Horizon Report 2010 Key Trends

The Horizon Report seems to be a conduit for those seeking to learn about cutting edge technologies that impact teaching, learning, research, or creative expression within learning-focused organizations. After reading the key trends section the one that sticks out most for me is “Experience with and affinity for games as learning tools is an increasingly universal characteristic among those entering higher education and the workforce.” I have younger kids and more often than not they are on the internet engaged in Face Book games such as Farmville, the new thing “CityVille, and Xbox Live”. The horizon report was accurate in stating that current educational methods are not engaging or challenging kids enough. They get bored in school and from what I am seeing now days, kids are not getting enough homework to keep the brain stimulated. Online games and other social sites are encouraging teamwork and challenging critical thinking skills. For the most part, I am OK with that, but sometimes playing too much online games does more harm than good. Kids are being taken from the ‘real world” and when confronted with situations where they need to make key decisions, they have a problem with commitment. The survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project did not provide sufficient statistical information other than the population of 1,102 youth ages 12-1. I would like to have seen more information on the survey questions asked and a look into the older population such as 18-25 and 26-40 age groups. I see more of these groups engaging in online interactive game. The negative impacts I see are people quitting jobs just to play games such as World of War Craft which does nothing to help them financially.