After reviewing information on the technology that will have a significant role in shaping the future of education, I have selected five trends in educational technology that I think are some of the most important. Educational technology is a field that is consistently evolving and advancing. In the future, we will continue to see technology evolve in ways that prove beneficial to the goal of educating a wide variety of students. Much of the technology that will shape the future of educational technology is already available. After reviewing information on the technology that will have a significant role in shaping the future of education, I have selected five trends in educational technology that I think are some of the most important. Tools such as massively open online courses (MOOCs), digital textbooks, gamification, flipped classrooms, and mobile learning are already beginning to revolutionize the world of education (Kroski, n.d.). This technology is working to differentiate education and make it accessible to many more individuals. The premise of MOOCs is to allow thousands of people to digitally partake in college courses that they otherwise would be unable to attend due to reasons ranging from distance to finances. MOOCs can grant multitudes of students the opportunity to advance their education for free and, therefore, increase the education of the population. Several high school students can advance their education through programs like Running Start which allows them to begin college during high school, and adding MOOCs to that already awesome program can open more doors to those who wish to learn. While MOOCs are primarily college courses, some schools are also offering K-12 content in the same manner of open forum (Johnson, Adams Becker, Cummins, Estrada, & Freeman, 2013). I think the benefit of MOOCs is obvious; they remove so many of the barriers that stand between people and their education. They could be used in high school classes for students who wish to begin accumulating more knowledge on a certain subject. Teachers could use MOOCs to advance their knowledge of a subject they’re teaching.
Digital textbooks offer a convenient avenue for students to access information on their computers, tablets, and even their smart phones. They eliminate the wait time for delivery, they are mobile, and they can remove the fear of damaging the textbook. Digital textbooks could be easily used in classrooms, to be made available to students online on their mobile phones, devices, computers, and at school. Physical textbooks could be kept on hand to be checked out for those who don’t have access to the internet at home. Flipped classrooms are a fantastic resource that would allow students to get a jump on the lessons and offers plentiful opportunities for student engagement. This would be helpful in pretty much every class; it creates opportunities for students to come to class with a basic knowledge of the subject being taught, which would push the lesson further. Mobile learning further facilitates all of these evolutions in educational technology and puts the potential for education in a person’s pocket. You can carry your textbook, your classroom, and a college course in your phone or other device. Teachers can use online resources like Twitter, Google Docs, and Dropbox to make school more accessible to students and to allow for instruction to be differentiated for students. Teachers could use mobile learning to allow students to submit assignments through Google Docs and tweet helpful hints to students to help with homework assignments. Gamification is another aspect of educational technology that is really exciting. It would allow student to have fun while exploring concepts of lessons and to learn at their own pace. I think that allowing students to practice concepts of a lesson through playing games would engage students that might otherwise do poorly in a subject. Gamification would be especially useful in a math class where it would test students grasp of concepts or in a history class to allow students to test their knowledge of the subject. Technology has had an incredible impact on education, on how students are taught. In the future, the impact of technology in education will continue to expand. I think that we should lean into the evolution of education and use technology to make education accessible to everyone that we can. Technology, when used appropriately and effectively for educational purposes, can open up the possibilities of what students and teachers can achieve. References Johnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Cummins, M., Estrada V., Freeman, A., & Ludgate, H. (2013). NMC Horizon Report: 2013 K-12 edition. Retrieved from http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2013-horizon-report-k12.pdf Kroski, E. (n.d.). 7 Ed tech trends to watch in 2014 [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://oedb.org/ilibrarian/7-ed-techtrends-watch-2014/
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AuthorMy name is Angie and I am pursuing a degree in Library Science while also working in a library in Washington. Archives
April 2019
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