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Significant Challenges Impeding Technology Adoption in K-12 Education See Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 , of this series on the Horizon Report 2015 Difficult Challenges: Those that we understand but for which solutions are elusive  Personalizing Learning: The move toward personalised learning has been discussed for many years. Previously termed Student Centred Learning, there is much research discussing this concept for many years.  1990 , 1997 , 2000 . Another term that impacts on personalised learning is differentiation , where we make adjustments to cater for the needs of all abilities in the classroom. The evolution of personalised learning has been made more possible by technology.  Personalised learning challenges the traditional educational paradigm. For this model to progress we need to modify teaching pedagogies from traditional methods of imparting knowledge to teachers facilitating learning. This will require cultural and attitudinal change from teachers...

Important Developments in Educational Technology for K-12 Education See  Part 1 ,  Part 2  of this series on the Horizon Report  2015. Time-to-Adoption Horizon: One Year or Less Bring Your Own Device (BYOD): BYOD empowers students to work with their own devices to produce content any time. The most important element of this development is the provision of stable, fast school wide wi-fi. The internet needs to be as open as possible. Blocking Youtube and similar sites with educational content makes the use of tools very difficult for teachers and students. Educators should have more input into what is blocked on school sites to ensure they can utilise BYOD to is full potential.  The common argument against this approach is inequality. To overcome inequality schools can: allows students to use mobile phones and iPods using a school based wifi - while not ideal this gives access to technology to more students and reduces some inequality.  make banks o...

Significant Challenges Impeding Technology Adoption in K-12 Education See  Part 1  of this series on the Horizon Report 2015 Solvable Challenges: Those that we understand and know how to solve  Creating Authentic Learning Opportunities Schools are now beginning to investigate learning opportunities with in the local and global community. What can be done to solve local problems and what community groups can we connect with to solve them. This builds relationships for students and enables real life learning experiences.  An example  is where Hospitality students catered for a morning tea for local seniors while students from year 6-10 assist the seniors with IT skills they needed to work with their iPads and laptops. There has been  Australian Research  on school and community partnerships. Integrating Technology in Teacher Education Integrating technology skills into teacher education yet each I am continually disappointed with the lack of...

Current Trends in Education. Each year the Horizon Report  releases a summary of current and future trends in education. Many of the topics that feature in the report are discussed frequently by educators on Twitter and Google Plus. Key Trends Accelerating Technology Adoption in K-12 Education  Long-Term Impact Trends: Driving Ed Tech adoption in K-12 education for five or more years Rethinking How Schools Work: How do we reinvent the traditional classroom and the school experience? Pedagogy such as project based learning are already implemented in many schools. How do we take these pedagogies and remove restrictions such as timetables and bells. Schools like Delaney College in Granville, NSW, Australia have begun to implement a new approach to school using project based learning across year 7. Shift to Deeper Learning Approaches: The report includes examples of how schools are implementing different methods to achieve deep learning. A practical approach would be f...