Part of the Educational Media and Technology Yearbook book series (EMTY,volume 42)
This chapter comprises of four sections: Overall Developments, Corporate Training and Development, Higher Education, and K-12 Education. This chapter synthesizes the findings of major annual reports, including the Online Report Card: Tracking Online Education in the United States (Allen & Seaman, 2016); the ECAR Study of Students and Information Technology (Dahlstrom, Brooks, Grajek & Reeves, 2015); the New Media Consortium’s, Horizon Reports (Johnson, Adams Becker, Estrada & Freeman, 2016; Johnson, Adams Becker, Cummins, Estrada, Freeman and Hall, 2016); the Education Week’s Technology Counts 2017 Report (Education Week, 2017); and Project Tomorrow’s Speak Up Reports, Trends in Digital Learning: Building Teachers’ Capacity to Create New Learning Experiences for Students (Project Tomorrow & Blackboard, 2017). The authors note steady growth in access to instructional technology in three sectors, that is, mobile technologies, digital content, and online learning opportunities, and these continue to provide unique instructional and learning opportunities in all three sectors.
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We continue the tradition of reporting the past year’s issues and trends that shape attitudes and approaches to instructional technology. This chapter is comprises of four sections: Overall Developments, Corporate Training and Development, Higher Education, and K-12 Settings. The trends and issues described are based on major annual reports sponsored and/or conducted by organizations including the Association for Talent Development (ATD), EDUCAUSE, Gartner Incorporated, The New Media Consortium, The Online Learning Consortium (formerly the Sloan Consortium), and Project Tomorrow. These reports require time in terms of data collection, interpretation, and publication, the shortest of which take a year to complete, and therefore reflect the issues and trends of large groups over long periods of time. For a more immediate review of trending topics in instructional technology, please refer to the authors’ biweekly podcast, Trends & Issues in Instructional Design, Educational Technology, & Learning Sciences (Brown & Green, 2017).
The reports reviewed indicate that the integration of instructional technology remains a priority in all three sectors. This is a similar theme of the past two reviews (Brown & Green, 2015, 2016). The spending on instructional technology in the three sectors had a slight increase over the previous year’s level despite continued uncertainty of available funding in some sectors for technology purchases and training. The estimated spending for the year was $12 billion in K-12 and $11 billion in higher education (Edtech Navigator, 2017). Over the year under review, the use of instructional technology continued to provide opportunities for innovative instructional approaches to teaching and learning through the increased access to mobile devices, digital content, and unique online educational settings.
As with previous issues and trends chapters of this yearbook (e.g., Brown & Green, 2015; Brown & Green, 2016), we continue to track corporate application of instructional technologies primarily by referring to the State of the Industry (Ho, 2016) report published by the Association for Talent Development (ATD). The report is based on data collected from organizations regularly submitting annual data, BEST award winners (organizations recognized by ATD for their exceptional efforts in support of learning within the enterprise) and a consolidated group of organizations that submitted their data via an online survey. This represents data collected in 2015 from 310 business organizations; the average number of employees is 15,946 with an average payroll of $1,273,000,000 (Ho, 2016). Additional sources used in this section are the eLearning Guild’s report, 2017 eLearning Salary & Compensation Report (Vipond & Smolen, 2017), and Gartner Incorporated’s annual predictions for information technology organizations and users (Panetta, 2017).
Among businesses responding to ATD’s State of the Industry Report survey, the average learning expenditure per employee in 2015 was $1252 (Ho, 2016). This represents a 1.9 percent increase over the previous year and continues the upward trend from the previous year’s 1.7 percent increase. Organizations with less than 500 workers spent on average over $2000 per employee; those with between 500 and 9999 workers spent approximately $800; and organizations with at least 10,000 workers spent an average of $700. Overall, approximately 60 percent of direct learning expenditures went to in-house development, delivery, and administration, while 28 percent went to outsourced or external activities, with 11 percent spent on tuition reimbursement (Ho, 2016).
As with the previous year, approximately one-third of corporate instructional content focuses on management and supervision, mandatory and compliance training, and professional or industry-specific training (Ho, 2016). Regulated industries (e.g., manufacturing) provide more mandatory and compliance content, while management consulting firms and software publishers provided a greater amount of sales content (Ho, 2016; Brown & Green, 2016).
The top emerging technology trends reported by Gartner (Panetta, 2017) are artificial intelligence (AI), also referred to as machine learning; “transparently immersive experiences” that include virtual and augmented reality; and “digital platforms” that include blockchain and internet of things (IoT) networking. Each of these represents a significant shift in workforce knowledge and behavior. The authors suspect at least some portion of instruction will be devoted to each of these areas to prepare organizations and their constituents for their integration into general business practice.
Although instructor-led, face-to-face classroom instruction continues once again to be the delivery method for 51 percent of the instruction documented in ATD’s State of the Industry report, 41 percent of learning hours were delivered using distance and/or asynchronous technologies, a significant increase in recent years (Ho, 2016). These technologies include mobile devices, live remote classrooms, and computer-based instruction.
The 2017 edition of CNN’s Best Jobs in America (CNN Money, 2017) has at least four instructional design-related jobs in its top 100 list: E-Learning Specialist ranks 29th; IT Training Specialist ranks 35th; Education Program Manager ranks 68th; and Training & Development Specialist ranks 71st. The 2017 US eLearning Salary & Compensation Report (Vipond & Smolen, 2017) notes the average US-based salary for eLearning practitioners is $83,139, up 3.46 percent from the previous year. Salaries for eLearning professionals are highest in the US West Coast metropolitan areas, and in general, people with advanced degrees earn a significantly higher average salary than those with only bachelors or associate degrees (Vipond & Smolen, 2017). Following the trend of recent years, instructional design/technology positions continue to be an attractive and lucrative career choice.
We review higher education’s instructional technology application by referring primarily to the NMC Horizon Report: 2017 Higher Education Edition (Adams Becker, Cummins, Davis, Freeman, Hall Geisinger, & Ananthanarayanan, 2017); The EDUCAUSE Almanac for Faculty and Technology Survey, 2017 (EDUCAUSE, 2017a); The EDUCAUSE Almanac for Undergraduate Student and Technology Survey, 2017 (EDUCAUSE, 2017b); Digital Learning Compass: Distance Education Enrollment Report 2017 (Allen & Seaman, 2017a); and Opening the Textbook: Educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education, 2015–16 (Allen & Seaman, 2017b). The EDUCAUSE dataHigher education and reports presented by Allen and Seaman are based on large-scale surveys and data sets. The Horizon Report, sponsored by the New Media Consortium, is a synthesis of responses from an international panel of experts.
Large-scale survey results (EDUCAUSE, 2017a) indicate the majority of faculty rate their campus’s technology resources for working and learning as good or excellent (EDUCUASE). Faculty generally express confidence in their institution’s ability to safeguard student information and research data, and over 75 percent of faculty make use of a learning management system (LMS) to post their course syllabi, provide content information (e.g., handouts), and administer grades (EDUCAUSE). Faculty report owning smartphones (97%), laptops (69%), tablets (65%), and desktop (48%) computing devices (EDUCAUSE). Roughly half of faculty respondents feel they receive adequate information technology (IT) support for research and scholarship.
Students continue to bring more Internet-capable device with them to campus; 98 percent of undergraduate survey respondents reported owning at least two or three Internet-capable devices (EDUCAUSE, 2017b). Ninety-five percent of students surveyed own a laptop, and 97 percent own a smartphone (EDUCAUSE). About half of the students surveyed rate their school’s network performance as good or excellent, giving mixed reviews for reliability of access to Wi-Fi in instructional spaces, student housing, and outdoor spaces.
Allen and Seaman (2017) report continued growth in online learning. The growth rate in 2015 was 3.9 percent, higher than reported the previous two years; over six million students took at least one distance course. Almost 30 percent of all students in higher education take at least one distance course; the vast majority of these are undergraduates (Allen & Seaman). Public colleges and universities continue to provide the greatest amount of distance education. Private non-profit institutions are providing an increased amount, while private for-profit institutions are seeing declines in enrollment (Allen & Seaman, 2017).
While a significant majority of faculty feel online learning will make higher education available to a larger population, roughly half do not support online degree programs, and only 22% felt it helped students learn more effectively (EDUCAUSE, 2017a). The Horizon Report posits online, mobile, and blended learning as “foregone conclusions” for which institutions will need integration strategies (Adams Becker et al., 2017) to survive.
The combination of face-to-face instruction with online learning continues to increase in popularity. Seventy-one percent of faculty surveyed prefer to teach using a blended learning approach (EDUCAUSE, 2017a), and 79 percent of undergraduate students surveyed prefer this approach (EDUCAUSE, 2017b).
Faculty continue to embrace digital technologies and modern classroom tools such as LMSs and look for ways to teach using technology innovative and creative ways (EDUCAUSE, 2017a). Most faculty respondents indicate they encourage the use of tablets and laptops in the classroom, though it must be noted that 52 percent of the respondents report they ban or discourage student use of smartphones in their classrooms (EDUCAUSE, 2017a).
Faculty are beginning to look more closely at open educational resources (OERs), the vast majority of which are available through computer networks. Allen and Seaman (2016) report that OER interest has increased but that it still remains low; only around a quarter of faculty respondents indicated awareness of OERs. Barriers to use of OERs are for the most part a lack of resources in the subject area and the lack of a comprehensive list of possible resources (Allen & Seaman, 2016). EDUCAUSE (2017a), however, reports that 64 percent of faculty respondents support OERs as an instructional approach.
Open educational resources have been in the news over the past year (Brown & Green, 2017) with the US Department of Education advocating greater OER use through its #GoOpen campaign (Office of Educational Technology, ND), which addresses K-12 schools but has implications for all levels of public education. In the US, OERs have become particularly interesting to faculty as they grapple with assigning expensive, traditional textbooks. Faculty report dissatisfaction with the high cost of textbooks, yet they are the most commonly used course resources (Allen & Seaman, 2016). The authors continue to view OERs as promising instructional resources developed by both faculty and instructional design/technology support staff.
As noted earlier in this section, students are bringing to campus a variety of networked computing devices such as laptops and smartphones, and to a lesser extent tablets (EDUCAUSE, 2017b). Seventy-eight percent of students surveyed are connecting two or three devices to the campus network simultaneously (EDUCAUSE).
Forty-one percent of undergraduate survey respondents report using a smartphone in most or all of their courses, and 47 percent of those students view smartphones as important to academic success (EDUCAUSE, 2017b). The most common course-related uses for smartphones include communicating with other students, communicating with instructors, taking photos of class activities and resources, and checking grades (EDUCUASE).
Sixty-eight percent of students surveyed think their instructors use technology adequately for course instruction. Students report that 35% of their instructors encourage the use of student devices during class for learning purposes, and 62% would like instructors to provide free, web-based course materials (EDUCAUSE, 2017b). Seventy-nine percent of students responding prefer blended learning environments (EDUCAUSE).
Compared to previous years (e.g., Brown & Green, 2016), students are bringing even more computing tools with them to campus and hoping for their greater use for instruction. Undergraduate students, in particular, would like to see more use of web-based resources and blended learning environments.
We have primarily consulted the annual reports of Education Week, the New Media ConsortiumK-12 education, and Project Tomorrow as we did with previous issues and trends chapters (e.g., Brown & Green, 2016; Brown & Green, 2015). The major reports we accessed were Technology Counts 2017: Classroom Technology: Where Schools Stand (Education Week, 2017a), The NMC/CoSN Horizon Report: 2017 K-12 Edition (Freeman, Adams Becker, Cummins, Davis, & Hall Giesinger, 2017), and Trends in Digital Learning 2017 (Project Tomorrow & Blackboard, 2017).
Technology Counts 2017 is the 18th edition of the report published by Education Week. The annual report focuses the use of educational technology in K-12 schools. Although the report has shifted away from providing an overall state of educational technology and funding of educational technology state-by-state, this year’s report did report on the general state of classroom technology. The New Media Consortium and the Consortium for School Networking’s (CoSN) Horizon Report examines emerging technologies and practices in K-12 that are likely to gain use traction over the next year to five years. The Project Tomorrow and Blackboard report is the most recent published from the annual survey research conducted by Project Tomorrow that focuses on students, parents, teachers, and administrator perceptions about and use of educational technology. The 2017 Project Tomorrow and Blackboard (2017) digital learning trends report was an analysis of data collected from 514,000 educators, students, parents, and community members in the United States. The report focused on “the readiness of teachers to use digital tools to transform teaching and learning” (p. 1). We outline the major findings from this report later in this section.
Determining specific levels of funding in K-12 is historically problematic because of various reporting procedures of States and Federal agencies. It was estimated that approximately $12 billion was spent on IT (specifically hardware, software, and support) in K-12 during 2017 (Edtech Navigator, 2017). As of the writing of this review, the proposed Federal budget (US Department of Education, 2017) included requests for funding for twenty-first-century community learning centers ($1 billion continued funding; although speculation is that this will be eliminated in 2018), Computer Science for All ($200 million new funding), and Computer Science for All Development Grants ($100 million new funding). These Federal programs were in addition to the monies spent on instructional technology by the States.
Instructional technology continues to make its way into classrooms. As we reported in last year’s review (Brown & Green, 2016), 44% of districts expected budget increases for spending on hardware and 32% expected increases in software purchases (EdNet Insights, 2016). According to EdNet Insight, the top-cited technology initiative was wireless networks (71% of districts surveyed) followed by student data security and privacy (65%), online assessment readiness (63%), data-driven decision making (58%), Chromebooks (55%), and one-to-one computing (53%). Mobile device purchase plans by grade level were laptops and Chromebooks (50% districts surveyed) in grades 9–12, Chromebooks in grades 6–8 (56%), Chromebooks in 3–5 (46%), and tablets in K-2 (54%). These data are corroborated by Education Week (2017b) who reported that, “The number of laptops, tablets, netbooks, and Chromebooks shipped annually to US K-12 schools grew by 363 percent over the past seven years, from just over 3 million devices in 2010 to almost 14 million this year” (para. 8). This growth is predicted to continue.
With increased access to classroom technology there has also been an increase in use of this technology in classrooms. Education Week (2017a) cited a National Assessment of Educational Progress Report that indicated an increase in the percentage of fourth and eighth grade students who indicated using a computer during math class at least one time every few weeks. The increase was 19% for fourth grade students and 26% for eighth grade students over the past decade. The same report indicated that over this same decade, the use of computers in math by fourth graders for critical thinking activities has decreased, while the use for drill and practice has increased. This use is similar in other content areas.
In addition to increased access to hardware and software, more schools have access to high-speed Internet connections. According to Education Superhighway (2017), 88% of school districts have Internet connectivity of 100kps per student. This is up from 30% of school districts in 2013. The report predicts that by 2020, 100% of districts will have 100kps per student access.
Data from the Trends in Digital Learning (Project Tomorrow & Blackboard, 2017) indicate that teachers’ use of digital content is on the rise. The report states that over the past three years, the use of online videos for instruction has increased by 39% (p. 4). There was a 14% increase in the use of online curriculum (p. 4). Over the past three years, “teachers have embraced classroom cloud based tools such as G Suite for Education and Office 365” (p. 4). In addition to using instructional technology with students, teachers reported using technology for professional activities such as using digital tools to create student investigations (30%), create videos or labs for their students (18%), maintain a class blog or discussion board for their students to share ideas (14%), and use Twitter as a professional learning tool (13%). Despite increased access of instructional technology in classrooms, this has not necessarily resulted in been better use (Education Week, 2017c). Education Week reported data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress that indicated that eighth grade math students “more commonly used classroom computers for ‘passive’ activities such as practice or review, than for ‘active’ purposes, such as researching a math topic” (Education Week, 2017c, para. 1).
According to data from Technology Counts 2017 (Education Week, 2017b) and results from Trends in Digital Learning (Project Tomorrow & Blackboard, 2017), the percentage of teachers who indicate receiving formal training on effective use of the technology has remained level over the past year. Increased numbers of teachers reported engaging in their own professional development—especially through online opportunities such as engaging in social media, participating in a MOOC, watching online videos (e.g., TEDTalk), and taken an online/virtual course (Project Tomorrow & Blackboard, 2017).
In last year’s review (Brown & Green, 2016), data from the reports we reviewed highlighted two significant trends—online learning and personalized learning. We reported that over 462,000 students engaged in semester-long courses during the 2014–2015 school year (Gemin, Pape, Vashaw, & Watson, 2015). We also reported that, “Two-thirds of school principals who have implemented blended learning models at their school say the learning process for each student is more personalized because of that implementation” (Project Tomorrow & Blackboard, 2016, p. 3). Reports we examined for this current review indicate that these two trends are likely to continue. In addition to these trends, data from the reports we reviewed point to emerging trends that are having an impact or should have an impact on K-12 teaching and learning in the next five years. The trends to watch are makerspaces, computer science (e.g., programming and coding), robotics, augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence and deep learning, and the Internet of Things.
Over the review period, there was continued, ubiquitous use of instructional technology in corporate training, higher education, and K-12 settings. Digital content (commercially created or instructor/teacher created) being used across all three settings remained a trend as did the increased use of mobile devices. Online learning opportunity during this review period was evident among corporate training, higher education, and K-12. Spending on instructional technology in all three sectors remained relatively steady despite historical uncertainties brought on by state and federal budgets. Access to instructional technology remained high in all three sectors. Online learning opportunities continued to trend in higher education and in K-12.
All sectors examined, namely, corporate, higher education, and K-12 continue to devote significant resources to instructional technology, and job prospects for instructional designers, training and development specialists, and eLearning practitioners remain positive.