New Spaces New Realities: Expanding Learning Any Time, Any Place

Abstract

What are emerging trends in technology that will impact not only our world language learning environments but also continue to disrupt learning in the future?One of the best resources to explore the answers to these questions comes from the NMC Consortium Horizon Reports written in collaboration with the New Media Consortium and Educause Learning Initiative. The NMC (New Media Consortium) is an international community of experts in educational technology. From people who work with new technology in schools and on university campuses to the visionaries and researchers who explore the future trends in education, these reports give a preview of the emerging landscape of technologies that will impact certainly teaching, learning, research, and information management. Each year there are two editions: the elementary and secondary report and the higher education edition. The 2013 higher education edition has just been released and the elementary and secondary edition will be out in June 2013.In order to gather and share information, research, and data as well as share and exchange ideas that will help create the reports, the NMC Horizon Project also maintains a wikispace. This wiki allows for free open global collaboration forums in an open source format that encourages many to participate. Since it is an open source all publications are under a Creative Commons Attribution License so permission is granted to replicate, copy, distribute, transmit, or adapt the content freely. The idea that all of this information is available to everyone empowers so many more educators and other leaders to take action, especially when institutions are designing strategies and budgets for future technology implementation.The 2013 higher education report is organized around six emerging technologies that are key trends predicted to have a major impact on learning over the next five years. Those six technologies highlighted this edition are: massively open online courses (MOOCs), tablet computing, games and gamification, learning analytics, 3D printing, and wearable technology.So how might these trending technologies have an impact on language teaching as well as add to the disruption that is happening in the different learning communities? Which ones are currently putting a new twist to learning as well as providing opportunities for students to continue to learn or use their new languages?First of all, massively open online courses, better known as MOOCs, have definitely impacted how, when, and where students learn. These free online courses often have many participants and use open resources. Typically they do not offer academic credit or charge tuition fees, but this is starting to change. There are still not many MOOC courses available in language learning yet, but this is an area that is sure to expand.Udacity and Coursera are the current leaders for offering these courses. For example, Coursera has courses currently in French, Spanish, Chinese, Italian, and of course English, from sixty-two universities on four continents. Recently the addition of courses in other languages gives students a chance to actually use their languages in new contexts. These courses are not language courses, but rather math, technology, or science classes. But what an opportunity for students to learn a subject they love in the language they are studying. …