The two reports that most captured my interest were the Educause Seven Things and the New Media Consortium 2012 Horizon report. I had discovered both prior to this course and found them valuable for understanding technology trends and challenging my current and future teaching strategies. I would share the Educause Seven Things with other educators, […]
Continue reading NMC Horizon report Posted in: Uncategorized
I chose to review “Top 10 Ed Tech predictions for 2011.” The first half of this article summarizes some of the frequently discussed education topics or challenges including: how to improve teaching and learning while integrating technology, personalized learning, product-based assessment, and conceptual learning. With the first five summaries being contributed by a Dell manager […]
Continue reading Review of Chris Dawson’s Top 5 Ed Tech Predictions for 2011 Posted in: Uncategorized
Claire,
Thank your for the succinct overview. I agree that the promotion of Dell products was rather shameless and I can see why you would ‘resent’ it. A critical comparison of other brands would have led more credibility to the article rather than the author’s attempt to balance with his own predictions.
gillian
Claire;
I didn’t think too much about the Dell influence on the article but I agree that the author should have explored other companies before making his predictions. I had to take this article with a grain of salt as it is a blog where the author is probably paid to write quantity, not so much for quality. I think you have a right to be sceptical.
Dennis
HI Claire,
I agree with you too! I really found the Dell summaries off putting and made me less likely to really question the predictions. The only positive thing I can say is that at least they were transparent about the contribution!
Claire,
Thanks for the summary. I agree with you and others who have posted about the decided bias in the article. As Denise pointed out, at least they admitted it. I always try to identify who is sponsoring an article or who may have commissioned it to identify potential biases that may exist. I agree that the article would have been more valuable had other brands been included in the analysis.
Deborah
Hi Clare,
I agree with others here – whenever I read something that is littered with brands (i.e. Dell), I am immediately suspicious bout the content. At that moment – the whole article loses its credibility.
Cheers,
Lisa
It seems easy to look back in time and see how educational technology was implemented into our schools and our personal lives. Making predictions for the future year may not be just that easy. Dawson (2010), a teacher and writer, predicted five ideas that would give students choice in education during the year of 2011. […]
Continue reading Dawson’s Top 10 Ed Tech Predictions Posted in: Uncategorized
Hi Dennis,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. The tablets, iPads, laptops, digital cameras and etc are definitely more and more popular for class use nowadays. I recall reading an article about students using digital cameras for science labs to take pictures during the process and then the students use those pictures to document their lab reports. These students resulted in writing better lab reports in comparison to those who didn’t use the digital camera.
I think that you pointed out a very important point in your post and that is to have educators work closely with technology companies in identifying what the needs are for the students and teachers and design something that would further support that rather than go the other way around and have us follow the trend. Great post indeed, keep up the good work!
Karon
It seems as though some of our current devices can do it all. Video, pictures, voice recordings, text, email, and present. Should we make more use of them in the classroom? This is a debate I am about to get into at our school and I still don’t know where I sit on it.
Any ideas?
Dennis
Hello Dennis
These educational tools can be used if they prompt the students to be interactive and responsive to them in a constructive way. But as far as I know there is no specific answer for your question. It all depends on the structure of the curriculum and whether it allows educators the use of technology tools in class.
take care
Hussain
Hi Dennis,
I am not sure I have had a chance to say hello to you! So hello! And nice to see you here!
Making predictions about learning technologies is a risky business, especially when hundreds of thousands of dollars are being spent to roll out what is meant to be the latest and most innovative tools to enhance learning. Along with these investments come issues with security and privacy (both online and with the devices themselves), bandwidth, tech support and the distractions they may bring to the classroom, to name a few.
I think we are in the same boat as you are in terms of iPad implementation. There are those who are already setting learning goals and objectives while others are just going to play it by ear next semester. To each their own I suppose. But as Dawson (2010) points out, the implementation of new learning technologies need to be learning initiatives, not tech initiatives, though I sometimes think that many tech initiatives, as least in my experience, are disguised as learning initiatives. The interesting thing is the lack of complaints about this! And those who do complain are often those who are already wholeheartedly against technology in education.
Danielle
Danielle;
“As Dawson (2010) points out, the implementation of new learning technologies need to be learning initiatives, not tech initiatives.”
I picked this up from the article as well. Technology is often used for its novelty, not because it is the best or easiest tool to use. As we push for 21st Century skills we have to be careful to “not throw the baby out with the bath water.” Some of the best tools are the simplest tools.
Thanks for your comments!
Dennis
Hi Dennis,
I appreciated your candor and references to personal experience in your critique. While I can see the flaws in many of these reviews and predicitons, I certainly wouldn’t want the task of making them. Like you, I find keeping up to date with the tech world too overwhelming and defer to others when it comes to market trends. However, I would consider myself an early adopter when it comes to using tech in my practice only because schools are so far behind the marketplace that targets them.
gillian
Gillian;
We are finding that teachers and students often have much better and newer technology than schools. This poses the larger question of whether schools should be responsible for providing students with technology or should they follow a bring your own device model? I have heard comments about how students will use whatever is newest, whether it be their own device or a school device.
Any thoughts?
Dennis
Before you publish your posting, please make sure that you select a category (eg. Introductions) as well as assign some meaningful tags (keywords).
sheza 11:03 am on May 20, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Denise,
Thanks for taking the time to write a review on the NMC Horizon reports. To be honest, I only actually went back and had a look at them after reading your review and I can see what you mean about them being a lot more comprehensive than the 7 Things reports. They are truly valuable in their specificity, as you pointed out. It is difficult nowadays to find reliable information on the web nowadays that is open-source and produced by experts in the field. Looking to the future these reports also seem to offer a better understanding for administrators and CEOs, and would likely be more helpful in assisting them to plan out their future plans for technology integration. Having said that, I think that the 7 Things and NMC have two distinct niche markets – 7 Things works well to give educators an undertanding of what’s current and good to know about in terms of educational technology that is at work in the classroom today while the NMC gives a good outlook for the future of educational technology and gives those who open their wallets something to think about in planning their annual budgets.