Many of the shifts pushed for by ed-tech advocates are indeed occurring, according to the fourth annual K-12 edition of the Horizon Report series from the Austin, Texas-basedNew Media Consortium, or NMC.

The report, pre-released to several partnering organizations and selected media outlets today, finds many of these changes have transitioned from the exception to the rule in schools.

For example, online and blended learning models are gaining a much stronger foothold within the nation's schools, thanks in part to financial pressures, the report finds. The bring-your-own-device technology model is also gaining steam in K-12 schools, as is the expectation of students and educators "to be able to work, learn, and study whenever and wherever they want," it adds.

In its report, the NMC also continued its practice of naming what it considers the six emerging technology trends in K-12 education. Tablet computing this year joined mobile device use, a holdover from last year, as a trend to focus on during the coming year. Game-based learning and personal or adaptive learning environments were tabbed trends set to explode during the next 2-3 years, and augmented reality and natural user interface technologies during the next 4-5 years.

The NMC, a nonprofit collaborative of ed-tech experts from around the world, plans to make the report available for public download on June 14 during its annual summer conference at MIT. More information on how this particular issue in the series was crafted is available on the report's wiki page.