New Media Consortium’s Horizon Report: 2012 Higher Education
provides insight into the emerging technologies relating to education. I decided to write a report on how we all
have most likely interfaced with the technologies chosen for the Horizon
Report. The Horizon Report also provides
the time likely that it will take for each learning tool to be fully part of
the educational realm. As for the
technology that is four to five years away I cannot write on because it is
still in stages of development and very little information is able to be found
on the internet. Furthermore, here are
some of the technologies we interface with every day.
MOBILE APPS
I only recently got a smart phone and still have not figured
out everything I can do with it. Even
though I am new to mobile apps the potential is enormous. With apps like Adobe reader a student can
access and read pdf files in almost any situation. Mobile
apps continue to help students arrange courses and syllabi to keep up with
classes, provide platforms to view flashcards and memorizing techniques, and
even order textbooks for courses they are taking that semester. Furthermore, this being the rise of a booming
industry where creatively turning tasks and tools into mini computer programs
that generally sell for ninety nine cents there is unlimited potential.
TABLET COMPUTERS
Tablet computers were prominent in higher learning
institutions since the ipad hit the market.
The conversion from laptops to tablets though has not been particularly
fast or steady until recently. Paired with
the increase in applications available for tablets and the variability in the
market has propelled the frequency of use very high as lately. There have been various studies saying that
tablet use increased
from 7 to 25 percent among college students.
I myself have seen similar results in my classes as well as observed how
easy it can be to take notes, read documents, and use apps to collaborate and
create interactive learning.
GAME-BASED LEARNING
Other than the guest lectures we have had in our
class about game based learning from professor Zahm at Virginia Tech I have not
experienced much of the sort. This is in
line with the horizon reports prediction that Game-Based Learning will not be adapted
for two to three years. Colleges across
the countries have developed programs to pursue initiatives relating to
Game-Based learning such as Amherst
and Drexel. I myself have dabbled in various video games
throughout my entire life and can testify to its effects. I am not particularly competitive but games
force you to try and try again till you get it right a valuable aspect for
education. Although I could see this
more actively applied to younger age groups colleges could create the programs
that are used for the younger age groups.
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