08/27/2023 – Current trends encompass providing tools in educational technology to impact learning; however, technology needs to be a tool to enhance – not the end all and be all for instruction. Currently, educators need guidance and support, or technology tends to be misused or used and dropped because of the learning pit without the proper support to climb out of it. Along with being trained on how to use various pieces of technology, educators need to be offered the opportunity to explore with it in their classrooms without being dinged on evaluations or in their test scores. Like Sugata Mitra said in his TED Talk – encouragement is the key. Until administrators along with legislatures get supportively behind educators and not just “throw money out to get computers in the classroom,” the future trend of technology in the classroom is not promising. It will be like getting your own microfiche machine instead of using the card catalog in a library. Then, until you are trained on how to use the microfiche machine properly as a tool with encouragement to keep working with it, one just plays with it and then leaves it for the familiar card catalog even if it takes more time to do your research “the old-fashioned” way. Proper training and encouraging support make the risk of using technology as a tool less daunting and more desirable to get to the innovation and transformation of the learning as in a Blended Learning environment.
To find emerging trends and issues in the field I read tech articles, science articles, STEM articles along with current educational articles. This is where I have found support for Blended Learning along with my district’s initiative in Blended/Personalized Learning. Some of my favorite digital tools that have come out of this initiative and my graduate work are Flip Grid, Microsoft streaming video; Kahoot; Teams/Zoom; Canvas, Canva, WordPress, and WIX, just to name a few, because they can be utilized for education, publication and communication across the world and time zones. That is still amazing to me though not as much to my nineteen-year-old son, who grew up with computer technology and cell phones.
The research behind pictures that Patti Dobrowolski shares in her TED Talk is insightful, too. It encourages me to use pictures with my colleagues and students as we discuss goals and reflect on them. Goal setting and Reflection is another component of Blended/Personalized Learning in my district. I want to pursue this research a bit more and see how I can incorporate it in my work along with my innovation plan.
References:
Sugata Mitra. (2013, February 27). Building a school in the cloud . Youtube. https://youtu.be/y3jYVe1RGaU
Patti Dobrowolski. (2015, March 27). Draw Your Future, Take Control of Your Life . Youtube. https://youtu.be/4vl6wCiUZYc
Wings and a Wand 