Derek's Blog

I was in Wellington yesterday talking with Murray Brown at the Ministry of Education who drew my attention to this recent publication from FutureLab titled 2020 and Beyond, - Future scenarios for education in the age of new technologies.

Questions the publication sets out to answer include:

• To what extent are we prepared, as a society and as educators, for the massive changes in human capabilities that digital technologies are likely to enable in the next 13 years?


• To what extent are our future visions for education based upon assumptions about humanity, society and technology that are no longer valid?


• To what extent can we, as educators, help to shape the developments of technology in order to enhance human development?

The paper identifies five key areas where the authors believe there are likely to be
developments in the field of digital technologies which are of potential interest to educators. These areas are:

• personal devices


• intelligent environments


• computing infrastructure


• security


• interfaces

For anyone interested in contemplating the future of education this publication provides a useful summary of current predictions about the development in capacities of digital technologies between now and 2020.

Each section contains a brief summary of the trend or predication being made followed by a descriptive scenario to illustrate what that future might be like. This is followed by a list of questions for education for consideration.

There is also a comprehensive list of links provided in the publication and on the website that take you to a range of websites with examples of current R&D that is going on in each area.

Download here: 2020 and Beyond (1Mb pdf file)