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The Horizon Report is a 46 page document produced by 3 organizations: the New Media Consortium (NMC), the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).  The report is part of a larger project that examines technologies that are emerging or are predicted to emerge within the next five years in education.  Three reports are created each year: Higher Education, Primary and Secondary Education (K-12), and Museum Education.   In the Primary and Secondary Education (K-12) edition, there are six key technologies mapped out in three categories.  The first category, "Near-term Horizon," includes devices, apps, and tablet computing.  These technologies were indicated to be implemented in education within a 12 month period when this report was published last year.  The second category, "Mid-term Horizon," is indicated to be two to three years away, and includes Game-based learning, and Personal Learning Environments (PLEs).  Finally, the report includes two sets of technology in the "Far-term Horizon," which are plotted as four to five years out.  These technologies are Augmented Reality (AR), and Natural User Interfaces.   This comprehensive report outlines not only these emerging technologies, but also addresses the trends and challenges in educational technology at the time of publication.  It will be very interesting to see what technologies are reported on when the 2013 edition is published this June.

Using VoiceThread to Promote Learning Engagement and Success for All Students VoiceThread is one of many Web 2.0 tools created to help users communicate and collaborate around a varity of topics.   To create an individual VoiceThread, users can upload any combination of images, documents (e.g., from Word, Acrobat [PDF], Excel, or PowerPoint), and video clips to arrange these elements into a slide show. Teachers can then add comments to each slide in the VoiceThread by several different methods including typed text or recorded voice or video. Teachers can make a VoiceThread public, allowing other people to add their own comments to the slides, or set the VoiceThread to private, restricting comments to only invited users. Through this process, teachers can facilitate conversations around a series of images, videos, or an entire PowerPoint presentation with their students and provide them an opportunity to share their voice, literally, in the discussion in multiple ways. Individual account is free but you can only create 3 voicethreads.  A classroom account is encouraged for $60 a year. Benefits of Class Account 1. can register up to 100 students with no need for individual emails 2. teachers can access students usernames and passwords. 3. each student can create their own voicethread and it is private, only the class can see it. 4. all comments can be viewed and approved by the teacher before they are posted for the class to see. General Benefits of Voicethread 1. all types of learners can benefit from this tool 2. it can be used in whole class, small groups, or independently 3. it can be used in the classroom, computer lab, at home or anywhere there is access to internet 4. can be used in all subject areas.

Video presentation of  evolving and changing data in an ever weaving world wide web. A think piece on the bigger picture of digital technology and web 2.0 where rules and ideas of digital society require constant rethinking. How context changes with every click in a Web 2.0/3.0 world. Ideas shared belong to a greater digital forum. Use with teens and adults. Length: 4:30 minutes

OK, this looks great!  I'm a bit overloaded right now, so going to save it for later...