By 12 pages of numbers and percentages, the Speak Up 2013 Report showed out not only the potential of Virtual, Blended and Flipped Classrooms but also the expectation from administrators, teachers, parent and students. From the very first table, we can see the growth of audiences for online classes from 2011 to 2012. In detail, Administrators increased 42%, Teachers rose 24% and the ratio of Support Staff is 100%. Commonly, administrators are the one who underwent a lot of experiences and have good vision of education's future. They can see the potential and advantages of online classes. When a large number of administrator support the increasing of digital conversion, we would cast no doubt on its role in education. However, to accelerate the quality of online classroom, we need properly trained teachers, who understand the use of technology and how it supports the learning process very well. To this point, I believe the teachers should integrate more new technologies into their teaching. For example, we can see in the Chart 1: teacher's usage of selected digital content components in the classroom, the flipped, blended and online teachers have better usage of technology and the report also proved that applying new technologies brings many advantages for teachers. I will analyze this point in the very next part of this paper. Online learning has great effects not only on the students but also on the teachers. In the table 3 of this report, it said that the students in flipped, blended and online class are more motivated to learn (56%-60%), developing creatively (43%-57%), developing problem solving and critical thinking skills (36%-49%), applying knowledge to practical problems (34%-54%), and, the most important, taking ownership of their learning (32%-45%). By considering these ratios, we can conclude that online learning impacts significantly to the students and, of course, in a really positive way. Furthermore, in the table 4, we can also know how the teachers feel when they are supported by technology: 54%-65% said that they organized better, 51%-65% created more interactive lessons, 40%-55% made the students to be center of learning, 38%-50% feel more productive, 34%-47% managed the class more effectively, and 23%-39% personalize learning for their students. It is true to say that technology does not create the distance between students and teacher. In contrast, it connects them more, push them closer and stimulate the learning process. Finally, the expectation of parents and students is increasing more and more. They also can see the potential of digital conversion such as "work at one's own pace, review materials as many as times as needed anywhere, take a class not offered at school, and earn college credit". It would be hard to make a schedule for every single student, but I believe technology will make the learning process be more personalized and self-paced learning.
In the beginning of 2013 Horizon Report, the author stated about 5 key trends that have great impact on technology trend in education. It is about changing in education paradigm, adding online learning, hybrid learning and collaborative models. I believe by the combination between online courses and traditional classroom, the students can achieve the advantages from both of these methods, they can improve their learning skills in both ways. Social media such as social network will change the way people communicate for sure. The learners now can share their ideas or sources of information to each other and then coordinate to finish their team work. Furthermore, we cannot deny the value of open data. The easier students can access information, the better result they can make. The price for technology devices is reducing, gives the learners more chance to own new equipments for learning process. Finally, opening resources and data also mean that we need to take control of it, to be sure that we can create the best way for students to obtain knowledge.
The report said that in the next year or less, Cloud-based Computing and Mobile Learning will be dominant in education. We can see that these technologies are already supported and being used in many schools. One of the biggest advantages from Could Computing is reducing cost for Information Technology building. We will be able to cut down the time and money to maintain the infrastructure, and then spend these saving cost to support mobile devices that allow students to access the data. The cloud storage is not only convenient but also secure and safe. Furthermore, it allows students to access the information and get detail almost anywhere at any time and with any devices. For instance, Khan Academy is supported by Youtube. Students can visit Youtube for free and watch the videos from Khan Academy in their free time, at home or in the school's library. The report also listed out many examples how Cloud Computing was practiced in real context, such as ClassLink at Buffalo Public School that allow students, parents and faculty to visit the shared desktop, and then understand how the learning process runs. I think Mobile Learning is a clear concept with anyone because almost all of us right now know how mobile devices work and their convenience. Base on the data from the report, there are 3.4 billion users of mobile device all over the world by the end of 2013, and the number will increase much more in next few years. Smart phone and tablet are the most famous devices which can support this kind of learning, and the number of applications for education is not small, ABI Research estimated 70 billion apps will be downloaded in 2013. Due to its flexibility, the learners will not have to bring heavy backpack with many textbooks. Instead, they only have to bring their own device which can access e-books. Due to the report, 60% of U.S. parents of children ages 8 to 12 have provided their kids with mobile phones, it means that we don't have a big problem in students' device, but we need to focus on the funds for one-to-one learning. Mathematics, Music and Storytelling are examples how iPad, or other iOS devices, can support education really well.
In next two or three years, Learning Analytic and Open Content will be spread out more and people will recognize their effects on education. From my perspective, Learning Analytic is an important field that education should explore much earlier than now. Through this method, the students will be able to detect the potential trends or customers' behavior, from that they can find out the best solutions for any kind of problem. They can collect data, analyze it and then predict the trends of society, give out adaptive ways to follow those trends. Moreover, teachers and education organizations and also analyze data from schools to improve students' learning process, help them to perform better in different fields. The report provided some examples how it works, such as Learning Catalytic in Harvard University allows teachers to collect students' feedback or group them together, base on their similar abilities. Next, Open Content will resolve one of the biggest problem of education. Via the Internet, publishing books will cost as much money as traditional method. The publisher will not have to pay for paper or printing. Furthermore, the content in digital books can be changed or edited, it is flexible. And when it is open content, the learners can find or filter the information easily. Once they get enough detail, the students will be more independent and responsible with their own learning process. History, Mathematics and Science are some subjects that should be supported by Open Content method.
Lastly, the authors stated about 3D Printing and Virtual and Remote Laboratories, the technologies which will emerge in education in next four or five years. 3D Printing has a huge potential not only in education but also in other areas in real life. This technology is able to supply almost all kinds of subject, from simple to complex, and from many materials. In education, maybe 3D Printing is not ready to be utilized because of some reasons such as the cost or limited scale, but, hopefully, can be adopted in 4-5 years away. It can help students to create the prototype of fragile objects and then use in experiments with different purposes. To this point, the report discussed about Astronomy, Business and Computer Science. These fields of learning need sophisticated prototypes that is really rare and need to be tested in a lot of experiments. Therefore, 3D Printing is the key for this problem. Just like 3D Printing, Virtual and Remote Labs allow students to have more chance to implement their own practices. They can access the laboratory almost every time of the day and start the process whenever they are ready. In remote labs, the students are able to control every tools by webcam and sensors. These kinds of laboratory not only reduce the cost for maintaining physical labs but also bring the safety for the one who practice. The learners can start the experiment, and if something go wrong, they can repeat it again to make sure that they can get desired results. There are many projects all over the world about these kinds of labs, such as LabShare in Australia, LIGO E-Labs in Mississippi high school and Virtual Physics Lab from Kentucky Television Education. All of them are getting good responses from users.
In the video "Top Technologies that will Make a Different in Education", I can see almost the specialists focus on mobile device and its advantages. First of all, these devices can help the learners to access the information "anytime anywhere”, no matter they are at school or at home, the e-books are always ready. Furthermore, the cloud computing will resolve the source problems. In 21st century, students can get the necessary information on the Internet, they don't need to depend on the lecturer anymore. Besides, textbook is one way to deliver the content to the learners. Now we can use videos, audios and simulate applications for them to obtain the knowledge. To summarize, this video shows us how we should change to improve the way we deliver the information, that is mobile device.
The article Adopt and Adapt was splitted into 3 parts clearly. First of all, the author talked about doing Old Things in Old Ways. It was mentioned that we applied some new technologies to do the old things but still considered in "old ways", such as passing documents around in electronic form. However, I think that is a new way. We can improve the speed of transportation and furthermore, the layout of those documents, make them easier to be read. The article also stated that "It appears that students who write on a computer turn in longer and higher-quality assignments than those who compose by hand, even though it's still writing". From that example, we can believe that using computer is the new way which can support to the learning process. I think this should be lent on the second part, doing Old Things in New Ways. To this point, the author discussed about stimulating applications. I totally agree that stimulate technology is an useful method to help the students to obtain new knowledge, especially in practice. For instance, the learners can play the role of different kinds of job around the world in Education Simulation's Real Lives, they can figure out by themselves the difficult, how it looks like or the problems they would met in real life in each situation. From these experience, the learners will be able to prepare well before they actually do the job. Moreover, when the students can work like scientists or innovators, they can brainstorm a lot of new ideas that they have never thought about before. For example, they can coordinate with other students to find out a new and potential solution for an old problem. The children approach with new technologies every day, they play online games, buy stuff on eBay or share music and videos on social network, but no one knows how to apply them or utilize their advantages into education. Therefore, we need to find out how we can adopt those technologies. Like the article mentioned, we have two big barriers: One-to-One in technology and the pressure from social. Making a proper computer that is appropriate with individual student is impossible, but we need to create a regular method which can fit with as many people as possible. Fortunately, the price of personal computer is reducing, so that everyone will have a better chance to get their own computer. Secondly, each school has to face with the pressure such as government, parents or finance. They contribute the barrier that prevent the school to make a change, to apply new technology or methods into teaching. Many people believe that the basic method of teaching is the best and cast a doubt on virtual learning methods. Nevertheless, we need to trust in new training methods to make a change. Finally, the article suggested that we should have new methods to do New Things in New Ways. I think the students need more chance to practice, to get their hands on the stimulated situations and improve their personal skills independent. We need to make the technology to be adapted, to fit with 21th century students, because they will have faster and stronger technologies to accumulate the knowledge and experience also.
Five Predictions for Higher Ed Technology in 2013 is the article that I have to spend the most amount of time to read. It is really long and abstract so I'm pretty sure that I myself cannot understand too much about this essay. Base on the layout of this article, it talked about 10 predictions for technology in education in 2013. First of all, the essay mentioned about Open Learning, the one that provide free education and now becoming proprietary and closed education content. Then the author stated that millions of learners is studying with first-generation open content and expected that it would be 50 million in next year or two. Secondly, this essay talked about flipped classroom and three models seem like to emerge in 2013. In flipped classroom, the students will be more responsible with their own learning process and put their hands directly on practice. The strong of flipped classroom is video-based material and its advantage to transmit knowledge. Three models of flipping of the classroom are: solo efforts that emerge across curriculum, future of publishing (textbook will be replaced by digital version even with Amazon and Chegg's help), and academic society (the authors will collaborate with some websites and organizations to invert learning models. The next topic isAlways-On University. The author mentioned that the dominance of laptop and PC will be replaced by handheld devices such as smart phone or tablet. For example, the number of shipped smart phones and tablets is as twice as the number desktop and textbooks combine in 2012, and the ratio will increase in next few years. The author has great expectation about new devices that can be integrated into outfit and so that people can study at anytime and anywhere. Next, the author stated about Learning Analytics and Learning Sciences. He thought that in 2013, there will be more intelligence and savvy use of data which will help the learners to achieve the knowledge effectively. Moreover, the combination among universities to construct a new Cloud-Enable Technology Era is expected to be one of the most potential technology in 2013. Cloud-based storage will allow students to access the data, search for the information easily and reduce the expense for schools. Besides, the essay also discussed about the Learning Spaces. The author expected that the learning environment will be well-designed and support the students more about engagement and reflection. It means that the learners will get the better result for their learning process. More than the cooperation among universities, the author also look forward to extend the boundaries of the University. Each university will provide better services, accelerate innovative of students and develop materials for students. They also invest more into data accessing for the learners. They can find the information and detail more easily and convenient. Finally, the role of Information Technology will be enlarged. IT companies will be organized and contribute for schools better than now.
The video Changing Education Paradigms, the first one in the series of 8 Great Videos on TED Talks about Education, pointed out the weakness of current education paradigm and why we need to make a change. It seems like we are producing the next generation by teaching the same subjects and then assess them by standardised tests. That formula detains the innovative of students and therefore they cannot develop their strength. We need to teach them to get divergent thinking, to know that there are more than one answer for each problem. Moreover, we should stimulate the learners to coordinate with others because they will get the better result in group working. In the videos The Child-Driven Education and Education Innovation in the Slums, the lecturers stated that we could take the advantage of technology or inspiration from the kids and then let them the teach others. They can share the experience and spread inspiration in poor conditions, and therefore create the learning process by themselves. Other video that impressed me is Teaching Kids Real Math with Computer. I cannot agree more with the conclusion of the author "Math as it’s taught in classrooms rarely echoes math as it used in the real world". For example, I'm still waiting for the day that I can apply the formula (ekx)(n)=kn.ekx. It is just a simple formula that I was taught in high school but I have never had a chance to apply it in real life. Instead of teaching those useless formulas, I think we should better teach the children how to resolve the real-life problems, how to utilize the computerized tools to apply solutions. Other videos such as Teaching Arts and Sciences Together or Arthur Benjamin's Formula for Changing Math Education pointed out some new methods to make our learning process better. In the last video, Let’s Use Video to Reinvent Education, Salman Khan discussed about interactive approach and its advantages. We can see the huge potential of Khan Academy and that is the chance for students to attend flipped classroom, where they can achieve more knowledge than they expect.
Resources:
1.
Speak Up 2013 for Students, Teachers, Parents & School Leaders Selected National Findings:
http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/2013_OnlineLearningReport.html
3. Top Technologies that will Make a Different in Education video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACAx2pnggbQ
4.
Adopt and Adapt – 21st-Century Schools Need 21st-Century Technology http://www.edutopia.org/adopt-and-adapt5. Five Predictions for Higher Ed Technology in 2013 | Inside Higher Ed:
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2013/01/03/predictions-about-higher-ed-technology-2013-essay
6. TED Talks: 8 Great Videos on the Future of Education and Teaching, especially the one below by Sir Kenneth Robinson on
Changing education paradigms See http://www.emergingedtech.com/2012/06/8-great-ted-talks-about-the-future-of-education-and-teaching/
