Category: Emerging Technologies

educational technology, Emerging Technologies, Reflection

Reflection 8/11/18

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Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Definition: Educational technology is the study and application of tools and processes that make teaching and learning more accessible, efficient, engaging, and effective.

My goal going forward as an educational technologist is to respond to emergence with anticipation, curiosity, and intentionality but at the same time proceeding with caution. I can’t say that I’ve always done that. As a lab manager and as a teacher, I tended to respond to emergence wholeheartedly. At the time, I was only making decisions for my classroom and students. Some decisions that I made were based on research, promises, hearsay, and what looked interesting. The way I responded to emergence changed some when I became an instructional coach, and again when I became an instructional designer.

In both of these positions, I have had the opportunity to influence more practitioners and decision-makers. As a coach, I tried to influence our administration to purchase a certain interim assessment program. It was pretty expensive, and ultimately they decided against it. It was kind of stressful pushing for something that expensive and that probably not everyone would like. It was the type of product they were looking for, but they just weren’t able to make the commitment. In a way, I was kind of relieved that they didn’t purchase it.

In my role as an instructional designer, I’ve asked for several changes. I made the request to open Blackboard Profiles, so students and faculty could put in profiles and photos for the discussion board, and to make it feel a little warmer and help with building community. I was a little concerned that students would upload inappropriate photos – since that was the reason for not turning in on before, and that I was the one asked for it. However, there’s been no problem. Another example a new lecture capture and streaming service software. It’s been adopted, and we’re just finishing moving all of our stored video to it. It made me a little nervous, wondering how it would work and if people would like it, and if we’d still be pleased with the decision down the road. That one has turned out well too.

With each of these examples, during the process it became more apparent to me that this isn’t a challenge to see if I can get my way or to sell an idea. It’s a big responsibility that must be taken seriously. There are repercussions for poor decision-making. Over the past few weeks of study, this has become even clearer to me. Educational technology decisions can’t be based on emotion. There is research to be examined and costs to be considered for the entire organization. Then once a decision has been made to utilize a new tool or process, there are strategies to consider for diffusing the innovation and for developing training. That is part of my response to emergence as well.

In addition, I’ve learned that I have a responsibility to the field of educational technology to help to dispel myths and promote research-based strategies. Just because something is said to be research-based isn’t enough. Research should be critically analyzed before basing a decision on it. In conducting research, there is a responsibility as well – to do it judiciously, not just doing what’s easy or doing things halfway. Research should be conducted with excellence to continue improving educational technology and teaching and learning.

It’s been a challenging couple of months. I’ve learned a lot and was able to push myself to accomplish more than I thought I could. I’m very grateful for the opportunity, and I’m looking forward to the upcoming challenges.

Emerging Technologies, Reflection

Reflection 7/1/18

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Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay

As the week began, I started getting familiar with the course. As an instructional designer, I enjoy studying the design of a course as well as the content. I was also pondering which emerging trends I wanted to learn more about and to share. As I usually want to utilize my coursework at work, I asked the senior designer if she had any ideas. She mentioned the tele-presence robots that we’d seen during a webinar called Learning Spaces. I was thinking about choosing flexible learning spaces, adaptive learning, G Suite for higher education, or maybe light board video creation, since we are revamping our light board studio to operate like a One-Button Studio.

Throughout the week I read about the Diffusion of Innovation (DoI). It wasn’t my first time to hear of DoI or see it in action, but I definitely learned more about it and how to apply it. The information I learned will make a difference in how I approach and communicate change in my work going forward.

Since I still hadn’t decided on my emerging trends, I read the list of emerging trends and also the 2017 Horizon report for higher education. I had read one of the K-12 editions in my first Master of Educational Technology course back in 2013. I also remember reading a higher education edition in 2015. As I was reading through the table of contents, I was excited that in a sense I had predicted many of the topics listed there.

After reading the sections on the topics that interested me most, I narrowed it down to flexible learning spaces(including tele-presence or distance learning technologies)and next generation Learning Management System(LMS) or digital learning environment. I searched for and read a number of resources on these topics, and I found it interesting that I had difficulty finding peer reviewed articles on next generation LMS. Perhaps it’s too new. I found several articles from Educause, Campus Technology, and similar resources though.

During our office’s recent strategic planning meeting, we discussed the possibility of designing and implementing model learning spaces in the classrooms by our offices. Ones that were flexible and could accommodate blended synchronous sessions, since a couple programs at the University are offering courses using that learning environment now.

As an instructional designer who uses Blackboard, who has tried Rezzly, built a course in Google Sites and in Adobe Captivate, and participated in a course using mainly social media, I’m very interested in what the next generation LMS might be like.