Future of Educational Technology

The rapid progression of technology in our world has made and will continue to make a huge impact on education.  The trend that are noticeable to me and will continue to rapidly move through the educational field are:  Virtual learning, mobile capabilities, open content, ease of information access, and global or cloud access. (NMC. 2013)  The school districts should pay close attention to these trends, they are impacting schools, families, and communities already and will only become more prevalent in the next few years. 

The use of computers is in every home, workplace, and personal use and will continue to be an accessory in all of the above areas.  The schools must embrace and engage the students in learning the different technology tools out there.  Classrooms will become more virtual than they already are and in most high schools will be completely virtual in the upcoming years.  If the student is old enough to stay home and care for themselves, the need for physical classrooms will diminish.  The world is a mobile society, with devices in our hand to access content and information from anywhere, at any time, as long as there is wireless or data capabilities. (OEBd. 2013)  I see the wireless and data capabilities becoming an anytime/anywhere soon.  The areas that will be most affected by this will be rural areas with agricultural base and little or no service connection. 

Virtual learning will enhance the classroom environment and bring the world to their fingertips.  The teacher will be able to lead the students anywhere and at any time through online searches.  The accessibility of content and information being just a search away will bring a more engaging learning environment for all learners.  The idea of a flipped classroom is not new to many school districts and the idea of being able to attend school anywhere is going to increase in need and in functionality.  The students will desire to learn at their own time and in their own environment, such as this class does, and have the flexibility and to have the mobility and freedom to take their class with them anywhere.  Any curriculum can be enhanced by the virtual, mobile, ease of information and content access, and the global aspect of incorporating any culture, topic, and interest into the classroom to engage and teach the lessons needed to be taught.

References:

NMC.  2013.  Horizon Report.  Retrieved from:  http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2013-horizon-report-k12.pdf

OEDb.  2013.  7 Ed Tech Trends to Watch in 2014.  Retrieved from:  http://oedb.org/ilibrarian/7-ed-tech- trends-watch-2014/