Peer Review

2021 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report® Teaching and Learning Edition

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Jan 31, 2026 by Faculty Development

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

The 2021 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report: Teaching and Learning Edition is a comprehensive analysis of trends, technologies, and scenarios shaping the future of higher education. It reviews social, technological, economic, environmental, and political trends impacting teaching and learning post-COVID-19. The report features expert panel input, key technology practices like AI, hybrid models, learning analytics, microcredentialing, OER, and quality online learning. It also outlines potential future scenarios and offers global institutional implications, making it a valuable resource for strategic planning in higher education.

Type of Material:

Reference

Recommended Uses:

In-class discussion
Faculty development
Strategic planning workshops
Research
Individual study

Technical Requirements:

Any modern browser
PDF reader

Identify Major Learning Goals:

Understand trends affecting the future of higher education
Analyze key technologies and practices in teaching and learning
Explore scenarios to plan for institutional strategy
Reflect on implications for equity, inclusion, and access
Reinforce and evidence the points of view of a group of experts on current and future trends around teaching and learning.

Target Student Population:

Higher education faculty
Administrators
Instructional designers
Education policymakers
Graduate students in education

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

Basic understanding of higher education systems
Familiarity with teaching and learning concepts

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

The report is exceptionally well-researche
Clearly organized
Highly relevant to current challenges in higher education
Draws on expert panel input
Offers broad international perspectives
Includes concrete scenarios and implications for planning.
The links placed in the index of the PDF document are functional since they allow navigation to the various topics within it.

Concerns:

Some sections are dense and may be challenging for casual readers to navigate.
The report might also benefit from more explicit guidance for instructors on directly implementing findings in day-to-day teaching.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

The report provides an excellent foundation for discussions on the future of teaching and learning.
It is highly adaptable for use in faculty development or strategic planning.
Promotes understanding of concepts thanks to good information design.
Visually it is comfortable for reading
The colors that differentiate the themes allow an orderly understanding of the information contained.
The difference in font size allows for effective differentiation of topics, subtopics, and content.

Concerns:

It is not a direct curriculum or assessment tool;
it requires facilitation or instructor guidance to translate insights into specific learning objectives or measurable outcomes.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

Professionally designed
Accessible as a free PDF
Clear headings
Good summaries
Features scenario planning.
All the links return automatically to page 4. “executive summary” and not to the page where it was being read.

Concerns:

As a long-form report, it may not be optimized for all screen readers or for quick navigation.
Some visuals are minimal and text-heavy.
All the links that are in the document open in the same window where the report is being read, when you click on any of them and return, it automatically sends you to page 4, which confuses the monitoring of the reading since the reader might forget which page they were on.
It would be recommended that at the end of the document a bibliography related to the topics that were addressed during the report be added.

Other Issues and Comments:

This is a highly recommended resource for anyone involved in higher education planning and strategy.
It offers a broad, international perspective on post-pandemic trends and is useful for driving informed conversations about the future of teaching and learning.

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