With every new year comes new ideas. To get a glimpse into what the next 12 months will hold for everything from professional development to digital learning, and from communication to virtual reality, 15 ed tech luminaries looked back on 2016 edtech trends to help predict what’s in store for 2017.

Here’s what they said:

Video Observation for Teacher PD

By Rebekah Ralph, LaGrange College Department of Education

The use of video observation to provide feedback and support to teacher candidates is an ed tech trend that will experience significant growth in 2017. The LaGrange College Department of Education plans to continue to use ADVANCEfeedback® to support our teacher candidates on their journey to becoming teachers with exemplary knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Teacher candidates will use personal classroom videos uploaded to the platform to self-reflect on pedagogy, classroom management, and interactions with students; they’ll also share videos with peers and receive feedback from one another. These digital professional learning communities allow teacher candidates to receive support from a peer prospective, but they also allow teacher candidates to view content, pedagogy, and management strategies in diverse classroom settings. Additionally, we will use ADVANCEfeedback as a pedagogical tool in our courses as candidates reflect collaboratively around a common video before, during, and after class. This collaboration allows candidates to view theory in practice and makes learning on campus more authentic.

Rebekah Ralph is the instructor of educational technology and edTPA coordinator at LaGrange College Department of Education (GA). Follow her on Twitter at @TeachitRalph.

Growth in High-Quality Content and New Publishers 

By Ted Levine, Kids Discover

Many people have been calling for a “content revolution” in education over the last few years. We’ve seen major disruption with the emergence of OER’s and the early stages of virtual reality (VR). However, these two examples represent near opposite ends of the spectrum in educational content. That is, most OER’s fall into the category of light worksheets, short print-outs, and generally supplemental material. VR, on the other hand, represents the future of fully interactive and immersive learning experiences.

There is a vast sea of content, both free and paid, that falls in between these two ends of the spectrum. In 2017 and in 2018, we’ll see large, medium, and small publishers begin to enhance their content offerings and products in a more meaningful way, both in print and in digital. The market for paid content may well continue to contract, but publishers that put out offerings that are far superior to the material offered in OER’s—but more accessible for schools than VR—will have a place in school budgets. Publishers that do not enhance their content offerings and the digital products they developed in the late 2000’s and early 2010’s will fall out of favor.

Ted Levine is the President and CEO of Kids Discover. Follow him on Twitter @LevineTed or @KIDS_DISCOVER.

Identifying and Helping Students with Dyslexia

By Donell Pons, educator

One of the biggest systemic issues is that for years in special ed we could not use the term “dyslexia.” Instead, these students were classified as having a specific learning disability or learning disability. Yet, at the end of 2016, only 11 states have no dyslexia laws on the books. There is progress, but it’s slow and takes considerable effort. At American International School of Utah, where I am the K-12 literacy coordinator, one of the tools we use to help dyslexic students (and, in fact, all students who need literacy support) is Reading Horizons. This reading system distills Orton-Gillingham concepts to simple and elegant explanations of the English language that are extremely effective for students with dyslexia and others who are learning to read. Dyslexia is the most common learning disability, yet many educators don’t recognize it in their students. My hope for, and mission in, 2017 is to better support efforts to identify, screen, and remediate every student who struggles with reading, and engage every K-12 teacher in the reading process.

Donell Pons, M.Ed, MAT, SPED, is an educator and dyslexia screener, consultant, and tutor. She can be reached at donell.pons@aisutah.org. Webcast #1: http://tiny.cc/29kfhy; Webcast #2:http://tiny.cc/1alfhy; to register for Webcast #3: Dyslexia – Best Practices for Instruction and Intervention (January 25, 2017) http://www.readinghorizons.com/webcast.

A Major Increase in Parent-Teacher Communication

By Chaks Appalabattula, Bloomz

With modern-day parents demanding more communication, in 2017, I believe we will see more schools make parental engagement a priority, since research demonstrates it has a direct impact on student performance.

Teachers are busier than ever in today’s schools. They are expected to create and differentiate lessons, track improvements, explore new technology options for their classrooms, engage parents, and more. When creating the Bloomz app, we designed it to fill the need for teachers to have one app to manage all their classroom tasks, including scheduling parent-teacher conferences, tracking behavior, and sharing photos and videos with parents. I predict that fewer teachers are going to be falling into the “one app for each task” trap, since it adds burden to parents as well, and more will look to consolidate the different communication, coordination, and classroom management tasks into one time-and-energy-saving app.

Chaks Appalabattula is the founder and CEO of Bloomz. Follow him on Twitter @achaks.

Classroom Audio Systems will be used to Assess Student Learning  

By Gregory Firn, RoboKind

How do we ensure that teachers have the tools, skills, knowledge, and experience to “activate” learning for each learner in the most critical time of learning—in the process of constructing meaning, clarifying thinking, or testing a theory? The answer for 2017 will be in utilizing a new breed technology to provide teachers and learners alike with actionable, qualitative data that provides insight into how a learner is learning as they learn. Lightspeed has created technology that leverages auditory data to equip teachers with “in the moment” insights shared by learners as they construct, co-author, contribute, collaborate, and critically apply previous learning to solve problems, envision solutions, or imagine “new” possibilities. Teachers no longer have to wait to interpret lagging, trailing, or after-the-fact indicators of learning as they are empowered and equipped to intervene or influence in the moment.

Gregory Firn is a former deputy superintendent of academics at Grand Prairie ISD in Texas and the current senior vice president of strategic initiatives at RoboKind. Follow him on Twitter @BestofClass.

Educators will Embrace Digital Collaboration 

By Dave Blanchard, Cambridge-Isanti Schools

We push our students to collaborate, yet educator’s ideas and practices are often divided according to subject area, department, or school. In 2017, I predict more educators will have this realization and come together to learn from each other, and not reinvent the wheel when trying something new or exploring new options.

For example, the 2015-2016 school year was an incredible year for the launch of BreakoutEDU, an open platform for hosting “breakouts,” or immersive learning games, in the classroom. The activity or lesson incorporates physical and technological components designed around meaningful content, social learning, and strategies that embrace 21st-century skills. I use multiple forms of “ancient technology” including different types of locks, codes, and puzzles, as well as more modern technology like ClassFlow, to deliver specific clues to teams or individuals through an iPad. ClassFlow allows me to share content with students in small groups or individually, and students can “share back” text, polls, and even images.

Through meaningful planning with teachers at my school and educators around the world, I was able to not only run stronger Breakouts within my class, but also train others on this incredible model. Through digital collaboration we were able to support each other’s needs anywhere and at any time, and create a stronger student experience. Too many times we miss opportunities to succeed together, so entering 2017 I will be keeping the topic of quality collaboration on my mind.

Dave Blanchard is a 21st-century skills and modern technology teacher at Cambridge-Isanti Schools in Minnesota. Check out his blog here or follow him on Twitter at @000Dave.