Future of Instructional Technology

This week in class, we were asked to discuss an emerging technology that we could use in the next 5 years as Instructional Designers.

It was difficult to decide on one emerging technology that could be utilized in an educational setting. In education today we have so many different technologies to use. The problem is that they don’t always work together. You find yourself setting up one technology system one day and another system the next. The cost of buying several individual components becomes an issue also. I feel the problem is not what products to use, but how to bring them all together in an intuitive and efficient interface. Because of this I think mobile devices will be the key to the integration of all applications needed to bring about a renaissance in education.

In education today we have access to a huge amount of information on district servers and the web. We have hands on kits that provide interactive and authentic learning environments. We have small handheld devices that record and upload data to computers. Graphing calculators are used in math classes. Most rooms have access video projectors, document cameras, scanners, and sometimes smart boards. How do we pull it all together?

I believe the evolution of the now popular electronic readers will bring all these applications together. Several companies are developing the next generation of readers that will give students the power of a laptop in an affordable, lightweight package. This type of mobile device will give access to everything else the Horizon Report discussed to each student in or outside a classroom setting. These new readers are less expensive to purchase and upkeep. They will allow a district like mine to provide each student with a mobile reader for less than the cost of annual book adoptions and computer purchases. Apple Computers and Plastic Logic are introducing their tablet readers in the next year or so and I’m sure the evolution of these devices will be considerable faster that what we saw with items like the IPOD.

Using these new mobile devices, students could enter the school and daily assignments can be uploaded to the readers before they hit their seats. Attendance can be taken as the devices enter classrooms and connect to the network. Interactive presentations and text can follow the instructor’s lesson. Students can see video, graphs, charts, and images at their seat instead of having to look at a screen across the room. Notes can be taken on the readers as the lesson is taught. Interactive lessons can be deployed after the lecture. Students can get up and use the tablets to guide them though cooperative group discussions or lab setting type stations. As the students work through the lessons, the mobile device can follow them. They can access the district intranet or the web utilizing those applications made possible through cloud computing. During the lesson, information can be uploaded to their personal webs, submitted to the teacher’s virtual inbox, or printed directly to the class printer. Homework assignments can be loaded and the student can take the tablet home to complete. RSS type feeds can provide students and parents with information. The ability to sign documents on the reader and submit will eliminated letters home. Grades, progress reports, and daily communications can be automatically updated on each tablet by teachers. Alerts, school cancellations, sporting events, and special events can be sent to the student through the mobile device.

I have been following the development of the devices for about a year now. I am very excited about the possibilities of these mobile devices in an educational setting. These devices will be the new hub of the connectivist world.

Plastic Logic QUE

References:

Johnson, L., Levine, A., & Smith, R. (2009). The Horizon Report (2009 ed.). Austin, TX: The New Media Consortium. Retrieved from http://wp.nmc.org/horizon2009/
Date Modified: 16 Dec 09 11:38 PM MST