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The 2007 Horizon Report (PDF or Web version - from Educause and New Media Consortium) provides interesting insights into developing trends in educational technology.

Things are changing so quickly - and many educational institutions are not even aware of what is happening, let alone being ahead of the game, where they should be.

The 6 highlights of this year’s report revolve around Web 2.0, which is not surprising.

User-Created Content

Thinks blogs, wikis, Flickr, YouTube, etc etc. Has your school done something effective with these today?

Social Networking

Amazon was among the first with this concept. The “user review” proved to be a powerful sales technique and spawned a huge social network that is unstoppable.

An interesting example in the education sphere is RateMyProfessor.com, which gives an insight into who relates best to students, and why.

Mobile Phones

In Japan, it seems mobile phones are more pervasive than PCs, especially for Web connectivity. Think “just in time” learning.

Virtual Worlds

This has huge implications for education. I remember hearing that 10 years ago, but the technology wasn’t up to it then. The potential for simulation-based learning now is big.

New Scholarship

The students are more familiar with Wikipedia than Britannica. Now that anyone can publish, skills in determining validity become essential.

Massively Multiplayer Educational Gaming

As for virtual worlds, there is huge potential - especially across institutions, across countries and across the world.

The 2007 Horizon Report is worth a read.

So students, how do you feel about all this? Do you still prefer lectures?