The Horizon Report: What can we Learn About Educational Technology Trends?

Abstract

The Horizon Report (Pelletier et al., 2022), published by Educause, is an annual survey of global educational technology trends and forecasts for the future. This proceedings paper summarizes the main points of the 2022 version which are applicable to JACET members. These include: 1) social and technological trends such as an expansion of hybrid and online learning, and an increased use of data analytics; and, 2) the influence of three technologybased practices: artificial intelligence (AI) for learning; hybrid learning spaces on university campuses; and the development of micro-credentials. Language teachers working at Japanese universities were asked whether the results of the Horizon Report were resonant with their experience. The participants thought that the results were relevant to Japan, especially concerning online teaching and the development of micro-credentials. In addition, the challenge of working with machine translation tools was highlighted as being particularly important for language teachers. The survey results suggest that the Horizon Report is a useful guide to help plan for the use of educational technology in higher education and that it can be used effectively to identify specific training needs for teachers in such institutions.