Thing 15: Emerging Tech & Scanning the Horizon

As I was reading through the articles for this thing, I found myself more and more curious about what the authors of the articles predicted for technology trends in education.  I also found myself becoming more excited about the opportunities we would have available for our students.  Not only am I our school's librarian but I also teach technology and computer skills, that is why I choose this thing to learn more about.

I have the interesting task of helping our students to learn and respect the new technology while also teaching them the traditional basics like keyboarding, word processing, power point slide shows, etc.  I feel that they still need these basic skills for background knowledge in order to understand the newer technology and how to adapt to it and how to use it.

One trend that was often talked about and that I have seen some of is virtual reality.  I can see using virtual reality with my students, especially virtual reality field trips due to the fact that we live in a rural area and not all of our students are fortunate enough to be able to visit a large city or even a big museum.  Children who have never had the opportunity to travel beyond our small town have a difficult time understanding the difference between rural and urban.  A virtual reality field trip around a large city, like New York City would truly help them to see and experience the differences in ways that pictures can't quite do so.  I look forward to exploring sites and ways to use virtual reality in my classroom and helping my colleagues to do the same.  I don't see us using virtual reality devices, like Google Cardboard at this time though because all elementary students don't have access to smart phones.  Virtual reality on our smartboards will definitely be a turn in the right direction. 

My biggest obstacle is some of my veteran teachers who don't understand or are nervous of all these technology trends.  They refuse to admit that educational practices are not going to return to the way they were but are progressively becoming more dependent on the internet and other technology.  For example, it is no longer about researching using actual encyclopedia books but about sifting through the many online sources of information to discover which ones are from trustworthy sources and which are from fake sources.  

Technology trends is making it necessary for teachers to get students to think for themselves at a young age and discover how a new site or program works without being taught step by step.  Their sense of accomplishment when they figure it out and can they explain it to a fellow student, or better yet - their teacher, how to use the site or program is ultimately priceless.  Students will remember always these accomplishments.  Technology trends are also going to require that we teach students about digital citizenship and social media.  We want our kids to grow to become responsible users of the internet and all that it entails, while protecting themselves and those that they love.  This will help to promote a healthier school and community environment.

I love how technology is developing and how it can positively change education.  Let's see where we will go next and how our current students will change the world in the future.  After all, we are educating our future leaders and innovators.