RunningHead:EXAMININGTRENDSINEDUCATIONALTECHNOLOGY

Examining Trends in Educational Technology

Jhodi Leong
ETEC 511
University of British Columbia

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Introduction
New technologies are being developed daily that we accommodate into our lives.
Whether it be the latest mobile phone, tablet, or application, each technology is bringing with it
educational benefits. The education system is specifically looking at technologies that promote
collaboration amongst students, teachers, peers, and external experts, that are cost-efficient, and
that offer convenient learning opportunities. By looking at recent past, current, and future
technology trends, we can examine and evaluate how students are being urged to collaborate
online through such influences as social networking and online learning communities, consider
low-cost options such as open-source programs or making use of devices already commonly
owned by students and teachers, and accommodate for opportunities that broaden accessibility to
learning resources such as web-based interfaces. Emerging technologies are providing all of
these learning opportunities in one forum, which is allowing students to broaden their
educational perspectives and allow for anytime learning.
Several teaching and learning philosophies guide and impact the types of technologies
that schools and students are currently focusing on for educational benefits. A strong focus on
the process of learning rather than content learned is driving educators to consider constructivist
approaches as an educational objective. Students need to be given learning opportunities where
they can follow their own intuition and use individual prior knowledge to formulate new
knowledge (Saab, 2005). This allows students to create lasting ties between what they already
knew and what they learn through an activity. This process of discovery encourages students to
be independent learners and focus on their own process of thinking. The central idea behind this
process is that by developing ties between previous knowledge and new knowledge, the bond
connecting and storing information in their brain will be stronger. The treatment of each student

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as an individual that learns differently and develops different connections is at the forefront of
technological accommodations.
Similarly related, the concept of problem-based learning pushes students to use their
knowledge to solve an applicable problem (Putnam, 2001). Several current educational
technologies focus on providing students with life-like learning situations where their knowledge
could some day be applied. When students apply their knowledge to these problems, they are
drawing on several skills outside of the direct learning outcome at hand. Students must use
problem-solving skills as well as their reserve of knowledge and everyday life frequently in
conjunction with a novel problem to find a solution. By doing so, students are seeing the
relevance of their knowledge and how abstract thinking can be advantageous in certain scenarios.
By collaborating or consulting with peers on a problem, students examine various approaches to
the same problem and can compare their thinking processes to that of others.

Past Trends
Five years ago, a projected trend for educational technology was thought to focus on
user-created content (New Media, 2007). The main focus of this projection was the ability of
sites such as social bookmarking, wikis, blogs or podcasting to encourage the collaboration of
students, teachers, and external experts and sources. By allowing the audience to contribute to
resources, communities are formed by members all over the world collaborating by sharing ideas
and communicating about specific areas of interest or topics of importance. From an educational
viewpoint, [s]ites that allow easy upload of images, video, audio, and other media also provide
students with a low-cost, low-risk means to publish their work as they develop their skills (New
Media, 2007). These sites provide students with valuable opportunities to explore the work of

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others to inspire new ideas and receive feedback on their own work. Server-based sites allow
students to have the freedom to continue work at home or from any computer with a web
browser, simultaneously allowing content to be worked on by several students on several
computers.
Examples of user-created content learning experiences include social bookmarking tools
such as Del.icio.us, blogging tools such as Blogger, or other tools capable of uploading a variety
of content from photos to video and audio such as Flickr or YouTube. One recent case study
explored the use of Del.icio.us in a politics classroom at the post-secondary level (Lightfoot,
2012). Although finding a few bumps along the way their first time trying out this tool, it was
found that social bookmarking tools provide an online space designated for students to
collaborate and share access to the most recent up-to-date resources. Students were required to
evaluate resources to determine the value to the topic and select appropriate tags. This article
points to the underpinning of social bookmarking tools being that if one person found it useful
and tags an article, then another person will probably find the article useful as well. Another
valuable asset is that social bookmarking allows you to bookmark everything from articles and
journal entries to videos and podcasts all in one location.
Closely related to the idea of members actively contributing to a community, social
networking creates communities based on specific topics, interests or hobbies. The fueling
factor for education to adopt social networking is the fascination that students have with its use
(New Media, 2007). This profound interest inspires students to actively participate and holds
their attention on specific areas. Students are given a forum for self-expression and are able to
evaluate their opinions on topics with those of their peers. While giving students an opportunity
to develop skills interacting in an online forum, students have the benefit of sites that are usually

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highly customizable and can be formed to represent oneself (New Media, 2007). Administrators
can highly benefit from the wide array of open source options available. Education is also able
to take advantage of social networking for professional development opportunities by including
forums for those people that cannot attend the session or as a follow-up forum to discuss various
topics or sessions (New Media, 2007).
An initial problem for integrating social networking in the classroom (especially the K-12
classrooms) focused on issues of privacy and securing safe interactions for students. A positive
reaction to this has been education specific tools such as Edmodo developing to provide a safe,
secure social networking forum for schools. On the Edmodo blog, teachers have shared several
ideas about how to incorporate social networking into the classroom. On top of such features as
uploading work for absent students, maintaining constant contact with parents, and the ability to
upload multiple forms of multimedia and assignments, one teacher has chosen to use Edmodo for
pen pals ("New inspiration: 7," 2011). Students are able to hand write letters back and forth, but
keep in contact intermittently by sending each other messages and photos. Edmodo sells itself
by claiming to engage students and encourage collaboration through connecting peers online.
The ability of students to access each other and content at the same time, on the same website
provides convenient access to learning opportunities.
Another online resource with educational potential is virtual worlds, which four years ago
was predicted to gain significance (New Media, 2007). Students are able to represent themselves
online via the creation of a personal avatar. Students are able to use this avatar to interact with
friends and peers from all over the world with a web browser. The highly manipulative nature of
virtual worlds allows students to contribute to and become a part of an online community where
they have social interactions, participate to contribute some sort of role, and can express

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themselves. The educational uses of virtual worlds focus on the characteristics that allow large
numbers of students to meet and contribute in one space at the same time. Virtual worlds allow
for 3D realistic contexts to be developed where avatars can train or role-play in different
scenarios or contexts without real world consequences. Creativity can flourish in virtual worlds
where students can create films using online stages and avatars, create 3D architecture, and much
more. With advancements being made in the creation of open-source virtual worlds, this
anticipated trend four years ago is becoming a cost effective option in the current education
system.
Four years ago mobile phones were projected to increase in educational use due to the
increasing capabilities and high rate of individual ownership (New Media, 2007). Mobile
phones frequently have web access that provides accessibility to email and applications, a
planning option, the potential for multimedia, and a video and audio recorder and player. These
are all features that the average student and classroom use daily for personal use and learning
tools. There is a high potential for creative ventures using the audio and visual features of
mobile phones (New Media, 2007). Students are encouraged to use mobile applications that
allow images and audio to be combined into creative works of art. The ability for students to
have access to online resources in the form of print, video, or interactive applications at any time
of the day provides students with easy access to learning materials (Franklin, 2011).
One year later, mobile phones were extended to include mobile computing (New Media,
2010). Increasing connection options and variety of advancing devices has made mobile
computing an essential of everyday life. Tablets, smartbooks, and netbooks are a few examples
of mobile computing devices that are convenient to carry around, connect to the Internet, but can
be more powerful than a condensed smart phone (Franklin, 2011). Quite often with larger screen

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displays, these alternative options provide a medium conducive to reading, writing, and creating.
Specialized devices designed for one task such as ebooks or email allows users to have increased
storage space that they can take anywhere. With developments such as Apples iCloud, the
ability to share applications and content between devices is extremely effortless. The number of
students with some form of mobile computing device nowadays is overwhelming. This allows
the education system to take advantage of this medium as a cost-effective solution for providing
educational materials.
A case study over a three-year period focusing on a Diploma of Landscape Design
implemented mobile learning to cater to part-time students by providing them with situated
learning environments (Cochrane, 2010). Mobile cell phones as well as mobile computers were
used at various stages throughout the three-year study to accommodate for different projects and
needs. The ability for students to make use of WiFi and 3G capable tools was a focus for
convenience. This study reports high participation rates and a generally positive attitude from
students regarding their experiences. Students enjoyed discussing and collaborating with peers
online and having access to the class anytime, anywhere. Instructors were also pleased with
student work and enthusiasm, however instructors required help getting started with
implementing this technology and using it effectively.
The educational focus on the process of learning, combined with the rising costs of
printed educational resources and deficient supply of resources in some parts of the world has led
to the demand for and creation of open content (New Media, 2010). Open content is an
inexpensive alternative to printed resources and can allow educators to choose from a wide
variety of resources to customize their own package or resources for their courses. Open content
also opens up resources to a wider array of students including those in formal education courses

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as well as those seeking information for pleasure. This wide array of students allows all types of
students to form communities around a shared topic with other people with shared interests.
Another appeal of open content is the set of skills that students obtain about searching for,
evaluating, understanding, creating, and sharing the materials (Jones, 2011). Current issues with
open content focus around intellectual property and copyright issues. New forms of citation and
rights must be developed to accommodate for open content in academia.
These past trends have focused on ways of allowing students to collaborate in engaging
and convenient ways. Setbacks were initially found in the lack of training provided to teachers
and ways to secure student information and privacy in online forums. With increased use and
time spent learning, teachers are becoming more comfortable with using technology in the
classroom and are developing ways of blending several technologies and goals into one learning
experience. User-created content, social networking tools, and virtual worlds are becoming
increasingly more available on mobile phones and mobile computers. Students are becoming
familiar with the idea of anytime, anywhere learning and are beginning to take advantage of
these learning opportunities.

Current Trends
The past year (2011-2012), the emergence of new scholarship and new forms of
publication were anticipated to make a strong appearance in terms of possible mediums for
scholarly work (New Media, 2007). A strong driver for this trend is the ability to collaborate
online with several experts and peers during the creation process. Prepublication drafts that can
receive feedback and comments from an endless stream of experts and the general public allow
authors to narrow down their work and think about their topics in alternative ways. Authors are

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also able to include new types of media in their publication through the use of dynamic and
interactive tools that can better explain or demonstrate their topic. Additionally, the cost to
produce online or virtual resources is far less expensive than to produce hard copies of materials.
For educational purposes this provides students and schools with a cost-efficient alternative to
paper copies. Since the majority of students have some form of electronic device, whether it is a
computer, laptop, tablet, or smart phone, electronic copies of materials can provide students with
a convenient form or educational resources that are available to them at any time of the day.
Students can also review and critique prepublication versions of resources for educational
practice.
This current year (2012-2013), electronic books are projected to become a widely used
resource (New Media, 2010). The portability of modern readers allows users to take entire
libraries of books, newspapers, and magazines with them everywhere they go. The convenience
of readers allows users to access these materials from anywhere, anytime increasing time spent
reading. Educational benefits include updates allowing annotations transferable to other
electronic devices. New versions of readers and smart phone reader applications with wireless
connections and customizable options for font and color allow users to individualize their
devices and download books any time. Given that electronic versions of books are commonly
less expensive than paper copies, it is a cost-effective alternative to traditional textbooks for
schools. With the number of educational resources and textbooks being published in an
electronic format, it is possible to see more and more students choose the convenient, lightweight
reader alternative (Cochrane, 2011).
Simple augmented reality is expected to reach new levels this year as it has become much
simpler, easy to use, and portable (New Media, 2010). Although more recent focus has been on

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marketing and social purposes, with advancements in mobile technologies, augmented reality
applications are being increasingly developed for a multitude of purposes on mobile phones.
The educational implications of such developments are huge. Augmented reality allows students
to gain experience training for specific tasks, experience real-world locations in 3-D form,
examine objects and their uses, and many other valuable learning experiences. Augmented
reality creates discovery-based learning opportunities for students by providing students with
tasks, problems, and objects that students can explore and manipulate to determine
characteristics, how something works, solutions to a problem, etc. Reality gaming is an
educational application of augmented reality that places students in real-world situations and
places where they can explore and solve real problems in a multitude of places and time eras
(Whitton & Hollins, 2008). Appealing to a multitude of learning styles, augmented reality
combines visual feedback with written and/or oral feedback.
New Media (2010) presents an emerging application of augmented reality that is
especially conducive to education- augmented books. Augmented books allow the reader to
purchase a printed copy of the book, download software on their computer and use a webcam to
view details of specific visuals within a book. The interesting thing about this technology is that
it is capable of turning any current book into an augmented reality book where a webcam is used
to recognize visuals within a book.
Current trends are continuing to focus on making learning convenient for students and are
striving to provide students with authentic learning experiences to focus on the process of
learning. The emergence of new scholarship has resulted in a broadened view of educational
resources and the emergence of appropriate forms of citation to recognize these new forms of
scholarship. Examples of pre-publication and other forms of publications demonstrate the

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movement towards online collaboration amongst peers and experts. The continuing availability
of these tools on convenient mobile devices is providing students with learning opportunities
everywhere they go.

Future Trends
2014-2015 promises to be an interactive year for students with trends like gesture-based
computing (New Media, 2010). Gesture-based computing allows the user to interact intuitively
with a computer using natural movements and real-world simulations. The ability for a
computer to sense a humans movement and react according to ones gestures is allowing users to
experience simulations that look and feel like the real-world experience. Currently, several
applications focus on gaming and training. A significant educational advantage of gesture-based
computing is the allowance of several students being able to interact with the same device
simultaneously. Gesture-based computing affords students the ability to collaborate to solve
problems, work through scenarios, or explore a wide variety of learning opportunities together at
the same time. The collaborative, game-like nature of several applications provides a highly
engaged learning opportunity for students to discover new information with their peers.
Although gesture-based computing is a relatively new idea, game systems like the
Nintendo Wii and the Xbox Kinect have been using gesture-based computing for entertainment
purposes for years. The concept of integrating this technology into the classroom for educational
purposes is not surprising since past trends have indicated that students should be provided with
life-like learning experiences. Mobile devices are also incorporating gesture-based computing
into a convenient device that provides students with a multitude of other anytime, anywhere

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learning opportunities. The intuitive nature of gesture-based computing is promising to provide

engaging, valuable learning experiences for students of all ages.
Additionally, visual data analysis promises to reveal creative visual insights into
information that is understandable and usable to the general public (New Media, 2010). Previous
technology advancements have allowed for advanced technologies to intuitively represent words,
patterns, and trends in the form of refined graphics. Visual data analysis relies on our ability to
see patterns almost anywhere. New Media (2010) envisions visual data analysis expanding our
understanding of learning by searching for patterns and consistent variables that influence
learning and the formation of learning communities. Educational examples of visual data
analysis allow students to use public knowledge and data to explore for a multitude of different
insights. The visual representation allows students to view their understanding in a different
medium.

Conclusion
Recent past, current, and future trends are focusing on providing students with
convenient, engaging, meaningful learning opportunities that encourage collaboration among
peers, teachers, and external experts and that are cost-effective to the educational system. School
boards are looking at web-based and open source options as well as making use of personal
technological devices that may already be present with students at school to accomplish these
goals. Students are continually being urged to discover learning on their own and focus on the
process that they follow to get there. By combining all of these features, we as educators are
creating responsible, technologically advanced students with the skills they will need to succeed
in the 21st century.

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