TECHNOLOGY ON THE MOVE!

Bobbi Spain Volume 1 Issue 1 The advancement of technology is near! Fall 2013

The advancement of technology is becoming more and more a part of the classroom environment. We have already seen technology develop over time, from the computer to cell phones. This online source divides the new technologies into three categories,

NMC Horizon Project Analysis

One Year or Less, Two or Three Years, and Four to Five Years. These are expected to become the highlight of classrooms from now until 2018, and will eventually technology will take over the classroom setting or even schools! Lets take a look at the six of the twelve technologies brought to our

There were twelve different types of technologies to watch in the Technology Outlook for Community, Technical, and Junior Colleges 2013-2018: An NMC Horizon Project Sector Analysis.

attention.

BYOD
Within one year or less, BYOD, or Bring Your Own Device has become popular to

some class settings already. This term refers to students bringing their own laptops, smartphones, and mobile devices to class. The trend was noticed by a corporation whose employees were using their own devices to connect to the company network. Now it is becoming common in education. Th e BYOD moveme nt was brought on by the lack of funds for the oneon-one teaching that used to be a key factor in educational development in students. Instead, they are given personal laptops or tablets to use for outside the classroom. Tablets are also a part of the BYOD movement, making it easier to use in class instead of a

traditional laptop. The BYOD movement has been proven to increase productivity and student engagement. Extending the opportunity for learning is becoming more available as the BYOD movement grows.

Flipped Classroom
The next device that is expected to be in the educational environment within one year or less is the flipped classroom technique. This is the practice of shifting the ownership of learning from the teacher to the student. The lesson can be taught in the form of video lectures, podcasts,

e-books, or research. After the lesson has been taught to the student, they take the information and manage the content they use, the pace and style of learning, and the ways in which they demonstrate their knowledge. The teacher guides the students, adapting to their learning styles. The time that was supposed to be spent on teaching the lesson, it will be used for a more hands-on, project-based approach to learning. This new style of learning for the classroom will take the place of the lecturing as the primary source of gaining information. It will also help educators to create a better curriculum, learning opportunities, and assessments to connect with students lives.

interest in it is the focus of learning from the Internet, which has been stimulated by massive open online courses or MOOCs. Online learning has made it easy to access the latest research, promising developments, and new business models of the online world. The Internet learning arena has been open to experimentation since online learning has become the new fad on institutions. Plenty of classes have been offered online and have been successfully completed and also remastered to fit the needs of students. Communication between students and their institutions is being reworked, revised, rethought, and redone. Blended learning and hybrid has also been given attention to be apart of new technology on the watch for the classroom. Online learning environments are expected to grow and adapt to students

Online Learning
Online learning is not a new style of learning, but the recent

learning styles and will soon scale globally.

and will continue to grow to assist the educational field.

Social Media
People worldwide are familiar to the craze of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouYube, Pinterest, and many more social media sites. For personal reasons, people use Facebook and Twitter to see what family members, friends, brands, and organizations are up to. On the education side of things, social media is used as a form of communication to enable dialogue between students, educators, and the institution, in a less formal fashion. The engagement of social media will deeply connect with universities. Sites like Facebook will help students and teachers to create learning networks on a personal level, and YouTube and Vimeo allows instructors to upload and share lectures with students. The future of social media is bright This is where the two to three year mark begins. Badges grant certification for informal learning in the form of micro-credits. Badges are meant to bring the idea of easy to reach incentives of gamification into learning. This system is kind of like Girl Scouts, earning a badge to document your learning progress. In some learning environments, students watch videos and earn new badges when they are completed. Mozilla, a major web company had created the Open Badge Initiative, which allows their users and providers to display their

Badges

achievements online. Badges can show the advantages of game mechanics as the students work through different levels or stages of work to earn their credentials. They appeal to many educators because they gamify the learning process, they challenge the sole providers of learning certification, and badges acknowledge skill acquisitions of a student, or even an educator.

online materials. This could include uploading or sharing documents, managing calendars and even gradebooks. With the advancement of other technologies like social media and mobile learning, LMS providers are working to adapt their system to correspond with devices of students and faulty. LMS is striving to cooperate with other online environments like Google Apps, YouTube, and Twitter or Facebook. The future of LMS will be an updated source to carefullt keep track of students progress and help everyone in the education setting.

Learning Management Systems

Learning management systems or LMS are software apps or online environments where the students and educators interact with

The next types of technologies that will be discussed will be in the education system within four to five years.

Natural Users Interfaces

Technology is becoming more advanced as we know it.

Devices like the iPod touch, iPhone, Xbox kinect, and many more savvy devices are built with

natural user interfaces to navigate the device by swipes, touching, and taps. This allows the computer to recognize the natural and physical gestures of a person. The interaction between you and your device is not new, but it hasnt been used to its full potential. The NUIs ability to read facial expressions and their reactions will improve, sensing when the student is frustrated or struggling with their work. NUIs also make devices easier to use and more accessible to explore and engage.

These types of laboratories are designed to mock the setting of a real science lab via the web. Virtual labs enable the student to practice in a safe environment before experiencing the real deal. Most virtual labs can be accessed 24/7 and the experiment can be done over and over again. Remote laboratories provide virtual interface to physical experiments. Users can manipulate activities and watch the experiement unfold right before them on the screen. Remote labs also save on financial burdens, keeping institutions from purchasing equipment and using the remote tools at their discretion.

Virtual and Remote Labs