Hot technologies.

"Don't touch that, it's hot," is a familiar warning, but the Consortium for School Networking says the adage doesn't apply to educational technology. The group's new report, Hot Technologies for K-12 Schools, lists 12 emerging technologies with potential to transform schools.

"Not all of these will become the 'must haves,' but probably some of them will," says Karen Greenwood Henke, project manager of the report.

1. ACTIVE HIGHLY PORTABLE LARGE STORAGE DEVICES: This is a complex name for things like Apple's iPod. New versions will be able to create digital recordings and files. Imagine students using them to record lectures or listen to language lab files. Some cost less than $300 each.

2. DATACASTING: Digital content such as streaming video, software and activities delivered via satellite or TV stations to a district's servers. Teachers access lessons via the Internet, creating a media-rich environment. Setup is less than $10,000, but adoption will depend on private sector content development.

3. & 4. DIGITAL ASSESSMENTS AND INTELLIGENT ESSAY GRADERS: Both help meet the demand for data-driven instruction. The increasingly reliable technology behind intelligent essay graders coordinates with the returning writing requirement on SATs. Adoption of these tools ranges from a few dollars to nearly $50 per student per year.

5. SOUND FIELD AMPLIFICATION: Created hearing disabled students, this technology that improves the quality and amplification of the teacher's voice and has led to gains for all students. Costs vary.

6. MULTI-SENSORY, CUSTOMIZED LEARNING TOOLS: Software programs that rely on research-based strategies to give practice in critical subjects. Often involving audio, video, computer prompts.

7. - 11. COMMUNITY-BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES: Programmable phone systems, student information systems, Web-based learning management systems (like Blackboard) and Web logs (blogs). Many districts have limited forms of these, but they're likely to become a more central part of home-school communication continuum.

12. RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION DATA: Use of these chips is likely to spur privacy debates, but they can help keep track of kids, library books or computer equipment.

Initial reluctance is high with many of these technologies, but fades if they prove their value.

"It is a paradigm shift, people aren't use to having these kinds of technologies," says Harry N. Barfoot III, of Vantage Learning, which offers intelligent essay grading and writing instruction applications. "This applies not just to our technology, but technology in education in general. People want to know, "Does it work and is it effective?'" www.cosn.org