Tool 1.2 – Identifying, Selecting and Ranking of Relevant Trends

Identifying relevant trends in society, education and technology that will help define the Future Classroom Scenario

A trend is a gradual change over time, not always immediately apparent, having potential long-term impact. Trends in educational technology and practice form key building blocks on which Future Classroom Scenarios are built. There are two steps: first identifying and describing trends, and then selecting those that are considered most important by the stakeholders.

1 – Identifying trends

It is important to involve different stakeholders in the identification process of trends. Stakeholders can observe the changes in society and learning, but it is also helpful to consult resources and read about new trends.

Resources about trends. The participants look at documents about trends and themes presented on the Trends page. They include:

  • Trends in teaching and learning;
  • Emerging technologies;
  • Trends identified by teachers and students.


Any of these or a mix can be used to start a conversation.

Brainstorming and discussing. Stakeholders brainstorm about the relevant trends that will have an impact on education in the next years. They look at the own school context and think about opportunities and challenges for both students, teachers and others.


Suggested workshop activities

All activities below can be done at staff meetings. In most cases they also work as classroom activities with students.

1 - Learn about trends. Participants read one chapter from a document on Trends so that (almost) all participants have a different chapter to read. Each participant explains the trend to other group members and they discuss the relevance, benefits and challenges. Example: The book of trends in education

2 - Observe. Which trend(s) in society will have an impact on future learning? What will be the challenges for teachers and students? Participants brainstorm and collect trends which influence education and learning. Afterwards they can discuss the relevance and potential impact on their school and community.

There are many ICT tools available to collate ideas and enable the brainstorm activity, either to take place synchronously or asynchronously where participants can contribute over a longer time span in their own pace. See here suggestions on technologies and tools

2 – Selecting and Ranking Trends

At the end of the identification of trends process and the brainstorm and discussion sessions the Innovation Team selects a shortlist of educational trends relevant for the context of the school. The process of selecting should result in a consensus. The discussion amongst a wide group of stakeholders about upcoming trends and potential benefits and challenges is most important.

The process of selecting can also be supported by technology. Many tools include easy ways to organise a poll and /or rank trends, and they liven up what could otherwise be a rather abstract process. See here suggestions on technologies and tools


Suggested workshop activities

1 - Small group discussion

Use the tool All Our Ideas, upload some trends from a resource or generated in the school or classroom, or use the example: allourideas.com/edutrends

Make groups of three and use one device per group. The different groups discuss for a moment the pair of trends that pops up and vote individually. Afterwards they click on the trend with the winning votes and continue with the next pair.

All Our Ideas generates automatically an ongoing ranking, based on the votes of the users. The outcome of the ranking can be viewed at any time by clicking on allourideas.com/edutrends/results (example)

2 - Social voting tools

Social voting tools like Tricider allow users to vote on submitted ideas. Also tools like Socrative and Mentimeter can be used to organise voting.