3 - Review and Reflection on NMC Report

The NMC produces an annual report of technology they expect to influence education in big ways in the near future. Policies for education around the world are changing to include more technology. Many leaders in the field of education, and even President Obama (who is not a key figure in the field but apparently has policy-making privileges) have decided that the current school system just doesn't work anymore.

As technology makes its way into more and more areas of our daily lives, it must make its way into the classroom as well. Teachers are now expected to be competent using various kinds of technology in the classroom, in communication with parents, and in staying in touch with the education community. In order to make this happen, teachers need proper training. In Singapore, teachers are provided with up to 100 hours of training per year. I think the US needs to step up its game in terms of teacher training since we have just completely changed the standards to which we are to teach.

One of the focuses of this article is the idea of the Flipped Classroom. Students in a "flipped" classroom watch videos at home to learn specified concepts, then hone their skills with the teacher in class.

Another trend this article observes is one of "deeper learning approaches." This involves letting the students have more control of their learning and doing many exploratory activities rather than strict lecture. Engaging activities make students more invested in their learning. Projects, often using technology, are a large component of this trend. One class utilized iMovie for their projects. Once again, teachers need new kinds of training if they are expected to teach in a new manner.

Open Educational Resources (OER) are materials online available free of charge and free to be edited/copied. They seem like communal educational resources to me, like Wikipedia, but more professional. Some schools have this concept written into their policies, but there are not many like that.  I wonder if you have to be affiliated with a school to access these, or if they are available to the general public. --- I just checked. It is available to any and all who find it. There are a ton of subjects and education levels. People can add things to it on the website. Now I wonder how you can check to see if the item you choose is from a reputable source.

A Hybrid classroom utilizes technology and basic internet skills to involve students in both a real and a virtual classroom. They can do group projects and have individualized help from the teacher in the classroom while doing readings or watching videos at home on their own time. I think this is a great idea. I feel like there just isn't enough time to teach a class everything they need to learn in the traditional classroom. I firmly believe that students now are expected to learn more things and at a deeper level than students were 50 years ago, but the school system has not changed to take that into account. This could be an effective way to combat this issue. Teachers would, of course, need further training to accomplish this effectively. There could be a million ways to screw this up.

Technology has definitely gotten more intuitive recently! My new phone pauses videos for me when I turn my head away from the screen and also calls the person whose texts I am viewing simply by my raising the phone to my ear. I can also scroll through emails or web pages with a wave of my hand. While this may be incredibly convenient and entertaining for my personal use, imagine how students can use this kind of stuff. In the Smithsonian museums I saw walls of buttons and touchscreens for people to interact with to further learn about the exhibits. It sure beat reading plaques. In addition to this kind of technology which just makes everything so much easier to get to and look at, people are now working on creating screens which can change textures. That scares me a lot, but I can see how it could be useful in a learning environment. Dissection assignments could be really cool with feelable frog screens. Of course, integrating the newest technologies into classrooms across the country would take an impossible amount of money and training, so I don't foresee it happening anytime soon.

There is another trend to completely renovate the way the school system works. Students sitting in rows of desk until the bell rings is an outdated approach to learning, or so it is thought by many. Students in some schools do not even use typical classrooms, but instead learn in varied environments such as warehouses or staircases. Students could use devices in this kind of environment to do work collaboratively or on their own. This concept reminds me of summer camps where students are under the instruction of several "teachers" and many activities are happening at once. I do not think I am very fond of this idea. I think structure is a very important part of a learning environment, although it does not have to be strict or constant. I also think this concept is very vague and should be put into more detailed plan before it can be really considered; however, detailed plans might go against the entire point of this idea.

All these new ideas pose several challenges to the current school system. Policies would have to be re-written. A way to keep student information safe amid so much technology use would have to be devised.

"Authentic learning" is a term used to describe the kind of learning that transpires when the students get to experience what they are being taught. For example, students can read about leaves and stems for hours without connecting it to their lives in their minds, but if they grow a plant and touch the leaves and stems, they will understand much more. There are currently few standards that directly address "authentic learning," but Common Core works to incorporate it into the classroom more.

"Individualized learning," is another concept that I only understand in vague terms. In my gifted classes in elementary school, we got to pick the topics we studied at the beginning of the year. It was great, but I can promise you we didn't pick algebra. I worry that if students get too much control of what and how they learn, important subject matters may fall through the cracks. However, I definitely believe that learning should be somewhat individualized. Perhaps students should have more freedom in what kind of projects they use to represent information the class learned as a whole.

I understand that students need more practice with complex thinking and communication in today's technologically led world. They need to be able to think about how individual elements work together to become something else. They need to be able to simply and effectively explain complicated ideas using different mediums. I think that was essentially the point of my Technical Writing class in college, so I suppose students should be learning that earlier now. I think it is fascinating that English children learn computer programming so they truly understand the technology at hand. I know how to use mine, but my understanding of the programming is the same as my understanding of magic shows. I wish our school aged children got more education about the actual technology instead of just its uses.

Student data security is a huge issue with technologically based education plans. Right now basically anything you put on the internet is available to anyone else who tries hard enough to get to it. That is not an acceptable state of affairs if the safety and security of millions of children is at stake.

I do not see the competing models of schooling as a challenge so much as I see it as an opportunity. This seems to be a good way for a student to get the individualized learning he or she needs. If there are many different types of learning environments available, it is more likely that students will find one that fits them well. Logistically speaking, though, it would be a nightmare to have so many different kinds of schools running in the same area.

Keeping normal schools relevant will be a big task for educational leaders of the near future. Students  need school for the same reason young adults need a college degree. To prove they have learned how to work with people, to complete tasks, and be a productive person in a workplace environment. "Grit" is a person's willingness to work through a difficult problem or assignment. It is one of the most important outcomes of traditional schooling.

I really found the chart at the bottom of page 33 very interesting and enjoyed that it was so clearly put together. I think it summarized pages worth of information in a very small space that left me encouraged to look up really neat things.

Bring Your Own Device sounds like it could be overwhelming for instructors trying to work with many different kinds of tablets or laptops or smartphones which all work differently.

Cloud Computing could be a great resource for teachers planning lesson plans together or working on grade-wide curriculum, but I do not think it should be used for elementary aged students' work until security issues have been resolved.

Gamification sounds like a great idea, to some extent. Many complex ideas could be learned more easily through games. For example, satellite signals could be taught by bouncing ping pong balls around. However, not everything should be taught through gaming. Students also need to learn how to do boring tasks for extended periods of time since at this time that is what the job market is mostly made up of.

Learning Analytics sounds fascinating. I really enjoy seeing data analyzed into usable information. I think it could help the education system immensely.

I see how "the Internet of Things" could and will be a useful part of our future, but at the moment it really creeps me out. I do not see why everything we do must be connected over the internet. Its weird. It also seems vulnerable. What if someone hacks your refrigerator? However, classroom manipulatives that use the internet could be really helpful. I feel the same way about wearable technology.

This NMC article was very eye-opening about things that could very possibly happen in my teaching career. It has given me a lot of things to think about and examine through further research. Quite honestly, I do not look forward to teaching during a time when my expected teaching style will completely change every few years. It terrifies me to think that with the inclusion of the internet and technology in my classroom, everything I do will be available for constant scrutiny. It also excites me that I will be able to learn new skills throughout my career and that I will be working in such an interconnected field.