Emerging and Future Technologies (EDUC - 8342C - 1)

Module 2 - Assignment

Blog Post on Emerging Technologies Tetrad

Students can use a free Web-based application called Google Docs where enables them to create Documents, Presentations, Spreadsheets, Drawings and Forms. Learners have to create a Google e-mail account because they have to log in to their accounts to be able to use the applications. Furthermore, the use of Internet access and a browser such as Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari are necessary for pupils to be able to access Google Docs. Whatever pupil constructs can share it with others and it can be saved online. The student can access his/her work anytime from anyplace the learner wants to with the use of an iPhone, Mobil phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop.

I had my experience as a student using Google Docs to complete one of the assignments in another course I was taking towards my doctoral degree at Walden University. Google Documents enabled me to work in collaboration with two classmates to complete an assignment online.

Moreover, my group used the chat feature Google allowed us to use to communicate with each other. When I use Google Docs, I do not have to worry about where to save and backup my documents because Google takes care of it. When students work with Google Docs, they use the cloud. Google enables students to have more flexibility to complete their assignments when they work together because the work students have to create is done in the cloud.

At the place where I work, instructors are afraid of using an emerging technology because they believe that they have to spend a lot of time to learn how to use the features of the new technology. Google enables educators to spend more time helping students and less time figuring how to use the new features of Google Docs.

            According to Thornburg (2014f), a tetradic model allows us to see how powerful the technology is in a way that the more we know about the technology, the better way to learn how to use the new technology (p. 1). The laws of media are very useful in a way that permits us to explore an emerging technology by enabling us to choose or reject the technology (M. McLuhan & E. McLuhan, 1992).  According to Thornburg (2013e), the following tetrad uses the four laws of media, which are Extension/Enhancement, Closure/Obsolescence, Retrieval, and Reversal.

                                                             

Extension/Enhancement: Multiple users Different locations Chat Feature Use of cloud	Closure/Obsolescence: It replaces the traditional way processing application programs work.
Retrieval/Rekindles: Group work Share a file Access a file Use of Disk Drive or e-mail attachment	Reversal: Emerging Technology that allows Visual contact 3D Space Capable of talking to each other in real time

One of the new things, Google Docs does is to enable multiple users to work on a group project from geographically different locations at the same time. This emerging technology uses a Chat Feature to permit users to communicate with each other while they work online collaboratively. Also, the technology allows students to access their documents 24/7 on the cloud.

The emerging technologies started to obsolete the traditional way processing application programs work offline such as Works, Word Perfect, Microsoft Word, and Apache Office.

The technology rekindles from the past the ability that a user can operate in a group with other members that they can be able of retrieving their files from a disk drive or e-mail attachment.

In the end, the technology that is going to replace Google Docs in the future can be an emerging technology where students face each other in a 3D space. While pupils try to work together, learners can communicate by talking to each other in real time. Each student will have the ability to add his/her part of the assignment to complete the entire task. Finally, the group can be able to look for the whole job and finalize it.

The following is a list of links that help us to explore more about Google Docs the emerging technology.

https://apps.google.com/learning-center/

https://apps.google.com/learning-center/tips/#/list

https://apps.google.com/learning-center/products/apps/onboard-team-members/

Tags: Emerging and Future Technologies, Technology, Identify, Emerged, tetrads, grow, clusters, chains, McLuhan’s Laws, Google, Web-based application, Google Docs, Documents, Presentations, Spreadsheets, Drawings and Forms

References

Laureate Education (Producer). (2014f). David Thornburg: McLuhan’s Tetrad [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

McLuhan, M., & McLuhan, E. (1992). Laws of media: The new science. University of Toronto Press.

Thornburg, D. (2013e). Emerging technologies and McLuhan’s laws of media. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.

Emerging and Future Technologies (EDUC - 8342C - 1)

 Module 1 - Assignment

Blog Post on Identifying an Emerged Technology

         Educational Technology is a field that cares about topics called issues, and it takes approaches called trends to address these issues over time (Brown & Green, 2014). According to Dr. Thornburg (2013b), Table 1 depicts a constantly changing list of some of the current trends, which have a significant potential to impact educational technology in the next few years.

Table 1 – Current Trends in Educational Technology

‘REASON	FROM	TO
Power Consumption	Running Hot Desktop Computers High-weight, High-power-consumption	Going Green Chromebooks Low-weight, Low-power-consumption, Fully Networked
Dominant Display Technology	Television Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) Analog System	Print Quality LCD Flat Screen Digital System
Back up Essential Data Storage Devices	Fragility Traditional hard Drives Local Storage	Robustness Flash Memory – “Pen Drives” Semiconductor Technologies “Cloud” – Dropbox, Google Drive
Operating System and Office Suite Licenses	Proprietary Systems Macintosh or Windows-based	Open Source and Content Linux, Office Suite Openoffice.org
Internet and Network Access is Automatic Broadband Challenge	Logging Dial-up Modem A few Megabits/Sec of Bandwidth to the Internet	Showing up High-speed Wireless Access Build-in Ethernet Jacks Classroom Servers – OpenClassroom Device Made by Aspen Learning
Ability to Run Wireless Cables	Wired Broadband Internet Services with plug into a wired Ethernet post	Wireless “wi-fi” - Broadband Internet Services without plug into a wired Ethernet post Roaming Wireless – Technologies Ranging From 802.16 (wi-max) to the 3G networks
Collaborate and Share ideas With Peers and Explore the Same Resources at the Same Time	Me and the Web Isolation - Working on a Web site you have visited many times	Us Together Share Document Creation - Google Apps
Development of Modern Desktop User Interface	Point and Click Combination of Keyboard and Mouse Clicking	Wave and Pinch Multi-touch Display Technology – Multiple points of the Surface to be Detected Simultaneously
The Power of Handheld Devices	Computers That Communicate Original Phones – One Function to Allow an Individual to Make Only Phone Calls	Communicators that Compute Cell Phones – Multiple Functions such As Making a phone Call, Map Application, GPS Functionality, Internet Access, Instant Messages’

     The transformations are taking place in society because they are the results of the new technologies (Thornburg, 2013b). Flipped Classroom is another emerging trend that uses software and devices inside or outside of the classroom to enrich teaching and learning (NMC Horizon Report, 2015a). Dr. Thornburg (2013e) indicated that ISTE considers an emerging technology any technology that is new to the educators (p. 4). We do not want to use technology in an ineffective or dangerous way, but we want to use it in a way to increase learning. Let’s keep in mind that innovation can be expensive. The skills our pupils will need to be successful at the time they will exit school to face the world are communication, creativity, collaboration, and divergent thinking. We should use flipped classroom to foster these skills and point to our students to the right direction. According to NMC Horizon Report (2015a), flipped classroom enables instructors to rearrange how time is spent in and out of class by transferring the ownership of learning from the faculty to the learners. Therefore, the teacher does not have to use class time to explain the lesson to pupils. Professors can spend valuable time interacting with students instructional and collaboratively, while learners work together to solve real-world applications with local or global challenges.  As a result, the time students devote is to more active, project-based learning, and higher cognitive (NMC Horizon Report, 2015a). Table 2 displays the results of the Center for Digital Education’s survey of higher education instructors who claim they already use, or they will plan to use flipped classroom within a year in the United States.

Table 2 – Popularity of Flipped Classroom in the United States

‘Flipped Classroom	Percentage
Faculty who said they were using it	29%’
Faculty who said they planned to use it within a year	27%’

            After the class is over, students can do their work by using any of the following forms (NMC Horizon Report, 2015a):

·         Listening to podcasts

·         Examining enhanced e-book content

·         Watching video lectures

·         Collaborating with peers in online communities

Table 3 offers examples of flipped classroom with direct applications for in higher education settings in the following links.

Table 3 – Flipped Classroom Links

SwinEcho Lecture Recording	http://go.nmc.org/swinech
Flipped and Blended Learning Course	http://go.nmc.org/ubcflipped
Collaborative Lecture Annotation System (CLAS)	http://go.nmc.org/clas

            Table 4 provides more resources about the flipped classroom.

Table 4 – Flipped Classroom Resources

BU Collaboration and Network Enhanced Course Transformations	http://go.nmc.org/bucon
A Novel Integration of Online and Flipped Classroom Instructional Models in Public Health Higher Education	http://go.nmc.org/fliphealth
The Promise of the Flipped Classroom in Higher Education	http://go.nmc.org/prom

            In general, the adoption of flipped classroom in different places around the globe has to do with the culture of the people. The United States has a different culture from the one European, and ASIA has (NMC Horizon Report, 2015a). Therefore, whatever it works for the United Stated when it comes to flipped classroom, it may not work for European and Asia because of the difference in culture. Educators have to face another challenge when it comes to the implementation of flipped classroom. The challenge is that the student is willing to do a self-directed work. When it comes to traditional teaching environment, a pupil depends on the instructor to gather any necessary material to study.  Educators need support to overcome obstacles they may face when it comes to the adoption of innovation. There should be an educational center in every University to provide instructors with

•    resources to flip their classroom

•    a specialist to consult on flipping a particular course and

•    opportunities to accomplish a variety of types of learning and assessment opportunities

Cornel University’ Center for Teaching Excellence (https://www.cte.cornell.edu/images/posters/2015-JanuaryConference-poster.pdf) is an example of such an educational center (NMC Horizon Report, 2015a).

If we are looking for another technology example that Thornburg’s article should use is flipped classroom.

References

Brown, A. & Green, T. (Producers). (2014, January 22). Trends and Issues in Instructional

Design, Educational Technology, and Learning Sciences [Audio Podcast]. Retrieved from http://trendsandissues.com/                                                                                                    
NMC Horizon Report. (2015a). 2015 Higher Ed Edition. Retrieved from http://www.nmc.org/publication/nmc-horizon-report-2015-higher-education-edition/

Thornburg, D. (2013b). Current trends in educational technology. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.

Thornburg, D. (2013e). When is a technology emergent? Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.

Tags: Emerging, Future, Emerging Technologies, Future Technologies, Emerging and Future Technologies, Trends, Issues, Identifying an Emerged, Technology, Identify, Emerge, Flipped Classroom