As the saying goes, the only constant in technology is change. Technologies change faster than education can keep up. It's impossible for schools to have the "latest and greatest." However, it is important for schools to look forward to emerging technologies and how they might affect classroom instruction, management, and learning. MIT each year produces a report on the top ten emerging technologies. It is a short read that gives a glimpse of what types of technologies will possibly alter industries, fields of research, and even the way we live.

What do you get when you cross the Web with a personal log? A blog. Blogging has become a popular topic as thousands of individuals post their thoughts and comments. Visit Blogs in Education to investigate how blogging could be used in an educational setting.

Wireless networking is one new technology that has recently become popular and will continue to do so as wireless standards and security evolve. Wireless networks provide network access to desktop, laptop, tablet, and even handheld computers.

The increase in wireless networks has brought on an increase in mobile computing devices such as tablet and handheld computers. Watch for these devices to invade classrooms at a higher rate than they have already. Brighthand's site posts news, reviews, and rumors of mobile devices...keep up-to-date with what's happening.

Data storage has become increasingly important to mobile computing. It's not practical to carry around an external CD-ROM drive for a tablet computer and it defeats the purpose. USB Drives and external hard drives have become very popular and store anywhere from 256 megabytes to 1000 gigabytes. Every six months or so, the prices drop on the devices and the storage capacity expands. Many MP3 players such as the iPod also serve as a storage device for files.

The increase of broadband internet access has made desktop videoconferencing more feasible. The Polycom ViaVideo and Apple iSight are two possibilities.