14 | FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.TECHLEARNING.COM WWW.TECHLEARNING.COM | FEBRUARY 2018 | 15
BIG IDEAS
By Carl HookerI
don’t make resolutions; I make
predictions. They’re not always that likely
to come true, but they may not be that
far-fetched when it comes to technology
and our classrooms. Here are this year’s
predictions:AR WILL HELP US “SEE” STUDENTS’ LEVEL OF
ENGAGEMENT
I predict there will be a future where the
teacher can hold up their phone or a tablet
and instantly see what the level of student
engagement is in their class.DIGITAL BADGING WILL REPLACE COLLEGE
DEGREES
In an unpredictable workforce where
you need to be adaptable, being badged as an
expert in several different areas could be highly
marketable. Rather than spending four years
working on one field of study, why not spend a
few weeks or months getting credentialed as an
HTML5 coder or a social media guru?A SCHOOL WILL FULLY IMPLEMENT AI TO HELP
WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES
With artificial intelligence and enough data
points, we could get to a future where schools
can immediately learn a student’s behaviors
and preferences that help them learn. The
role of the teacher would be more that of
project manager and instructional designer
for each student as they use the data to create
experiences that help their students expand
their future-ready skills both as individuals and
as team members.A PRESIDENTIAL PARDON WILL HAPPEN VIA
TWITTER
Really? Is this that hard to envision in today’s
political climate?“4D” TECHNOLOGY WILL HELP KIDS
EXPERIENCE HISTORY
With improving VR technologies and
high-end resolution, it’s only a matter of time
before that experience is combined with some
sort of haptic suit so students can experience
an event in history. Imagine being in the theaterwhen President Lincoln was assassinated, or
on the ground when the troops stormed the
Normandy beaches.#EDTECHPOETRYSLAM BECOMES A THING
This isn’t that bold of a prediction as I
know there will be a version of this at Tech &
Learning Live in Chicago (May 11) and also
at a soon-to-be announced after-hours event
during this year’s ISTE.A RIDE-SHARING APP FOR PARENTS WILL BE
INVENTED
This app would allow parents in a
community to coordinate driving kids to
similar activities, thus cutting back on traffic
and helping connect people with similar
interests. Of course, the old-fashioned way to
do this would be to go talk to another parent
about this, but who does that these days?OPRAH WILL RUN FOR PRESIDENT
Just making sure you were still paying
attention, but she did deliver a powerful
Golden Globes speech!DRONES IN EDUCATION COULD BE A THING
While the rules and regulations around
drones seem to be ever-changing, these
devices will play a part in our future. What do
we need to teach kids about them? How can
we use this technology to give us a different
view on learning?THE LEARNFEST LAUNCHES WITH SOME
UNEXPECTED TWISTS
The rebranding of iPadpalooza to
“LearnFest” has been a long time coming, with
a smaller prototype version of the event this
year. (LearnFest launches to the public in June
2019.) We’ll be trying a few ideas that have
never been done at a conference. Follow @
TheLearnFest.MY NEW CHILDREN’S BOOK GETS A
PUBLISHER AND IS ACTUALLY PUBLISHED!
This is less a prediction and more of a
call for help. Maybe I should launch it on
Kickstarter....A BOBA FETT MOVIE WILL BE ANNOUNCED
Just making sure you read until the
end. It’s been rumored but this is the year it
becomes official!
http://www.techlearning.com/tl-advisor-blog/
bold-predictions-2018-hookerBOLD PREDICTIONS
SURE TO GO
WRONG IN 2018