This workshop will bring together leading researchers from relevant academic, commerical, and practice-oriented communities to explore fundamental issues concerning the emergence of radically new developments in learning technology and its applications in higher education. Developments in online instruction and technology-based innovation in classroom interactions are changing how academics think about teaching and learning. An example is the recent emergence of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), where the primary focus is on delivery of educational experiences through the Web to global audiences. Digital technologies are also changing teaching in face-to-face settings, with experiments at many institutions in flipped classroom approaches and blended instructional methods.
The goal of the workshop is to generate a rough 5 - 10 year prioritized research agenda for technology-based teaching/learning approaches that are effective and feasible to scale. There are very deep issues to be explored in the new educational techniques, issues which must be explored if such techniques are not to be pursued blindly. This workshop will help lead the way to understanding the developing online educational practices in the light of research into their effectiveness. The hope is that a framework will be produced that will lead to research that facilitates the development of high quality, economically-feasible, educational practices with these new and still emerging technologies.
Thirteen experts in learning technoglogies gathered to develop guidelines to aid various groups in understanding the opportunities and challenges that are emerging: ? Leaders of higher education and other postsecondary learning institutions who are making decisions about research and development investments and about the future of their institution, including adjustments in organizational frameworks and human/technical infrastructures. ? Faculty members and other instructors who are proposing research on new models of teaching/learning, creating new types of learning environments, or pondering how to productively adapt to changes that may occur in their professional roles. ? Providers of technical infrastructure (IT researchers, developers, providers, entrepreneurs, CIOs) and of human infrastructure (researchers on learning, professional developers, Chief Learning Officers (CLOs), college and career guidance counselors) who are seeking ways to foster and build new capacities and to improve organizational innovation, productivity, and competency. ? Research funders and policy leaders who are planning their investments, prioritizing and establishing research programs, assessing their returns, and creating policy climates favorable to innovation. ? Decision makers in business and in finance who are seeking to understand new markets, opportunities, and threats. The report provides "lenses" through which each of these constituencies can focus on findings most relevant to their role thereby highlighting both the forthcoming opportunities in educational technlogies and the impact such technologies will have across all of education.
