Future of a Futures Focus

What will happen with NMC? What is the future of the Horizon Report, that future-focused look at educational technology? What is EDUCAUSE planning? Will EDUCAUSE change the Horizon Report? And will the NMC acquisition change EDUCAUSE?

Good questions all. We've been asking those and other questions and seeking answers in many places, particularly with members of the NMC community itself. We've learned a lot and yet still have so much to learn.

Here is our plan for the NMC Community and the Horizon Report, in a format that might look familiar.

Important Developments in the Horizon Report

Time-to-Adoption Horizon: One Year or Less

• > Welcoming the Community
• > Preserving the Assets

Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Two to Three Years

• > Enhancing the Horizon Report
• > Blending NMC and EDUCAUSE

Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Four to Five Years

• > Adaptive Learning
• > Advancing Innovation

Time-to-Adoption Horizon: One Year or Less (2018)

Welcoming the Community

We've spent time talking with members of the NMC community. We spoke with community mainstays and with community members who described themselves as not part of the NMC's inner circle. In our conversations, we learned it's important for us to retain the intimacy of the NMC's community and yet do that in a way that is inclusive, welcoming newcomers and diverse viewpoints.

We've sent a letter of welcome to the members of the NMC community and spoken with a number of them. In this initial year, we are planning a special introduction to NMC community members who attend the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference in October and creating a new home at the ELI Annual Meeting in Anaheim in February 2019. We're looking forward to fostering an NMC-like informal and fun ethos for this community at ELI, an ethos we hope will benefit EDUCAUSE as a whole.

Preserving the Assets

Yes, the Horizon Report will continue. We released a summary of the 2018 report in April and published the full report in mid-August. It has a familiar look and, as always, includes exemplars for each technology, challenge, and trend. Community response to our call for exemplars was impressive—more than 100 people contacted us!

Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Two to Three Years (2019–20)

Enhancing the Horizon Report

The 2019 Horizon Report will be developed by an international expert panel, just as in the past. We'll also begin to add a new quantitative dimension to validate the panel's findings by incorporating data from a broad range of colleges and universities. NMC community members and others have asked for data but cautioned us to weave the data into a story. The expert panel will begin its work very soon. We will include the validating data in the Fall and present the findings at the 2019 ELI Annual Meeting. The 2019 Horizon Report will contain elements that are familiar to you. We will continue to feature exemplars to bring the Horizon Report stories to life. Look for some changes, though, and let us know what you think!

For the 2020 Horizon Report, we're exploring further enhancements to enrich the expert panel experience, improve the outcomes, and increase the predictive validity of the new data component. You'll start to experience those changes in the second half of 2019.

Blending NMC and EDUCAUSE

EDUCAUSE also takes a forward look at technologies and tracks trends, with the Top 10 Strategic Technologies and Trend Watch series. We found enough overlap to make us think we really ought to connect the EDUCAUSE and NMC projects. We'll be retiring the EDUCAUSE Top 10 Strategic Technologies and Trend Watch publications, probably in phases, and will move our research and analysis of emerging trends and technologies into a new, expanded Horizon Report series. The current EDUCAUSE reports on trends and technologies look across the entire higher education technology landscape. We will initially move the academic components of the EDUCAUSE reports into the Horizon Report. Starting in 2020, we will begin to expand the higher education Horizon Report family into new areas that align with existing EDUCAUSE communities, including cybersecurity and Enterprise IT.

We know there are some potentially exciting opportunities to continue the museum, K–12, library, and international Horizon Report products. We're trying to solidify our higher education strategy first, but we haven't turned our backs on the broader possibilities and on partnering with other organizations to realize them. We'll be exploring those soon.

Of course the NMC was more than the Horizon Report and its other publications. The NMC was a community of innovators and ideators. We are committed to continuing and continually renewing that community as an emerging generation of future-minded innovators develops insights and examples. EDUCAUSE is making changes to better connect members and support their collaborations. We're investing in contemporary community collaboration tools and reimagining our approach to community engagement and learning.

Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Four to Five Years (2021–22)

Adaptive Learning

On this longer time frame, it's more realistic for us to lay out strategies than plans. We will continually evaluate the usefulness of the Horizon Report and the value of the expert panel experience. We'll adapt to what we learn…and we will learn from you.

Advancing Innovation

Ultimately, the Horizon Report is a tool "to inform the choices institutions are making about technology to improve, support, or extend teaching, learning, and creative inquiry." We will look for ways to help improve your use of the Horizon Report to advance innovation at your campuses, companies, and other organizations.

We are more excited than ever about the opportunities the acquisition of NMC and the Horizon Report have afforded. We've uncovered many solvable, several difficult, and perhaps even a wicked challenge or two. Fortunately, we are part of a community of problem solvers: You. Ask us questions, give us feedback, let us know if you'd like to help. We want to work with you, not just for you.

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Susan Grajek is Vice President of Communities and Research at EDUCAUSE.