Trend 1: Flipped
Classroom
When a teacher “flips” his or her classroom he or she
reverses some of the basic elements of a lesson. For example, a teacher can flip a classroom
by asking students to watch a pre-recorded lecture to prepare themselves for class
tomorrow in which the students will do their “homework” and have the
opportunity to talk to the teacher and their classmates about the
assignment. Flipping allows teachers to
assess student learning and their own teaching in the classroom instead of when
they’re grading papers.
Flipped classrooms can turn learning on its head! By taking advantage of all of the eresources
available these days, teachers have the ability to appeal to multi-literacies
in their classrooms, including visual literacy.
Flipped classrooms create an atmosphere that will encourage students to
work at their own pace and support active learning. Students have time to reflect on the lesson
before they apply it to their work. I do
think, however, that more research needs to be done on how effective flipping
really is. There are many articles and
videos about how to do it and why to do it, but not so many about the long-term
effects of this trend.
Keeping up with this trend, just like keeping up with many
of the Education Technology Integration trends is pretty easy. The most effective thing to do is read about
it. Read about how teachers and
librarians are doing it in their classrooms. Read differing opinions about
flipping classrooms and consider how you feel about those opinions. Watch videos of teachers actually flipping
their classrooms. Keep up with the
research that is currently being done about flipped classrooms. I follow many teachers and librarians on
twitter, as well as education think tanks like Edutopia and Inside Higher Ed
and eLearningIndustry.com and I check what experts are tweeting and blogging
about weekly. As an Instructional
Designer, having a PLN is an absolute MUST.
Some great videos on the flipped classroom include:
If I was going to flip a high school English classroom, I
might use
www.educreations to record a
lecture about a book chapter or section and I’d use images to discuss
characters and symbols. Based on the
recorded lecture, I’d put students in groups during class and ask them to act
out certain scenes from the chapter and then analyze for character development
and symbolism. Then I’d have each group
assess their own work and the work of one other group.
Trend #2: Mobile
Learning
In my opinion, Mobile Learning is learning on the go,
usually facilitated via a hand held device like a laptop, smart phone or
tablet. We’re already seeing the impact
of mobile learning since laptops have been popular and affordable now for
almost 10 years. But I’d say that mobile
learning is making education and self-directed learning a lot more accessible. Also, since online education is blowing up,
mobile learning will make online courses even easier since the learner can
access their classes anywhere at anytime if they have access to a device with
Internet capabilities.
As an Instructional Designer, keeping up on ways to use
smart phones and tablets in the classrooms is imperative. Also, I think perhaps the most important
thing I’d need to be up on is the teaching training on mobile learning. It’s important to be able to have a working
knowledge of each device and operating system.
I know there is several companies that have designed their own
curriculum and loaded it onto their own devices (like Amplify) so it’d be a
good idea to be aware of the different curriculums companies are writing. I think it’s also very important to know what
apps and programs schools are using to support their mobile learning
curriculum. For example, Google Sites
and Moodle are quite popular in both K12 & higher education.
I’d love to design a lesson and use google maps or a GPS
program to create a quest or scavenger hunt based on a book or short
story. This would be in an English
classroom again, or I could definitely use this technology in the library as
well. I’d want to use a web-based
program or app so that students could use whatever device they have. Using Voki to ask students to assess their
experience with a mapping tool and what they learned would be fun. I am also interested in using Voice Thread in
the classroom, but have to explore ways to use it before I implement it.
I found this article recently about mobile learning:
https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERB1204.pdf
and found it very helpful. It’s a bit
old, 2012, but it mentioned a lot of what we’ve talked about in this class and
predicted Wearable Learning will be big in the near future. I’m assuming Google Glass and Fitbits would
be part of wearable learning. I also
really appreciated the “key questions to ask” section in the article, which
addresses some of the very questions I have about mobile learning and education
technology in general.
Trend #3: 3D Printing
3D printing is a technology used for prototyping and
manufacturing products. I’m hesitant to
call it an education technology trend because I don’t think it’s too widespread
yet, but it is certainly a buzzword!
Students can design images and prototypes and watch their designs come
to life in 3D.
I see this technology having a huge impact in the STEM
courses as well as STEM based clubs in and around schools. In public libraries, 3D printers are in high
demand as additions to Maker Spaces where patrons are encouraged to be creative
and to be “makers.” Here in our academic
library, we have a 3D printer, but it isn’t used often. It sits next to a librarian who has nothing
to do with it. To be honest, there are
days when I am skeptical as to it’s purpose here in our library, although there
are plans to create a Maker Space here soon.
Last week I was at the Hunt Library in Raleigh, NC and saw some amazing
designs created by 3D printers. There
was a prototype of a peanut butter jar with a cover that was attached to a
scraper (of sorts) so that as the user eats the peanut butter, the scraper
screws upwards, making sure all of the peanut butter is used. I CANT REALLY EXPLAN IT BUT ITS
BRILLIANT! Architecture students are
taking advantage of 3D printers by prototyping their designs. I like how 3D printers provide a WOW factor
for students and they encourage collaboration between students and teachers,
but I see some issues that might be hard to overcome. First of all, who owns the printer? Who is in charge of its upkeep? What students get to use the printer? If one teacher writes a grant for a printer
and gets it, what happens when other students want to use it? Does a 3D printer create more garbage? Is it bad for our environment? Who can afford one? These are questions I’m always asking
myself. I think people who’ve never used
one or seen one in action don’t know how long it takes to create the smallest
item. I think teachers need to be
trained not only how to use them, but how to fix them and how to incorporate
the technology into their lessons.
If I were still an English teacher, I’d ask students to
design busts of characters from stories we’re reading, or I might ask them to
find designs of literary symbols to print and then incorporate a writing
exercise with the design.
When doing research on 3d printing, I came across the
website 3dprinting.com which contains great articles about how people are using
3D printers. On the page,
http://3dprinting.com/what-is-3d-printing/,
there are many great videos that demonstrate 3D printing in real time and some
cool examples of how different industries are using 3D printing like the auto
industry, the medical industry and the aerospace industry. There are some great
videos out there that highlight what 3D printers can do like,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_vloWVgf0o
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CveIhsZxcok.
In the last video, some student projects are highlighted, which would be fun to
use to encourage students to be creative when thinking about design projects.
Trend #4: Wearable
Technologies
I’ve gone on the record in this class to say that I find
Google Glass to be super creepy and there is a very real possibility of the
wearer taking pictures of people without their knowledge or consent. And I know that cameras are ubiquitous these
days, but when I say Google Glass demonstrated, all I could think was that
someone was going to get in trouble using those. Anyway, Google Glass is not the only wearable
technology out there. Speaking of
ubiquitous, FitBits are all over the place these days. Other examples of wearable technologies
include smart watches and ipods and Video Reality Headgear (VRH). I was asked to prototype a running hat that
would record miles and calories burned.
I didn’t participate, but now I wish I had.
Wearable technologies are mobile, so they can be with the
learner at all times which could change up the typical school day and encourage
independent learning.
As an Instructional Designer, I think the most important
thing to do to keep up with the trend is to read about it as much as
possible. Also, use the products if
possible. Keep up with how the products
are being used in education and consider in what ways they may be used in
Instructional Design.
This infographic is a great example of how technology is
being worn these days and would be a great learning tool for an Instructional
Designer to use to introduce wearable technologies:
http://bit.ly/1C95mKh .
This article profiles some big thinkers and their wearable
technology ideas,
http://www.wired.com/2013/12/wearable-computers/. I might use this in the classroom as a “Do
Now” or Anticipatory Set of questions to get students thinking about design and
how they use technology.
This clip is my very favorite video on wearable technologies
and one I’d use as a way to introduce a unit on POV,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UowkIRSDHfs.
. I might ask students to write scenes
in which they have to act out a complicated situation and they’d have to record
the same scene from each character’s point of view. It could be a fun way to discuss how POV
affects the story.
TREND #5: Social
Media in the Classroom
Using social media in the classroom is exploding. When I was in the classroom and in the high
school library, we weren’t able to use this tool because of privacy
issues. Now, some forward thinking
school districts are using an “opt out” form to ensure students are aware their
pictures might be used on school social media pages. Also, filtering in schools must have gotten
much more savvy.
Social media is a web 2.0 phenomenon in which sharing of
ideas and information and images is encouraged and expected. Social Media is being used the classroom to
collaborate with teachers and librarians and other groups outside of
schools. Social media makes working in
groups, and mobile learning easy and fun. In many ways, social media will make
education much more of a participatory thing.
Teachers, students, parents, friends can all participate and share in
each step of the learning process.
As I mentioned in my smore, I used Twitter and Facebook in a
class I taught to sophomores and juniors in an honors seminar. They reviewed the books we read one twitter
and were given tweets per book. The only
instructions I gave them was that their tweets had to prove they were actually
reading the books. I also asked my
students to do reading reflections in which they made videos of themselves
reflecting on the process of their reading.
My intent was not to get them to think about the books, but to think
about the process of reading. They had
to take three videos answering the same questions at 3 points during the
semester. They posted the videos to our
class FB page and accepted comments from their classmates and me. Social media’s biggest power is its power to
connect people. During that same class,
a student tweeted about a book at included a hashtag with the title of the
book. Because one can search twitter
using hashtags, the author of the book contacted the student who was tweeting
about it and because of their contact, I was able to set up a Skype (another
social media platform) author talk for my class.
and included links to other blogs and pages about how other
teachers are using social media in their classrooms. Videos like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoFMCpAvHtA
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w9CnaeaiAE
talk about incorporating social media into the classrooms (higher ed &
k12). Students are answering discussion
questions using twitter which allows them to “find their voice” and share their
ideas no matter how socially inept they may be.
