Issues and Trends in Instructional Technology: Access to Mobile Technologies, Digital Content, and Online Learning Opportunities Continues as Spending on IT Remains Steady

Abstract

This chapter comprises of four sections: Overall Developments, Corporate Training and Development, Higher Education, and K-12 Education. This chapter synthesizes the findings of major annual reports, including the Online Report Card: Tracking Online Education in the United States (Allen & Seaman, 2016); the ECAR Study of Students and Information Technology (Dahlstrom, Brooks, Grajek & Reeves, 2015); the New Media Consortium's, Horizon Reports (Johnson, Adams Becker, Estrada & Freeman, 2016; Johnson, Adams Becker, Cummins, Estrada, Freeman and Hall, 2016); the Education Week's Technology Counts 2017 Report (Education Week, 2017); and Project Tomorrow's Speak Up Reports, Trends in Digital Learning: Building Teachers' Capacity to Create New Learning Experiences for Students (Project Tomorrow & Blackboard, 2017). The authors note steady growth in access to instructional technology in three sectors, that is, mobile technologies, digital content, and online learning opportunities, and these continue to provide unique instructional and learning opportunities in all three sectors.