EVERY YEAR, the New Media Consortium, a not-forprofit organization committed to the examination of the impact of new and emerging technologies on learning, research, and creative inquiry, collaborates with the Educause Learning Initiative to provide a comprehensive review of emerging technologies.An international advisory board spends a year examining the literature, reading research reports, and interviewing people across a variety of industries to ultimately create a list of emerging technologies that will impact teaching, learning, and research. The result of this work is the annual Horizon Report, online at www.nmc.org/publications. So, what are the trends and critical issues facing the academy in 2010? Four trends were identified: * The abundance of resources and relationships induced by open resources and social networks is increasingly challenging us to revisit our roles as educators in sense-making, coaching, and credentialing. * More and more, people expect to be able to work, learn, study, and connect with their social networks, whenever and wherever they desire. * Technologies are becoming more decentralized. * Students are increasingly seen as collaborators, and there is more cross-campus collaboration. The first trend is based on the increasing amount of open-access resources available on the web and the growing number of learning opportunities that are accessible from a variety of sources. Institutions of higher education are not the only places to obtain knowledge and gain skills necessary to work in our society. For example, persons interested in computer programming can seek out open-access courses offered by Stanford University or MIT and learn new skills that will make them eligible for meaningful employment. They can then sit for certification offered by software companies such as Microsoft and Oracle - all without the benefit of a college degree. With the high tuition charged by colleges and universities, this approach may be a good alternative for many, and a trend that forces higher education to examine its role in mentoring and preparing students.The growing use of social networks, and the wisdom of crowds, have also become a pain point for higher education. As students call upon their networks for knowledge and answers to questions, what is the role of the instructor? Does the academy still maintain the coach and mentor role in this new world of social networks? The second trend points to two major influences in everyone's lives: mobile phones and social networking. Most of our students want immediate access to information, especially since they are juggling numerous competing demands, such as work, school, and family. A faster approach is often perceived as a better approach, and as such people want easy and timely access not only to the information on the network, but to their social networks that can help them to interpret it and maximize its value (Johnson, Levine, Smith, & Stone, 2010, p. 4). As noted in the third trend, technologies are no longer tethered to specific devices or services. The use of cloud computing and browser-based software is making information accessible from any device, anytime and anywhere. The fourth and final trend is the least pervasive in higher education, but it is gaining popularity. Some schools are already promoting a collaborative culture where students and faculty can interact with each other across departments to learn, study, and even conduct research. Given these trends, critical challenges have been identified: * The role of the academy - and the way we prepare students for their future lives - is changing. It is important for the academy to adapt teaching practices to meet the needs of students to learn critical inquiry, attain mental flexibility, solve large-scale complex problems, and, through civic engagement, examine social issues (Johnson et al., 2010). …