms – and journalists – are almost unrecognisable, as are the daily tools of the trade. The telex machine became a fax, then a pager, then email. A desktop computer became a laptop computer. My pockets were filled with huge mobile phones, then smaller mobile phones, a Blackberry, and now an e-reader and iPad.

And with each new gadget, each huge leap forward, technology has expanded into new intellectual and commercial fields.

Twenty years ago, medicine was not an information technology. Now, genomes have been decoded and the technologies of biological engineering and synthetic biology are transforming medicine. The boundary between biology and IT is already blurring into whole new fields, like bio-informatics.

Twenty years ago, science journals were full of articles about the 'AI Winter' – the fear that post-war hopes for Artificial Intelligence had stalled. Now, detailed computer models show us more than we ever imagined about the geography of our minds. Amazing brain-computer-interfaces allow us to control our physical environment by the power of thought – truly an example of Arthur C. Clarke's comment that any sufficiently advanced technology can seem like magic.

Twenty years ago, only a tiny number of specialists knew what the internet was and what it might shortly become. Now, billions of people and trillions of cheap sensors are connecting to each other, all over the world – and more come online every minute of every day.

Almost every field of employment now depends on technology. From radio, to television, computers and the internet, each new technological advance has changed our world and changed us too.

But there is one notable exception.

Education has barely changed

The fundamental model of school education is still a teacher talking to a group of pupils. It has barely changed over the centuries, even since Plato established the earliest "akademia" in a shady olive grove in ancient Athens.

A Victorian schoolteacher could enter a 21st century classroom and feel completely at home. Whiteboards may have eliminated chalk dust, chairs may have migrated from rows to groups, but a teacher still stands in front of the class, talking, testing and questioning.

But that model won't be the same in twenty years' time. It may well be extinct in ten.

Technology is already bringing about a profound transformation in education, in ways that we can see before our very eyes and in others that we haven't even dreamt of yet.

Now, as we all know, confident predictions of the technological future have a habit of embarrassing the predictor.

As early as 1899, the director of the U.S. Patent Office, Charles H. Duell, blithely asserted that "everything that can be invented has already been invented."

In 1943, the chairman of IBM guessed that "there is a world market for maybe five computers". The editor of the Radio Times said in 1936, "television won't matter in your lifetime or mine".

Most impressively of all, Lord Kelvin, President of the Royal Society, scored a hat-trick of embarrassing predictions between 1897-9, declaring, "radio has no future", "X-rays are clearly a hoax" and "the aeroplane is scientifically impossible".

A new approach to technology policy

I don't aspire to join that illustrious company by stating on record that this technology or that gadget is going to change the world. Nothing has a shorter shelf-life than the cutting edge.

But we in Britain should never forget that one of our great heroes, Alan Turing, laid the foundation stones on which all modern computing rests. His pioneering work on theoretical computation in the 1930s laid the way for Turing himself, von Neumann and others to create the computer industry as we know it.

Another generation's pioneer, Bill Gates, warned that the need for children to understand computer programming is much more acute now than when he was growing up. Yet as the chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt, recently lamented, we in England have allowed our education system to ignore our great heritage and we are paying the price for it.

Our school system has not prepared children for this new world. Millions have left school over the past decade without even the basics they need for a decent job. And the current curriculum cannot prepare British students to work at the very forefront of technological change.

Last year's superb Livingstone –Hope Review – for which I would like to thank both authors – said that the slump in UK's video games development sector is partly the result of a lack of suitably-qualified graduates. The review, commissioned by Ed Vaizey who has championed the Computer Science cause in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, found that the UK had been let down by an ICT curriculum that neglects the rigorous computer science and programming skills which high-tech industries need.

It's clear that technology is going to bring profound changes to how and what we teach. But it's equally clear that we have not yet managed to make the most of it.

Governments are notoriously flat-footed when it comes to anticipating and facilitating technical change. Too often, in the past, administrations have been seduced into spending huge sums on hardware which is obsolete before the ink is dry on the contract. Or invested vast amounts of time and money in drawing up new curricula, painstakingly detailing specific skills and techniques which are superseded almost immediately.

I believe that we need to take a step back.

Already, technology is helping us to understand the process of learning. Brain scans and scientific studies are now showing us how we understand the structure of language, how we remember and forget, the benefits of properly designed and delivered testing and the importance of working memory.

As science advances, our understanding of the brain will grow – and as it grows, it will teach us more about the process of education.

What can technology do for learning?

Rather than rushing pell-mell after any particular technology, filling school cupboards with today's answer to Betamaxes and floppy discs, we need to ask ourselves a fundamental question.

What can technology do for learning?

Three points immediately:

· First, technology has the potential to disseminate learning much more widely than ever before. Subjects, classes and concepts that were previously limited to a privileged few are now freely available to any child or adult with an internet connection, all over the world.

Look at 02 learn, a free online library of lesson videos developed and uploaded by teachers. It has already delivered around 25,000 hours of teaching via 1000 lessons from every type of school and college, right across the country: science lessons from The Bishop Wand Church of England Comprehensive School, music lessons from Eton. What about iTunes U, where lectures from the world's top universities are available at the touch of a button, and where the Independent Schools Council, Teaching Leaders and some of the best Academy Chains are working to put materials and lesson videos online? Or the hugely successful Khan Academy: more than 3.5 million students watch its educational videos every month and Google has donated $2 million for its materials to be translated into 10 languages.

I've been lucky enough to see first hand in Singapore how brilliant lessons can be delivered through a mixture of online and teacher-led instruction. And in areas of specialist teacher shortage, specialist teaching could be provided for groups of schools online, giving more children the opportunity to learn subjects that were previously closed to them. The Further Maths Support Programme, for example, is using the internet to give poorer families access to specialist help for the STEP papers, which dominate the best universities' selection process for Maths degree courses.

As online materials grow and flourish, we all need to think about how we can guide students through the wealth of information and techniques freely available and accessible online.

And, of course, I'm not just talking about opportunities for pupils to learn. The Royal Shakespeare Company is working with the University of Warwick on an online professional development learning platform to transform the teaching of Shakespeare in schools. Launching next month, the "rehearsal room" teaching resources will give teachers all over the world access to the insights and working practices of internationally-renowned actors, artists and directors, as well as specialist academics and teachers. The programme will even offer the chance to study for a Post Graduate qualification in the Teaching of Shakespeare.

The Knowledge is Power Programme, one of the most successful and widely-studied charter school chains in America, is already using ubiquitous, cheap digital technology to share lessons from its most proficient teachers. Even the best teachers can hone their skills by watching their peers in action.

· Second, just as technology raises profound questions about how we learn, it also prompts us to think about how we teach.

Games and interactive software can help pupils acquire complicated skills and rigorous knowledge in an engaging and enjoyable way. Adaptive software has the ability to recognise and respond to different abilities, personalising teaching for every pupil. With the expert help of a teacher, students can progress at different rates through lessons calibrated to stretch them just the right amount.


Britain has an incredibly strong games industry, with vast potential to engage with education both in this country and all over the world. We're already seeing these technologies being used in imaginative ways. Games developed by Marcus Du Sautoy, Professor of Mathematics at Oxford, are introducing children to advanced, complicated maths problems – and are producing great results.

Before Christmas I visited Kingsford School in Newham, where the Department for Education is working with the Li Ka Shing Foundation and the highly respected Stanford Research Institute. Their pilot scheme uses computer programmes to teach maths interactively – for example, showing a race between two people on screen and inviting pupils to plot their time and distance on a graph, then adjust it for variables.

Again, this pilot hasn't been dictated by central government, and we haven't developed the programme. But Stanford already says it is one of the most successful educational projects they have seen and I am looking forward to seeing the results.

· Third, technology brings unprecedented opportunities for assessment. Teachers can now support pupils' learning by assessing their progress in a much more sophisticated way, and sharing assessments with pupils and parents.

Each pupil's strengths and weaknesses can be closely monitored without stigmatising those who are struggling or embarrassing those are streaking ahead. Teachers can adjust lesson plans to target areas where pupils are weakest, and identify gaps in knowledge quickly and reliably.

Sophisticated assessment like this is already being used in schools around the country. Brailes Primary School, for example, a small rural school on the border of Warwickshire and Oxfordshire, uses online tools enabling teachers to use pre-assembled tests, or design tests of their own. One of the teachers, Deborah Smith, has praised the system, saying, "it has enabled me to differentiate my teaching to meet the needs of different groups. The assessments are quick and simple to prepare…leaving more time for planning and teaching."

In Chichester School for Boys, electronic voting pads provide students with instant feedback during classes. Teachers get real-time feedback on how well their material is being understood – even on a question by question basis.

These are just three ways in which technology is profoundly changing education today – and I am sure that there will be more.

We're not going to tell you what to do

While things are changing so rapidly, while the technology is unpredictable and the future is unknowable, Government must not wade in from the centre to prescribe to schools exactly what they should be doing and how they should be doing it.

We must work with these developments as they arise: supporting, facilitating and encouraging change, rather than dictating it.

By its very nature, new technology is a disruptive force. It innovates, and invents; it flattens hierarchies, and encourages creativity and fresh thinking.

I could say the same of our whole school reform programme. In fact, I'm fairly sure I have said the same.

Just as we've devolved greater autonomy to schools, and put our trust in the professionalism of teachers; just as we've lifted the burden of central prescription, and given heads and schools power over their own destiny; just as the internet has made information more democratic, and given every single user the chance to talk to the world; so technology will bring more autonomy to each of us here in this room.

This is a huge opportunity. But it's also a responsibility.

We want to focus on training teachers

That's why, rather than focusing on hardware or procurement, we are investing in training individuals. We need to improve the training of teachers so that they have the skills and knowledge they need to make the most of the opportunities ahead.

It is vital that teachers can feel confident using technological tools and resources for their own and their pupils' benefit, both within and beyond the classroom, and can adapt to new technologies as they emerge. That means ensuring that teachers receive the best possible ITT and CPD in the use of educational technology.

Working with the TDA, we will be looking at initial teacher training courses carefully in the coming year so that teachers get the skills and experience they need to use technology confidently. And we're working with Nesta who, supported by Nominet Trust and others, are today announcing a £2m programme to fund and research innovative technology projects in schools.

We must also encourage teachers to learn from other schools which are doing this particularly well.

Some ICT teaching in schools is already excellent - as reported in the most recent Ofsted report on ICT education and last year's Naace report, "The Importance of Technology".

Sharing that excellence will help all schools to drive up standards. We are already working with the Open University on Vital, a programme encouraging teachers to share ICT expertise between schools. High-performing academy chains will also play a huge role in spreading existing best practice and innovation between schools.

And Teaching Schools across the country are already forming networks to help other schools develop and improve their use of technology. The Department for Education is going to provide dedicated funding to Teaching Schools to support this work.

The current, flawed ICT curriculum

The disruptive, innovative, creative force of new technology also pushes us to think about the curriculum.

And one area exemplifies, more than any other, the perils of the centre seeking to capture in leaden prose the restless spirit of technological innovation.

I refer, of course, to the current ICT curriculum.

The best degrees in computer science are among the most rigorous and respected qualifications in the world. They're based on one of the most formidable intellectual fields – logic and set theory – and prepare students for immensely rewarding careers and world-changing innovations.


But you'd never know that from the current ICT curriculum.


Schools, teachers and industry leaders have all told us that the current curriculum is too off-putting, too demotivating, too dull.


Submissions to the National Curriculum Review Call for Evidence from organisations including the British Computer Society, Computing at School, eSkills UK, Naace and the Royal Society, all called the current National Curriculum for ICT unsatisfactory.


They're worried that it doesn't stretch pupils enough or allow enough opportunities for innovation and experimentation – and they're telling me the curriculum has to change radically.


Some respondents in a 2009 research study by e-Skills said that ICT GCSE was "so harmful, boring and / or irrelevant it should simply be scrapped". The Royal Society is so concerned that it has spent two years researching the problem with universities, employers, teachers and professional bodies – so I'm looking forward to its report, due to be published on Friday. And while ICT is so unpopular, there are grave doubts about existing Computer Science 16-18 courses.


In short, just at the time when technology is bursting with potential, teachers, professionals, employers, universities, parents and pupils are all telling us the same thing. ICT in schools is a mess.


Disapplying the Programme of Study


That's why I am announcing today that the Department for Education is opening a consultation on withdrawing the existing National Curriculum Programme of Study for ICT from September this year.


The traditional approach would have been to keep the Programme of Study in place for the next four years while we assembled a panel of experts, wrote a new ICT curriculum, spent a fortune on new teacher training, and engaged with exam boards for new ICT GCSES that would become obsolete almost immediately.


We will not be doing that.


Technology in schools will no longer be micromanaged by Whitehall. By withdrawing the Programme of Study, we're giving schools and teachers freedom over what and how to teach; revolutionising ICT as we know it.


Let me stress - ICT will remain compulsory at all key stages, and will still be taught at every stage of the curriculum. The existing Programme of Study will remain on the web for reference.


But no English school will be forced to follow it any more. From this September, all schools will be free to use the amazing resources that already exist on the web.


Universities, businesses and others will have the opportunity to devise new courses and exams. In particular, we want to see universities and businesses create new high quality Computer Science GCSEs, and develop curricula encouraging schools to make use of the brilliant Computer Science content available on the web.


I am pleased that OCR is pioneering work in this field, and that IBM and others are already working on a pilot. Facebook has teamed up with UK-based organisation Apps for Good to offer young people the chance to learn how to design, code and build social applications for use on social networks, via a unique new training course which they aim to make freely available online this year to potential users all over the world.


And other specialist groups have published or are about to publish detailed ICT curricula and programmes of study, including Computing At School (led by the British Computer Society and the Institute of IT), Behind the Screens (led by eSkills UK), Naace and others, with considerable support from industry leaders.


Imagine the dramatic change which could be possible in just a few years, once we remove the roadblock of the existing ICT curriculum. Instead of children bored out of their minds being taught how to use Word and Excel by bored teachers, we could have 11 year-olds able to write simple 2D computer animations using an MIT tool called Scratch. By 16, they could have an understanding of formal logic previously covered only in University courses and be writing their own Apps for smartphones.


This is not an airy promise from an MP – this is the prediction of people like Ian Livingstone who have built world-class companies from computer science.


And we're encouraging rigorous Computer Science courses


The new Computer Science courses will reflect what you all know: that Computer Science is a rigorous, fascinating and intellectually challenging subject.


After all, the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, is one of the most innovative and successful proponents of Computer Science today. But his computing skills are just as rigorous as the rest of his talents – which include Maths, Science, French, Hebrew, Latin and Ancient Greek.


Computer Science requires a thorough grounding in logic and set theory, and is merging with other scientific fields into new hybrid research subjects like computational biology.


So I am also announcing today that, if new Computer Science GCSEs are developed that meet high standards of intellectual depth and practical value, we will certainly consider including Computer Science as an option in the English Baccalaureate.


Although individual technologies change day by day, they are underpinned by foundational concepts and principles that have endured for decades. Long after today's pupils leave school and enter the workplace – long after the technologies they used at school are obsolete – the principles learnt in Computer Science will still hold true.

An open-source curriculum

Advances in technology should also make us think about the broader school curriculum in a new way.

In an open-source world, why should we accept that a curriculum is a single, static document? A statement of priorities frozen in time; a blunt instrument landing with a thunk on teachers' desks and updated only centrally and only infrequently?

In ICT, for example, schools are already leading the way when it comes to using educational technology in new and exciting ways – and they're doing it in spite of the existing ICT curriculum, not because of it.

The essential requirements of the National Curriculum need to be specified in law, but perhaps we could use technology creatively to help us develop that content. And beyond the new, slimmed down National Curriculum, we need to consider how we can take a wiki, collaborative approach to developing new curriculum materials; using technological platforms to their full advantage in creating something far more sophisticated than anything previously available.

This means freedom and autonomy

Disapplying the ICT programme of study is about freedom. It will mean that, for the first time, teachers will be allowed to cover truly innovative, specialist and challenging topics.

And whether they choose a premade curriculum, or whether they design their own programme of study specifically for their school, they will have the freedom and flexibility to decide what is best for their pupils.

Teachers will now be allowed to focus more sharply on the subjects they think matter – for example, teaching exactly how computers work, studying the basics of programming and coding and encouraging pupils to have a go themselves.

Initiatives like the Raspberry Pi scheme will give children the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of programming with their own credit card sized, single-board computers. With minimal memory and no disk drives, the Raspberry Pi computer can operate basic programming languages, handle tasks like spread sheets, word-processing and games, and connect to wifi via a dongle – all for between £16 and £22. This is a great example of the cutting edge of education technology happening right here in the UK. It could bring the same excitement as the BBC Micro did in the 1980s, and I know that it's being carefully watched by education and technology experts all over the world.

As well as choosing what to study, schools can also choose how. Technology can be integrated and embedded across the whole curriculum.

In geography lessons, for example, pupils could access the specialised software and tools used by professional geographers, allowing them to tackle more challenging and interesting work. Molecular modelling software could bring huge advantages for science students.

The Abbey School in Reading has already been piloting 3D technologies for teaching Biology, showing 3D images of the heart pumping blood through valves, and manipulating, rotating and tilting the heart in real time. As Abbey School Biology teacher Ros Johnson said, the 3D technology "has made me realise what they weren't understanding...what I can't believe is how much difference it has made to the girls' understanding".

This isn't a finished strategy – but it shows our ambition

The use of technology in schools is a subject that will keep growing and changing, just as technology keeps growing and changing.

But we can be confident about one thing. Demand for high-level skills will only grow in the years ahead. In work, academia and their personal lives, young people will depend upon their technological literacy and knowledge.

And this doesn't just affect our country. Every nation in the world will be changed by the growth of technology and we in Britain must ensure that we can make the most of our incredible assets to become world-leaders in educational technology.

Today has seen the conclusion of the Education World Forum here in London. I cannot emphasise enough how important it is for me, personally, that we learn from the highest performing education systems – some of whom I am delighted to see represented here – and I am very grateful to everyone who has taken the time and trouble to come to London for this event.

I'm not here today to announce our final, inflexible, immutable technology strategy. There's no blueprint to follow – and we don't know what our destination will look like.

I'm setting out our direction of travel, and taking the first few steps. There is lots more to come, and we will have more to say over the course of the year.

I'd also like to welcome the online discussion launched today at schoolstech.org.uk and using the twitter hashtag #schoolstech. We need a serious, intelligent conversation about how technology will transform education – and I look forward to finding out what everyone has to say.

We want a modern education system which exploits the best that technology can offer to schools, teachers and pupils. Where schools use technology in imaginative and effective ways to build the knowledge, understanding and skills that young people need for the future. And where we can adapt to and welcome every new technological advance that comes along to change everything, all over again, in ways we never expected.

Events like the BETT show are crucial in showcasing the best and brightest of the technology industry, showing what can be done – and what is already being achieved. We will depend upon your insight and ideas, your expertise and experience, as you take these technologies into your schools and try them with your students.

Thank you again to BETT for inviting me, and I wish you all good exploring today.

Computer Simulations Can Be as Effective as Direct Observation at Teaching Students

Image courtesy of freeimages.co.uk

Only just found this article on the Science Daily website written in February 2010. Note to myself, must keep up.

Anyway, the article discusses a  study conducted by Kathy Cabe Trundle (Ohio State University) and Randy Bell (University of Virginia).

Science Daily quote Kathy Cabe Trundle, "The results suggest the use of computer simulations in science classes may be an effective and often less expensive and time-consuming way to teach some science concepts ... Our expectation was that the computer simulation would be at least as effective as direct observation in teaching about moon phases ... When we did our analysis, the simulation was just as effective in teaching two aspects of moon phases, and more effective in a third aspect. So we were excited by that."

The study was split into three groups: One class learned about moon phases using only a computer simulation, one group from nature alone, and a third group from both a computer simulation and nature. Those who used only computer simulations did just as well as others in learning causes of moon phases and shapes of moon phases. But those who used the simulations were actually slightly more likely than others to understand the sequences of moon phases.

As the report authors suggest, the simulation enabled the students to see all of the phases which is not always possible with nature observations (too true in Manchester, where I am based). And as I have observed in my own use of simulations, the approach is able to accelerate the learning process. Simulations offer other advantages too in terms of cost and risk (simulation or standing on the edge of volcanic crater, anyone).

The study suggests that simulation could have uses in other areas of science such as biology. I would also add that the social sciences are also ripe for the use of simulations. I have developed simulations that can be used in the geography curriculum, for instance. History, business studies, environmental studies etc also are good candidates for the simulation treatment. Simulations are particularly useful at explaining complex non-linear topics. They are also useful for cross curricular activities, so our Sustainaville simulation could be used in Citizenship; Personal  Social Health Education, Business Studies, Geography and Science.

All we need now is for educators to take one small step for their teaching and one giant leap for educational attainment.

Developing Communication Skills via Games Based Learning

"In socially deprived areas more than 50% of children begin school without the ability to speak in long sentences, which experts say can lead to problems in later life. One hundred schools across England are taking part in a day without pens to tackle this speech deficit... Language impairment is found to be an issue for two-thirds of children with serious behavioural problems, 60% of young offenders, and up to 90% of unemployed young men." - BBC

And from another article from the BBC quoting the communications charity ICAN, "Once upon a time a family would spend a lot of time talking and nowadays of course they have DVDs, the internet, the TV and so this formal communication process in terms of talking and listening has got worse due to lack of opportunity."

To be fair to Jean Gross of ICAN, she is not saying new mediums stop conversations but they can become a distraction in family discourse. Of course the alternative might be true; the family might discuss whether they liked a film and what it meant. This leads me on to point I have previously made in this blog. It is not the technology that is the issue; it is the design and the delivery in the classroom that is limiting games based learning outcomes.

And now for something completely different

As I wrote in a previous blog (The Art of Conversation) games based learning can anchor conversations: In our games-ED products the gameplay is structured around rounds, whole class involvement and phases to encourage conversation. The learners talk in their teams, between teams, at a class level and with the educator. The game anchors these conversations  to flow during the course of the plan > do > review phases. These conversations are at the heart of the learning; they are inclusive and are not formalised / one-way. It is through these questions that learning flows.

Moreover, the game provides a situation (creating a sustainable community)  to practice communication skills in terms of listening, presenting arguments and information, negotiating and providing instruction. The games allow different students to communicate and provides a powerful collaborative learning environment.

Games Based Learning, Education Policy and Market

Looking at a recent speech made by Michael Gove and the responses to it tell us as much about the education system as it does about games in education.

In the section of his speech on harnessing technology in the classroom he stated:

“In addition to the debate over what is taught, and the issue of who does the teaching, we also need to think about how the teaching takes place. So as well as reviewing our curriculum and strengthening our workforce, we need to look at the way the very technological innovations we are racing to keep up with can help us along the way. We need to change curricula, tests and teaching to keep up with technology, and technology itself is changing curricula, tests, and teaching.”

He went on to say:

“Computer games developed by Marcus Du Sautoy are enabling children to engage with complex mathematical problems that would hitherto have been thought too advanced. When children need to solve equations in order to get more ammo to shoot the aliens, it is amazing how quickly they can learn. I am sure that this field of educational games has huge potential for maths and science teaching and I know that Marcus himself has been thinking about how he might be able to create games to introduce advanced concepts, such as non-Euclidean geometry, to children at a much earlier stage than normal in schools.”

He concluded:

“These developments are only beginning. They must develop on the ground - Whitehall must enable these innovations but not seek to micromanage them. The new environment of teaching schools will be a fertile ecosystem for experimenting and spreading successful ideas rapidly through the system.”

A number of games related blogs have been positive about Gove’s speech but others have been more circumspect. For example, The Guardian wrote a critical account in “Is Michael Gove's concept of learning in the digital era outdated?”

My view: I guess we need to take him at his word, until we know more. He recognises the importance of technology in the education system. He cites the use of games in mathematics classes and goes on to say that they enable accelerated learning.

I recognise the Gove didn’t expand greatly on the use of games based learning. But is the Guardian is correct in stating “the problem is, Gove's speech represents an out dated concept of technology and learning; it is part of a lingering belief that computers should be used merely as information retrieval and reward systems within the traditional education system.”

Certainly, there are broader examples of games based learning including the work we do at games-ED:

• Using Games Based Learning in a Primary School 
• Using Games Based Learning in a Secondary School 
• We even used games design and development as a learning activity in its own right.

But, could it be that he simply Gove just hasn’t got very good examples of the use of games based learning. Maybe, we simply need to wait and see. And with one third of secondary schools becoming academies, there will be more freedom in the education system anyway. As he says, “the National Curriculum should provide a foundation of knowledge. Great teachers, inspired by love for their subjects, should make the classroom come alive". Will he practice what he preaches?

Instead of looking for a game based learning to be decided on from the top, the industry needs to create the products teachers want and teachers need to take a few more chances in their classes. Who knows the market might just get it right and then it might not…

Thoughts on the Horizon Report 2011

The NMC Horizon Report series identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, research, or creative expression within education around the globe. The following blog post is a summary of the 2011 report (black text) along with some of my own thoughts (in blue italics). Oh, and given this a games based learning blog, pride of place is given to this technology.

Games Based Learning (two to three years away)
Early studies of consumer games helped to identify the aspects of games that make them especially engaging and appealing to players of various ages and of both genders: the feeling of working toward a goal; the possibility of attaining spectacular successes; the ability to problem-solve, collaborate with others, and socialize; an interesting story line; and other characteristics. These qualities are replicable for educational content, though they can be difficult to design well.

The production requirements seen in popular consumer games thus far have exceeded education providers’ abilities to build them. In The NMC Horizon Report: 2010 K-12 Edition game-based learning was also positioned on the mid-term horizon, and that remains the case today, although it does seem to be gaining acceptance.

One of the problems with the interest commercial games and education is that they seem to have overly influenced game based learning design. I agree that designing good games based learning might be a challenge, but central to the design should be that the learning experience is paramount. Throwing in all the bells and whistles like the latest blockbuster Xbox / PS3 game isn’t necessary. And in reality, in the commercial gaming world there is a growing segment of simpler game designs – Angry Birds, anyone?


What determines the design of games like Angry Birds or Wii Sport (two of the most successful games of recent times)? Well, they have to run on low spec devices; they have to be understood quickly; they don’t have to be complex; and (in the case of Wii Sports) they need to get individuals playing together. Sounds like The 6 Key Principles of Collaborative Games Based Learning, funny that ;)

This year, there has also been a great deal of traction surrounding online games and game apps for mobile devices.

See comments on mobiles in UK classrooms, below.

Designing and developing games is another way to bring games into the curriculum. Good game design involves research, creative thinking, the ability to envision both problems and solutions, and many other learning skills.

Have a gander at a couple of game design development projects that I have been involved:

• Developing Games with Young People: LAP Recycling Game.
• Climate Crew: creative media skills and games development.

Another area of gaming that is increasingly interesting to schools is simulation-based games. When game design is of sufficiently high quality, it is increasingly clear that these approaches can deeply engage students in learning.

As gaming and the science of engagement become better understood, we are likely to see significant investment in large-scale educational games. The compelling nature of Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games in particular is attracting researchers and educators who appreciate the revolutionary power of including games in the curriculum.

I agree with the simulation-based games point - I would, wouldn’t I, given that is what we do at games-ED. I  do worry about MMO games, though. As stated above, the learning should come first and the technology second, but MMO do offer a forum to get schools across the world working with each other and that could be very exciting. 

Other Education Technologies
Near-term Horizon (within the next 12 months)
Cloud computing has already transformed the way users of the Internet think about computing and communication, data storage and access, and collaborative work. Cloud-based applications and services are available to many school students today, and more schools are employing cloud-based tools all the time.

It will be interesting to see how the drive for academy status frees up schools to choose IT more flexibly and move away from Local Authority provided solutions.

Mobiles, especially smartphones and tablets, enable ubiquitous access to information, social networks, tools for learning and productivity, and hundreds of thousands of custom applications.

The power of mobiles is without question. But there are a number of issues worth noting in UK schools. Firstly, some teachers are starting to ban them from the classroom. Secondly, at present in the UK smart phones have not become the ubiquitous tool they might have in the US due to their cost, particularly if the user is on a pay as you go contract. In the UK, therefore, the adoption horizon might be two to three years. 


The second adoption horizon (two to three years out).
Open content is the current form of a movement that began a decade ago, when universities such as MIT began to make their course content freely available. Ten years later, schools have also begun to share a significant amount of curricula, resources, and learning materials.

TES teaching resources is starting to do this in the UK. So, it could be argued that, open content is on the Near-term Horizon (one year) rather than two to three years out.

Far-term Horizon (four to five years away)
Learning analytics loosely joins a variety of data gathering tools and analytic techniques to study student engagement, performance, and progress in practice, with the goal of using what is learned to revise curricula, teaching, and assessment in real time.

Being an avid user of Google Analytics, I think this concept could revolutionise how we understand learners’ use of digital resources.

Personal learning environments (PLEs) refer to student-designed learning approaches that encompass different types of content — videos, apps, games, social media tools, and more — chosen by a student to match his or her personal learning style and pace. Despite the use of the word “environment” in the name, the notion of a collection or a physical or online space is somewhat irrelevant to a PLE. The goal is for students to have more control over how they learn, and for teachers to set expectations that their students will be more engaged in understanding and applying their learning strategies.

Further Reading
The full Horizon Report can be found at http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2011-Horizon-Report-K12.pdf