A New Year In Educational Technology

As I look forward to 2007 I see many things in the works that are very exciting on the education technology front. The largest area of promise to me seems to web 2.0 applications. From office applications that are increasingly becoming more useful, to online educational games to content that is more interactive, the web 2.0 arena is very exciting. Hardware advances are expected to have a major impact in the way we use technology. For example a new keyboard is coming out that is fully customizable, each key is a small screen that can be changed depending on the application it uses. This could be a big benefit for assistive technology and more, However I don’t foresee applications coming any time soon. I also thing we will find new and innovative ways to using existing hardware in new and exciting ways. The Ipod video and PSP provide exciting opportunities, because it is easy to create your own content for these systems. New software provides some promise of big improvements. Microsoft will release there new office application at the end of the month that offers amazing capabilities in collaboration. Open source projects are becoming more developed and more popular which will bring better and more cost effective solutions to our classroom. 2007 provides with great opportunities, and projects, and we hope to provide a guide for you through this digital landscape.