2014 NMC Greatest Hits

Watch the NMC and our panel of thought leaders explore the Horizon Project topic: Creating Authentic Learning Opportunities. Authentic learning, especially that which brings real life experiences into the classroom, is still all too uncommon in schools. Authentic learning is seen as an important pedagogical strategy, with great potential to increase the engagement of students who are seeking some connection between the world as they know it exists outside of school, and their experiences in school that are meant to prepare them for that world. Use of learning strategies that incorporate real life experiences, technology, and tools that are already familiar to students, and interactions from community members are examples of approaches that can bring authentic learning into the classroom. Practices such as these may help retain students in school and prepare them for further education, careers, and citizenship in a way that traditional practices are too often failing to do. PANELISTS: Panel Moderator: Samantha Becker, Senior Director, Communications and Director, NMC Horizon Project at the New Media Consortium Tosca Killoran, Early Learning Team Leader, NIST International School Jennifer Beradino, Kinder Foundation Education Center (KFEC) at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Kyle Dickson, Director, AT&T Learning Studio at Abilene Christian University Michael Furdyck, Co-founder, TakingItGlobal

In this NMC On the Horizon virtual event, a panel of experts discusses the increasing focus on open content. The movement toward open content reflects a change in the way educators and scholars are conceptualizing education. Information is everywhere now; the challenge is to make effective use of it. Often mistaken to simply mean “free of charge,” advocates of openness have worked toward defining “open” more broadly — not just free in economic terms, but also in terms of ownership and usage rights. Alternative licensing schemes such as Creative Commons have advanced this vision by providing a legal framework for people to share content freely. The goal of openness is to ensure the unimpeded distribution of valuable, scientific knowledge and to guarantee that educational materials are freely copiable, freely remixable, and free of barriers to access. Using open content also has pragmatic appeal; it offers solutions to the rising cost of education and addresses the scarcity of quality resources in remote or developing regions of the world. As more schools, universities, and other academic institutions integrate open content into curricula, there will be increased focus on processes to evaluate and validate these resources on a wide scale. Issues of intellectual property and digital citizenship are equally important to understanding the impact of this trend on teaching and learning. Panel Moderator: Victoria Estrada, NMC Panelists: Dr. Susan Hines, Associate Vice President for Teaching and Learning Technologies at Chadron State College Rob Lancefield, Manager of Museum Information Services, Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University Cristiana Mattos de Assumpção, Educational Technology Coordinator at Colegio Bandeirantes in São Paulo, Brazil Paul Signorelli, Writer/Trainer/Instructional Designer/Presenter/Social Media Strategist/Consultant, Paul Signorelli and Associates Karen Smith, Mitacs Elevate Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Toronto & Mozilla About the NMC On the Horizon Series The "NMC On the Horizon" series reflects the research and work of the NMC Horizon Project in action. International panels of experts are convened across all education sectors to address the emerging technologies poised to significantly impact teaching and learning.

Keynote speaker and "Nowist" Jason Ohler presents "Five Trends that Bend: Technological Trajectories That Will Change Everything" at the 2014 NMC Summer Conference in Portland, Oregon. Summary: Our current technological trajectory promises unfathomable, rollercoaster innovation with no braking system. It excites us and scares us. Above all, it changes us. This keynote considers at least five of the major technological trends that are just cresting and making their way into the educational arena: big data, augmented reality, the semantic web (comprised of Web 3 — The Internet of Data — and Web 4 — The Internet of Things), xTreme BYOD, and transmedia storytelling. In this keynote address at the 2014 NMC Summer Conference in Portland, Ohler looks at what they are, where they came from, and where they are going. In particular, he examines how they will shape the nature of teaching and learning.

Education professionals are increasingly expected to be adept at a variety of technology-based and other approaches for content delivery, learner support, and assessment. Emerging approaches to learning call for them to act as guides and mentors. As this trend gathers steam, many institutions are reimagining the primary responsibilities of educators, librarians, and museum staff. Hear perspectives from a panel of thought leaders on how this theme is materializing across different learning sectors and how it can be successfully addressed. Panel Moderator: Alex Freeman, Director of Special Projects at the NMC Panlelists: Christine Dipaulo, Innovation Specialist at String Theory Schools Kaela Hoskings, Director of Education at Artpace San Antonio John Ittelson, Professor Emeritus at the California State University, Monterey Bay Joshua Mika, LRC Director at Beebe Elementary About the NMC On the Horizon Series The "NMC On the Horizon" series reflects the research and work of the NMC Horizon Project in action. International panels of experts are convened across all education sectors to address the trends, challenges, and emerging technologies poised to significantly impact teaching and learning.

There is a focused movement to reinvent traditional learning spaces and rearrange the entire educational experience — a trend that is largely being driven by the influence of innovative learning approaches. Century-old practices in which students learn subject-by-subject, while uniformly facing the front of the classroom, are perceived by many as an antiquated approach to teaching and learning. The multidisciplinary nature of project-based learning, co-creation, and other contemporary approaches has brought attention to innovative designs of learning environments. Panel Moderator: Holly Ludgate, Senior Director of Program Development, NMC Panelists: Stephanie Barbuto, Social Studies Teacher at String Theory High Schoool Lambert Heller, Head of the Open Science Lab at TIB Hannover, Germany Rudolf Mumenthaler, Professor of library science at the University of Applied Sciences (HTW) Chur in Switzerland Seema Rao, Director of Intergenerational Learning, Cleveland Museum of Art Lisa Stephens, Senior Strategist, Academic Innovation at SUNY Annie Tuttle, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Sociology - SUNY - Onondaga Community College About the NMC On the Horizon Series The "NMC On the Horizon" series reflects the research and work of the NMC Horizon Project in action. International panels of experts are convened across all education sectors to address the emerging technologies poised to significantly impact teaching and learning. Learn more at http://www.nmc.org.

Keynote speaker Julie Little from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative presents "Higher Education in the Connected Age: IT as a Game Changer" at the 2014 NMC Summer Conference in Portland.