Open and Distance Education/Selected Research on Emerging Technologies in Education

In previous chapters, we have covered the various topics relating to emerging technologies in open and distance education: the evolution and changes made over time, the methods of classifications, the types of emerging technologies, and the methods of evaluation. Emerging technologies in open and distance education will undoubtedly change over the course of the following years as possibilities broaden due to the further development of ICT and any new technologies that may serve as the successor of ICT. New research in the field will then help in identifying the problems that arise and introduce new methods on incorporating and evaluating the new emerging technologies in the educational environments, as it has always did to this day. Below are some of the many research that have been done in emerging technologies in open and distance education.

Renown Research in Technology in Open and Distance Education
Tony Bates is well-known for his work in the field of technology in education, specifically open and distance education. His website attracts many that are interested in his work, and constantly updated with new research topics in that respective field.

More Recent Research and Future Prospects on Technology in Open and Distance Education
An article by Ludlow (2015) gives an overview on use of virtual reality (VR) and also briefly mentioned its benefits in distance education.

One book by Yuzer (2014) consists of numerous chapters written by selected authors devoted to distance education and related technologies.

The New Media Consortium (NMC) Horizon Report is an annual report that identifies and describes emerging technologies in education. This report is part of an ongoing research project, the NMC Horizon Project, made possible from collaborative efforts between NMC and EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI). The 2017 Higher Education edition of the NMC Horizon Report addressed current and future technological trends and topics in higher education. While this current report did cover emerging technology in higher education overall, this particular report identified topics that impact open and distance education as well.