Happy Holidays!

The end of the year is fast approaching, which means it’s a good time to take a step back and review where we’ve been and speculate on where we’re going. I think we can all agree that 2012 continued to be a huge year for mobile.  ASTD launched a new certificate program and co-published a book, along with numerous articles, blog posts, and webcasts on the topic. Mobile is not going away. So, as you continue think about how this trend affects your learning strategies, remember that it’s not about the device or technology, it’s about being able to provide learners support—in context—where and when they need it.

Also, the term “gamification” has been thrown around this year—A LOT. There’s been a great deal of hype, as well as some negative press. Recently, a Gartner report predicted that 80 percent of gamification implementations will fail by 2014. Unfortunately, this stat might be true. There is quite a bit of poor quality solutions making the rounds –not to mention promises of increased engagement by merely handing out digital badges and awards. Like anything else, good game design or even just the application of general game elements to learning takes time and expertise. To help motivated developers head down the right path, ASTD co-published Karl Kapp’s new book, The Gamfication of Learning and Instruction, and we are partnering with Karl and Koreen Olbrish on a Game Design and Gamification Workshop. We expect it to not only take you inside the game design process, but also a lot of fun.

Finally, you’ve likely heard of MOOCs (massively open online courses) by now. If not, these are online courses with free, open access. A few prominent MOOC providers are Coursera, Udacity, and edX; these providers partner with various universities who also offer other course content and instructors. I believe MOOCs will continue to have a huge impact on the higher education system. More important, I’ll be interested to see how they affect organizational learning.

That’s just my quick take on some 2012 trends. What was your trend of the year? What trends are you looking out for in 2013?