Alex Reporter

Volume 1 Issue 1 Technology: A constantly changing resource Fall 2013

NMC Horizon Report: 2013 K-12 Edition

Time to Adoption One Year or Less BYOD YOD stands for Bring your own device, a phrase that came about when a company observed their employs bring more and more mobile devices of their own and connecting to the company network. In the class room this phrase refers to students being required to bring their own mobile devices and tablets to school. With this comes a unique set of pros and cons that cant simply be ignored. The Bring your own device system has proven to have its advantages. Students work better on a device they have had the chance to work with and get to know before the class. With that also comes the fact that they can take their projects home with them. The learning doesnt stop at school since their devices are their own and can be taken with them. Not only that but the burden is lifted off of the schools financially. Schools would not be required to financially pay for and take care of school provided laptops or tablets. With those advantages come disadvantages. The main problem seen with Bring your own devices is the fact that not all students can afford to supply their own devices. Some families are not as financially stable as others which provides the problem of which families do you help and which do you not help. With tablet learning comes one-to-one learning which in practices is great. However, some schools cant afford to finically support the expenses that come with one-toone learning. With these pros and cons the practices of bring your own devices is said to be adopted into class rooms within one to three years or even less. A few schools have already put this practice in place at their schools and have seen some improvement. One of those being Katy Independent School District in Texas and they have seen an increase in the engagement of the students in the class room. The development

of this practice should be interesting as it spreads across the US.

Whether or not it works in the long run, in the meantime it appears to

be having a effect on classrooms.

positive the

Technology Outlook: STEM+ Education 2013-2018

Time to adoption: Two to Three years Games and Gamification device. These programs can be tied into the classroom easily. Games can be used to stimulate productivity and engage students similar to the way the businesses engage their employees. Using games in the classroom has many pros. Games can be good for developing corporation and teambuilding skills. Most are goal oriented games encouraging students to work together to achieve success. Not only that but games can be used to incorporate different subjects into the lesson. Crosscurricular activities are very important in order for the understanding of each subject to be achieved. Gaming is a successful way to get the students engaged and to help them better understand the subjects being taught. Finally gaming can help students use creative problem solving. Often role playing involves problem solving and looking at situations differently, something that cant be simply taught from a text book. With that being said schools have just started to incorporate games in the classroom and this form of technology isnt expected to be adopted for atleast another two years. Gaming is making its way from a social outlet into and educational tool for the classroom. Online Learning

s a report done by the Entertainment Software Association in 2013 states that the age of the average gamer is 30. Gaming has been widely accepted as a recreational activity for years not, however it has just recently been seen starting to make its way into schools as a way of teaching. It has been found as a useful tool not only for education but for motivation as well. Businesses have been the first to implement a gaming system to create an incentive program and motivate their employees. Most of this is done through rewards programs, leader boards, and badges done with a mobile

lthough online learning is not a new topic it is still being

discussed in relation to the classroom. Online learning has been around for quite some time and can be structured in one of two ways, traditionally with courses or completely paced to the individual. Even through this isnt a brand new topic it has come back into conversations due to massive open online courses otherwise known as MOOCs. Concerns from everyone have been pushed aside and it is now being embraced and reconstructed. Online learning is especially important on college campuses and universities. Students connect with their institutions, others and even their professors online. All of these aspects are being redone in an effort to increase learning. These online learning environments can be very useful. They can make use of many different educational technologies and incorporate videos, badges, and many

others. This new look at online learning has opened a door to looking at old ways of learning and finding new ways to make those ways better to create a new way for learning. Time to Adoption: One to Two years or less Mobil Learning

s a study done by the ITU Telecommunicati on Development Bureau shows, 6.8 million people make up the mobile market many of them living in developed countries. Our world is constantly changing and currently we are in a change from the old technology to mobile devices and mobile learning. All across the world people are changing their websites and apps so they fit with mobile devices. These changes open a plethora of doors to education. Mobile learning fits with many different educational situations making it a

great resource for the classroom. With mobile devices being incorporated those possibilities are endless. Students could share their work with everyone in the classroom through the cloud. Not only that but think of the possibilities that come with students being able to connect to others from around the world to enhance the subject being taught them. Students can use the many different uses of a mobile device to create videos and collect more information to enhance their studies and projects. Also the mobile devices can have apps added to them to better enhanc e a curricul um and also give the students a chance to practice an activity in a different way. That is especially useful to medical students when practicing for surgeries and other activities. Scientists can also use

the information provided from apps to constantly update them and keep them current to better

enhance the classroom experience. These devices are expected to be seen more and more

in the classrooms in one to two years.

NMC Horizon Project: 2013 Museum Edition

Adoption One to two years or less Social Media people on these sites they create a way to connect with their patrons deeper than if they just simply went to the museum. They create a way to expand the museum beyond the building walls and create a take home experience for everyone. Also they create a way for everyone to feel connected to the museum by offering a place for patrons to comment on photos or tweets posted and feel like they make a difference. A few museums have started to use such sites as Vine, Instagram, and LinkedIn. One museum in particular is The Childrens Museum in Indianapolis. They have started sharing small videos on Vine to help show some of the many features offered at the museum. Although some museums have started becoming associated with social media this practice isnt expected to be widely adopted until one or two years.

ocial media started as a simple way for people around the world to share videos and pictures and keep in contact with others via many different sites such as Facebook, twitter, vine, Pinterest and many others. It is constantly evolving and starting conversations and relationships every day. Most people have a form of facebook and or twitter which are two of the most used sites. For companies this means a way to contact potential customers, for museums this means making everyone involved feel connected to the museum whether they live close or not. By associating with

Crowd Sourcing Crowd sourcing is using certain methods to get a community to provide information, ideas, and lots of other content that would otherwise be unknown. A great example of this is Wikipedia, a site where anyone from anywhere can post informatio n on a topic not yet discussed. This idea of collecting information has been found widely useful for many companies and lately museums. Museums have been looking toward crowd sourcing to fill in missing details relating to certain

historical events or cultures. Closely related to this is crowd funding, a way for a museum to be funded by its patrons usually via the internet. Museums find crowd sourcing to be useful for getting details about certain living cultures and communities. It helps minimize the lines between them and us and make patrons feel a closer connection to the museum. This is expected to be incorporated into museums with a year maybe even less. Location-Based Services Location-based services are related specifically to one users location. This is closely used with mobile devices and GPs coordinates This service can provide specific and exact information to each person not only to GPS coordinates but in 3D spaces as well. With that being said locationbased information can be provided not only based on the building, but based on the floor in said building. Museums

find this information widely useful to get everyone involved in the exhibits. Children museums in particular find this to extremely useful. Location based services provides a way for children to get involved more with the museum by providing activities related to the exhibits such as scaveng er hunts. These activities get children involved on a deep level than just simply looking and reading about cultures and history. It provides a way for them to become immersed in the information and look deeper at what is provided. For adults it can provide a way to find certain pieces and exhibits they wish to see and give them a way to provide preferences so it can recommend other places to visit and exhibits to look at. Learning-based services can be condensed into an app providing people

with information at their very fingertips for historical events and different cultures. Few museums have put this into place such as the The Timken Museum of Art. They have put into place an app that allows its patrons to receive detailed information about each piece they are looking at in relation to their location within the museum. Also the Art Institute of Chicago has an indoor GPS system that takes patrons on tours through the museum. These tours include six to ten works of art with detailed information about each and are organized not only by collection, but theme and time as well. This practice may seem like a great idea for museums and other companies, but it isnt expected to be widely adopted for at least two to three years.