As I was reading through the Unit 3 required literature, I started with Gartner’s (2016) press release on emerging technologies, surprised by the amount of technology I had not heard of. I had to stop multiple times to look up the technology being discussed: smart dust, 4D printing, and neuromorphic hardware for example (Gartner, 2016).
I questioned my ability to accommodate these huge technological triumphs? Due to the fact that I don’t know what I am preparing for and that change is often not accepted quickly within K-12 education, the idea to prepare my classroom (an online learning environment) for the future seems impossible.
Moore’s (2016) TAPPA process, a design process made for the online learning environment, was able to help me begin to conceptualize how I might be able to work in these changes. TAPPA, an acronym for Target, Accomplishment, Past, Prototype, and Artifact, was illustrated with a double helix, having the ability to move back and forth between the different stages (Moore, 2016). The idea to continue to use the same target and assessment, but revisit the past, prototype, and artifact as technology changed seemed to provide an option. However, as much as I begin to understand and conceptualize the idea of the change that will be needed surrounding technology in the upcoming years, it still feels very daunting.
I am curious, within your context how you think change will be accepted, if at all? How do you think the invention and use of new disruptive technology such as smart dust will be taken? Or do you think new businesses or departments will be introduced to handle these new challenges/innovations?
References
Gartner. (2016, August 16). Gartner’s 2016 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies Identifies Three Key Trends that Organizations Must Track to Gain Competitive Advantage. [Press Release].
Moore, R. L. (2016). Developing distance education content using the TAPPA process. TechTrends, 60(5), 425–432.
Hello Amanda,
I really enjoyed your post, and it was thought-provoking. I can appreciate your concern of trying to adapt as a facilitator of learning to children and youth. Especially when there can be a marked distinction in the level of technological understanding between a teacher and learners in this digital age. I think that there is a finite availability for someone to incorporate all new discoveries and advances.
I believe that an important characteristic of being human is the ability to adapt. As culture attempting to maneuver through digital discoveries, humanity adapts to integrate its knowledge. Throughout the ages, humans have benefitted from working in groups as a collaboration of specialization. In today’s global village there is an even more marked presence of this form of advancing civilization. As you alluded to, I think that new departments will be created in order to facilitate the learning process. They will be the ones to maintain an awareness of upcoming digital opportunities, test the applications, and improve the possibilities through feedback from the teachers and the learners.
Know that this is just speculation.
To put it into my occupational context, in health care often the workers are no longer seeking to digest new advances but rather are under high stress to navigate through the immediate concern in front of them. As such, new departments are developed to assist in this process and offer “new developments” in training packages designed to improve the workload of the worker and to ease the distress of the client (patient).
I am curious, would you be interested in changing career paths into a specialized team of educational learning, or would you rather be at the front line working with the younger generation?
I look forward to this dialogue with you,
Michael
Hi Michael,
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and respond.
I always find it interesting when I speak with others and they discuss the difference in technological understanding between a teacher and students. I find it interesting because at least in my experience, the students do not have nearly as much understanding as we give them credit for. Do not get me wrong, they are amazing with apps and apple like products that are arguably extremely user friendly. However, their understanding of computers and technology, as a whole, I find is less then what it is use to be, because they simply do not need to understand it anymore to use it.
Thank you for sharing your health care context with me. Not knowing your context well, do you think these new departments are useful, or are they too far removed from the issue?
To answer your question, I have no idea. At the moment, I really enjoy working in my online environment. I am very privileged as many of my students are school age, but I also get to work with adult learners returning to upgrade or graduate. Overall I find the front line work like you describe to be very rewarding. For now, my main focus is completing this program.
Thanks,
Amanda
Hi Amanda,
I share your sentiment in your post with the challenges of keeping up with new technology. As a teacher myself, I find in conversations with my students at times it seems like we are speaking different languages. The way they talk about new apps or popular YouTubers I feel as though I am totally out of touch with the new reality. In Gartner’s (2016) press release I also felt bewildered with so many technologies that I didn’t even know existed. Smart dust for example seems like an amazing invention to learn about new environments; however, I hesitate to openly accept a miniature monitoring system the size of dust particles.
I think with any change in technology or innovation it takes time to test and work out the potential kinks. In my school we form committees to test new technology and work out the issues before it reaches the masses. For the most part this has been effective but there are some forms of technology that meet the needs of some instructors more than others.
As an adult I find it challenging to navigate new technologies and find the most effective means to deliver a lesson; however, I think a main skill to teach our learners is how to navigate using technology in an appropriate manner. This relates to Ertmer and Newby’s (2013) “Know-where” (p.66) concept of teaching learners where to find information.
My question to you is do you have any suggestions for teaching learners how to filter technology?
References
Gartner. (2016, August 16). Gartner’s 2016 hype cycle for emerging technologies identifies three key trends that organizations must track to gain competitive advantage. [Press Release].
Ertmer, P., & Newby, T. (2013 Online). Behaviourism, cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 26(2), 43-71. Retrieved from https://doi-org.ezproxy.royalroads.ca/10.1002/piq.21143
Hi Breanne,
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and respond. I agree with you that students are a great way of making you feel out of touch.
I think that is great that your school has a committee set up to review and test technology. As you mentioned that it does take time, do you find that by the time it makes it through the review stage, some of it is already slightly outdated? As well, do you include student opinions in the review, or just staff?
To answer your question, I think we need to make sure that our learners consider why they are doing something. I find discussing and modeling this process with my students to be useful. Dron (2014) discusses disruptive technology and how sometimes that disruption can be positive. I do not think I have a perfect answer, but in my mind, as long as you can see how it may help you get to your result, it might be useful and worth a try. Being able to communicate with your class and then discuss later on if they found it a positive addition would be good as well. As new technology is introduced, I think it is going to become even more crucial that we ask ourselves if we need it, and what for? When it comes to education, we are also going to have to consider if our students need to be able to understand that technology to be successful in their adult life world.
Thanks,
Amanda
Reference:
Dron, J. (2014). Innovation and Change: Changing how we Change. In Zawacki-Richter, O. & T. Anderson (Eds.), Online distance education: Towards a research agenda. Athabasca, AB: AU Press.
Hi there Amanda! Indeed the amount of technology out there is sometimes staggering. When you think about the possible applications in an educational setting and alignment with other or current technologies and you have yourself a recipe for imagination overload. Looking at the technology available is one thing but discussing the right fit for the style and methodology is something else. When evaluating the technology it’s important to look at your teaching style or mythology. Are you using constructivism, behaviourism, cognitivism etc.? Whatever you may be using, there’s a certain fit that technologies may or may not have (Bates, 2005). Technologies may also enhance the learning or help develop skills, others may not.
Bates, T. (2005). Selecting and using technologies in distance education. In Technology, E-learning and Distance Education (2nd ed., pp. 41–66). Taylor & Francis Group.