At the largest global eLearning conference for the corporate, education and public service sectors, Online Educa Berlin (December 1st - 3rd), Laurence F. Johnson, CEO of the New Media Consortium, will discuss the very latest findings of the Horizon Report 2011, before the official release in January. The annual report is based on the views of hundreds of technology experts in education, museums, business and creative industries.

EBooks are claimed to be lighter and more versatile than traditional books and incorporate visual learning aids like videos, colour imagery and animations.

"The prospect of holding all the materials you will need in a single device weighing less than a kilo is a powerful driver from the student side, and we are seeing a number of universities that are pushing publishers to move in this direction," says Larry Johnson.

The report suggests that simple augmented reality, using computer-generated imagery, will be common on university campuses within two or three years and gesture-based computing may only be four or five years away.

Larry Johnson's New Media Consortium (NMC) is an international not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the exploration of new media and technologies with hundreds of prominent members in the world's leading universities, museums, research centres and industrial companies.