Predictions

What did the experts say would be the emerging trends in 2007?

Ignoring Paul Gascoigne’s famous advice, “I never predict anything, and I never will”, several US pundits had a go at predicting the trends for 2007 in eLearn Magazine, published by ACM Inc. in New York.

Don Norman predicted the rise of successful education startups and more new foundations. Web 2.0 will push web towards learning said Curt Bonk of Indiana University. Mobile learning on phones said Ray Schroeder. Some, like Karl Kapp, saw 3D stuff and web 2.0 becoming mainstream. Allison Rossett said evolution not revolution (always a safe bet) with steady drift away from classroom. Jay Cross was suitably sharp and incisive with fewer courses, more pull. Mark Oehlert of Booz Allen Hamilton came in with the emergence of re-design of curriculum around experiences and environments.

A weird analogy came from Elliot Masie, with High Definition Learning using High Definition Media and Web 3.0! Suitably vague and odd. Angeliki Poulymenakou, Assistant Professor in Information Systems, and Spiros Borotis, Researcher, both at Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece trotted out the usual EU line, that the EU will continue to play major role in e-learning!

So no really dominant theme emerged. In fact, the only common denominator was the sheer variety of the predictions.