One of the most interesting resources I found was a 2006 report called the “Horizon Report,” whose main goal was to highlight emerging trends in educational technology. It was divided up into sections and each section contained an overview, relevance, examples and future reading. The link is included after this section. Perhaps the biggest reason for all of these trends is the fact that all of the tools to use them are becoming more widespread and much easier for those with only minimal knowledge of the technology to use. Just as we are participating in online courses where a large part of grade comes from collaboration and communication with our classmates and instructor, the ease of doing so is increasing as time goes on.
One of the biggest emerging trends is the incorporation of social computing. Social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook have exploded over the past several years as students would rather leave comments and wall posts for their friends rather than just call them. Chat rooms have been popular since the early days of the internet and bulletin boards are seeing their most extensive use ever. This pattern of social interaction extends to the educational world as well. People from all over the world are now becoming colleagues in similar endeavors and interests, as we are in our classes. Using bulletin boards, class sites, etc., we are now interacting in ways we were never able to before. While we can already do video chats, its only a matter of time before all of us own a webcam and we have entire classes online. The ease of being able to work from home, from the office or wherever has made life easier on many of us on the go. This trend will continue to grow as technology continues to expand to horizons we never thought were possible. The article was written in 2006 and it said the time to the horizon was less than 1 year. I believe that we still have not yet hit that horizon, and online collaboration and social networking will continue to grow on the personal, business and educational levels.
Another emerging trend is the use of mobile and personal technology within not only the classroom but the everyday arena of life for personal broadcasting purposes. An overwhelming majority of people now own a cell phone, mp3 player or both. The ability for students, teachers and others to “podcast” and video-blog. Within a few short years, this technology will be even furthered due to the continued development and expansion of mobile phones. I know that among my colleagues at North High School, we often discuss what we would do if we could podcast or text message our lessons to our students, since then they might actually pay attention to us. While it could be construed as a joke, it’s partially serious as well. It is given a horizon time of less than one year, I still believe this is a growing area where educators are still puzzled as to how to use it. I would give it another one to two years to really develop before it will plateau.
A third important trend is the implementation of extended reality and enhanced visualization. The horizon time on this trend is four to five years, but is has been in the works since the early 1990s. I remember not only dissecting a frog in 7th grade science class, but also doing so in 5th grade on a computer. Sure, the graphics were like that of an Atari from the early 1980s, but it was the beginning of what would be a huge breakthrough in education. Today, we can learn how to do surgery ahead of time, find oil and coal deposits underground that we didn’t know existed and visualize what a building or a roller coaster will look like when completed, before we even break ground on construction. I don’t believe this trend has a window. I believe as we grow more complex in our lives and our technology, this field will continue to grow to new levels.
http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2006_Horizon_Report.pdf
Retrieved: July 5, 2008
“The annual Horizon Report describes the continuing work of the NMC’s Horizon Project, a research-oriented effort that seeks to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, or creative expression within higher education.”
An additional growing trend is the large emergence of Web 2.0. “Web 2.0 is a term describing the trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users.” Students already post enormous numbers of videos and pictures of their own on the net. Incorporating their knowledge of this technology into the classroom will spawn creativity never seen before and allow them to do things they love to do, like playing with new devices.
http://www.techlearning.com/showArticle.php?articleID=196604382
An article on the emergence of Web 2.0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0
The explanation of the term “Web 2.0” including the definition used in the above article.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I believe that face to face networking, classroom instruction is as important as anything else. I feel like I need to make a connection with my students and parents on a personal level in order for them to succeed and a "blog" or "chat" can't do that. I like them initially for an ice breaker but feel that face to face is the best. How do others feel?
I think the social networking via the computer is a great thing within limits. I was excited when I started reading the introductions we did for this class and saw the wide range of backgrounds we have. I agree with Melissa, however, that it cannot replace the connection a good teacher can make with his or her students. I think it can be used to enhance what we do. I also have taken a few courses on-line and still have concerns about my work being "cast into the void". There is a give and take that happens face to face that cannot happen any other way.
When I think about social networking I usually envision it as a tool to connect several real time classes together. As an IB teacher we have to do a large research project for the students to graduate. I think that this is a great opportunity for social networking. I would like to get several classes around the world together and do water quality testing or something similar, and then use programs like Google Apps to compile, organize, and present the research finding.
I agree with Melissa and Shaun about not being able to replace the teacher / student relationship, but as virtual worlds become more common and advanced would that work for a face-to-face interaction?
I agree with Melissa, in that face to face should come first in the classroom. As a foreign language teacher I see blogging as a great tool to show the 'World Community' concept to my rural students that don't often get out of their element.
Nice work Bob! Thanks for pulling that all together.
While it is hard to argue that face to face isn't the best form of communication, I can't help but see things from John's perspective as far as the pros of social networking.
The thing I like the best about Web 2.0 is the ability to connect many people and many people's ideas to come up with a really great finished project.
I am really attracted to the idea that if we work together and use the right tools we can come up with something that not only many people can be very proud of, but we can connect with others learn from each other along the way.
Take Wikipedia for example: it is a source of information that many people with many interests and backgrounds worked hard to compile and continue to "perfect." Think of the good that has come from it. Not only do its authors get to work together, but also its published form is used by hundreds of millions each day.
Post a Comment