Learning Technology Forecast

What did you learn?

I chose mobile learning as the topic for this project because in my professional work as an instructional designer, I had observed the increased use of smartphones at the workplace, both company-issued and BYOD. I had also noted the proliferation of apps and in particular app-based informal learning. It seemed that mobile technology was only going to become an even more significant part of our work and personal lives, and I wanted to see where this was going. From a purely professional standpoint I felt, and still feel, that it would benefit instructional designers and instructional technologists to adopt the practice of mobile learning design, which is different from designing traditional e-learning for desktop. A related technology research area of interest to me was mobile wireless technology. I felt the 5G wifi on the verge of rollout in the US, and already being rolled it in other nations like South Korea, that it could benefit both myself and the organization I was working for to report on the future impacts of 5G on learning and development in the workplace.

How did you learn this?

I leaned heavily on search engines and industry publishing platforms such as TrainingIndustry.com for my current assessment. As expect I found a number current sources on 5G, but I also found research on blockchain technology and its growth from a cryptocurrency database to technology now-being deployed for non-transactional uses which include e-learning.

What were some challenges that you overcame?

Having never done a technology forecast before, the research methodology was entirely new to me.  That and the fact that it was my first semester of graduate school, made this artifact one of the most challenging to research and complete. There was an adjustment not only to doing forecasting research, but also to being back in school. In addition to taking on a form of research that was entirely new me, I dealt with the adjustment period of developing study routines and acclimating myself to the asynchronous online format of my classes. One of the things I did to help myself stay on track was to leave the house and go to a library or coffee house when I needed to focus on my research without distractions.

How will you apply this information in the future?

The final product successfully laid the foundation for future research into cloud and responsive learning, though I do feel as I could have produced a more focused and realistic forecast if I knew then what I do now.  While the research I did on 5G and blockchain was useful, I feel that my forecast was overly optimistic about the future. My research on challenges and hurdles did not take into enough account the negative impact of black swan events. COVID has not set back the rollout of 5G, but has also exposed many of the limitations of remote learning and the digital divide. There are ethical and privacy concerns around making training available outside of the workplace. My baseline future failed to take these into account enough. If I could do this project all over again, I would take change that.