We discuss the trends and issues we observed during the weeks of February 16-18, 2016 as we flipped resources into our Flipboard magazine (http://bit.ly/trendsandissues). We have three trends that we discuss. The first is, again, continued news virtual reality. Virtual reality continues to be a topic that is being discussed. The recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona helped fuel discussions about VR. The second trend was software updates. A number of popular software that are used in educational technology and instructional design saw recent updates. Google Translate, Skype, Twitter, and YouTube added new functionalities, for example. The third was online learning. A number of articles discussed the good and bad of online courses and programs. Finally, Open Educational Resources was the fourth trend we observed. Spurred on by the US Department of Education's push for OER, we observed a spike in the discussion and coverage of open educational resources.

We have four recommended readings.

Amazon Education to Launch Marketplace for Open Education Resources by Edsurge https://www.edsurge.com/news/2016-02-16-amazon-education-to-launch-marketplace-for-open-education-resources
How VR and AR will be Training Tomorrow's Workfoce by K.R. Sanjiv http://venturebeat.com/2016/02/21/how-vr-and-ar-will-be-training-tomorrows-workforce/
Why Education Needs More Healthy Skeptics and Diehard Optimists like Larry Cuban by Mary Jo Madda https://www.edsurge.com/news/2016-02-19-education-needs-more-healthy-skeptics-and-diehard-optimists-like-larry-cuban
Four Neuormyths that are Still Prevalent in Schools--Debunked by Bradley Busch http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2016/feb/24/four-neuromyths-still-prevalent-in-schools-debunked

To cite the Trends & Issues podcast:

Brown, A. & Green, T. (Producers). (2016, February 29). Trends and Issues in Instructional Design, Educational Technology, and Learning Sciences [Audio Podcast]. Retrieved from http://trendsandissues.com/

Our next podcast episode will be March 14, 2016