Is Technology Changing Education?

OF COURSE IT IS! 

Of course technology is changing education. If I were to ask my 4th grade teacher in 1996 if the mid 80's (likely donated) Macintosh that we were allowed to play educational games on when we finished our work early was changing education, what would she have said? YES! That answer remains the same but now has so much more depth. 

In that 4th grade classroom we were rarely using the computer but when we were, we were learning how to manipulate a keyboard, save progress to a 5.25 inch floppy drive, while playing educational games to pass our time while our classmates finished up book work or tests. 

I was recently reading an Ed Tech article and it became very apparent how much education has and will continue to change with the incorporation of technology. 

Ed Tech Article - Check out the article here. 

The article discusses the following items: 

Virtual Reality (VR)  Learning - 

From the cheaper and more simple things like Google Cardboard or Samsung Gear VR to the more expensive Virtual Reality systems such as HTC's Vive these virtural reality systems can give students a virtual, yet real feeling look at jobs, locations, experiences, that students have not been able to experience or imagine before. How cool would it be for a student to be able to virtually escape to Egypt and walk around a Virtual pyramid while discussing that exact object in World History? 

*I recently had the chance to try out the HTC Vive and it is unimaginable how real it is. I was able to explore landscapes, draw 3'd objects and see them from all sides (how cool would that be for creating and then being able to print to a 3d printer?), as well as fight off zombies (I actually had to stop during this one because it was too real and was making me sick.)  

3D Printing

3D Printing has been making waves in education in current years. With the incorporation of makerspaces to urge students to attempt to be engineers, students along with teachers have started to dream, think, and create all kinds of objects. Some objects for fun and some to be functional to solve a problem or fix a broken piece. 

IoT (Internet of Things)

IoT or Internet of Things was a new term for me but not a new idea. IoT is referring to how devices feed information and data into the Internet to make everything work or sync together. It is how we want all of our devices to share information so all of our information is at our fingertips at anytime! I know how true this is just when I think of how I like to be able to read an email and check Google Classroom while checking in on my amount of steps taken per day. I like to be able to find this information from my phone, desktop, laptop, chromebook, and possibly even my smartwatch, if I want. We like all of our data to mesh together in a way that works. 

Wearables

Wearables in the article were referred to the current star of the Internet of Things concept. Wearable items that can count your steps, track your heart rate, send you calendar reminders, collect your text messages, and alert you of events all from your wrist are the big IoT trend. Sometimes I think of these items as something more for adults, but not really. I see kids younger and younger showing interest or having their own wearable devices that show that they like to linked into this trend just as much as the next person. 

Interactive Technology

The last item in the article discussed interactive technology in the way of things like robotics. The main thing that interested me on this subject was the rise in robotic toys that are used with special education students. It discussed robotic toys that served as counselors and playmates to children with various disorders or disabilities. How crazy is it to think a child could be paired with technology to help them feel as if they have a friend or someone to talk to when they may be struggling in ways that makes it difficult for them to make friends. Obviously, this route may seem a little concerning but it is also a very interesting way to think about solving such a problem. 

Feel free to take a look at the article. Above are just some of my thoughts as well as sort of a summary of the 5 Tech Trends that are thought to possibly change or reinvent education in 2016. 

As educators, I do feel that we do need to be aware of these changes and be thinking about how we can use them to keep our students engaged and learning as times change. Technology is not a fad, technology is here to stay. However, the types of technology are only going to continue to grow and change. With so many options we might as well jump on board the technology train and find out what works for us and our students! 

What technology trends are you most excited about?