ELI’s 7 Things you should know about…
7 Things you should know about… is a report published every year by the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI). This report provides useful information about emerging technologies and is based on the following criteria:
| What is it? |
| How does it Work? |
| Who’s Doing it? |
| Why is it significant? |
| What are the downsides? |
| Where is it going? |
| What are the implications for teaching and learning? |
The emerging technologies that are described in the 2011 report are the following:
| WordPress |
| Gamification |
| Personalized Digital Magazine |
| Organizing Files in the Cloud |
| LMS Evaluation |
| Modern Learning Commons |
| Open Textbook Publishing |
| iPad apps for learning |
| Open-ended Response Systems |
The information provided on 2011 version of 7 Things you should know about… is useful and valuable to the broader community of educators because it delivers a definition of a number of emerging technologies, it provides a description of how these technologies work and who become users, it offers an explanation of the benefits and drawbacks of incorporating these technologies, and enlightens about the possible future uses. Finally, ELI’s 7 Things you should know about… explains the implications of using these emerging technologies for teaching and learning. However, the information provided on this report is more useful for educators who work at higher education rather than K-12 education. In the section devoted to “implications for teaching and learning” it often mentions terms like “higher education”, “academic career”, or “faculty members”.
I would expect for future versions of this report to find a description of the implications for learning and teaching in a more detailed format, which includes both higher and k-12 education. Despite this, I would revise this report because it is helpful to get a definition of emerging technologies, to be updated with new technologies that are appearing in the market, to obtain a description of its functionalities, and to think about how my students could use these tools and for what purposes.
Angela.
Posted in: Week 02: The Edtech Marketplace
Karen Jones 4:22 pm on September 13, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Angela,
After quickly perusing the Emerging Markets library, this was the site that caught my attention, and the one I thought I would be most likely to come back to because of its clear organization. I don’t think I cottoned on to its emphasis on higher education, however, and appreciate your mention of that emphasis. I also find it interesting to see how this site, supported by EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) alone, relates to the NMC Horizon report, which is a result of collaboration of the ELI and the New Media Consortium. Are the predictions of these reports different, and if so, by how much?!
Great analysis,
KJ
bcourey 5:32 pm on September 13, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
This article is also now saved to my Delicious account for future reference..my teachers will really appreciate the information provided in such a concise manner.
jenaca 8:09 am on September 14, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Angela, I really enjoyed reading through your post. I do agree that this report is more useful for higher education areas however, it is still a wonderful site to learn about new emerging technologies!!
Jenaca
Angela Novoa 9:05 am on September 14, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi all, thanks for your comments. even though I highlighted that this report is more useful for higher education, I still think it is a wonderful report for learning about emerging technologies. So, I would definitely revise future publications. Cheers!
hall 12:34 pm on September 14, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
As an educator I think ‘7 Things you should know about…’ is very useful for me. I am going to make apart of my “Favorites” and I am planning to introduce the site to my colleagues.
I am in agreement with you Emily that in the future this report should include a description of the implications for learning and teaching in a more detailed format, which includes both higher and k-12 education. Great points, I enjoyed the content of your posting.
Jay 1:21 pm on September 15, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
As a newbie in the tech world, particularily edtech, I found this report very informative and easy to navigate. It stays clear of technical words and provides simple descriptions in plain language making it very accessible to a variety of readers.
I too noticed that much of the information is geared toward higher ed. and adult learners. I am wondering if this is because some of these edtechs are more prevalent in these settings and a matter of accessibility. Post-secondary institutions may have access to more money as well as individual students are more likely to use these technologies in their day-day lives as they may pruchase them themselves as opposed to an k-6 student who may only have access through school or at home. It would however be more beneficial to child educators to provide more discussion around how younger students may use these tools to enhance their learning experience.