Emerging Technologies in Education

Education 3801 Assignment # 2

October 11, 2011

Submitted by: Kim Ryder Higdon

Introduction

This Blog will highlight three emerging technologies in the field of Education that can be used to enhance teaching and learning.  Interactive whiteboards, the SMARTPen, and digital textbooks are technologies that can provide the learner with more constructivist learning opportunities and the instructor with teaching advantages in instruction over more traditional educational technologies.

Interactive Whiteboards

A Bridge Design on an Interactive White Boar

An interactive whiteboard is a large, touch sensitive board which is connected to a digital projector and a computer. The projector displays the image from the computer screen onto the board. The computer can then be controlled by touching the board, either directly or with a special pen.  Proprietary software purchased with the interactive white board such as SMARTboard's Notebook Software greatly enhances the board's capabilities and use as a learning and teaching tool. "Creating Classrooms for Everyone: How Interactive Whiteboards Support Universal Design for Learning" is a comprehensive white paper on how interactive whiteboards can support inclusive learning.

                                            SMARTboard Demonstration

Interactive Whiteboards in my Instruction

I would use interactive whiteboards to simplify and speed the process of sharing information using a variety of media formats incorporating such things as webpages, streaming video, blogs, and tutorials to make my teaching accessible to all by providing opportunities for all learning styles.  I would also provide opportunities on the interactive whiteboard for students to manipulate objects thus creating tactile and interactive experiences allowing for differentiation of instruction.

 Advantages and Limitations of Interactive White Boards

Advantages:

• raising the level of student engagement in the classroom
• motivating students and promoting enthusiasm for learning
• supporting many different learning styles
• can help educators streamline their preparation

Limitations:

• some educators use interactive whiteboards as 'technological chalkboards' with none of the teaching learning advantages expressed above
• amount of professional development and time needed to learn technology to make proper instructional use of it
• the physical separation of the computer from the whiteboard itself sometimes causing instructors to shuffle back and forth, as well as the tendency for instructors using a board to have their back to the class

SMART Pen

SMART Pens by Livescribe Pens are oversized pens packed with a camera, and recording tools.When paired with special notebooks filled with paper covered in a barely visible pattern of dots, the SMART Pen tracks every stroke of a user's handwriting and couples it with time-synced audio of whatever words are spoken as the user writes.

"A Pen that Remembers" by William M. Ferriter is a short article that describes the SMART Pen and explores its creative possibilities in educational settings.

                                           SMART Pen Demo
                                          

The SMART Pen in my Instruction 

I would use the SMART Pen in my instruction in two ways.  First of all, I would use it to create remediation tutorials, and secondly, I would use it to create a master copy all my classroom lessons and notes.  In the first instance, anything written by the SMART Pen can be uploaded to the Internet as a "pencast".  It would be quite easy to use this feature to create accessible remediation segments.  The master copy of lessons would be ideal for helping catch students up who have been absent or late.  Having a reliable student take notes and then posting them to an accessible web location would make this ordinarily difficult task of "catching students up" an easy one.

Advantages and Limitations of the SMART Pen

 Advantages:

•  relatively inexpensive - starting at about $100 for a spiral notebook and a pen capable of holding 200 hours of classroom instruction
• pens are actually be in the hands of students at all times and the technology is not being controlled by the instructor
• SMART Pens can create a quickly accessible 'record' of all events in a class

Limitations:

• privacy concerns in that everything said in a class is recorded by the SMART pen
• the necessity of having to purchase proprietary notebooks to successfully use the pen at a more expensive price then regular notebooks
• rechargeable batteries running out at an inopportune time

Digital Textbooks

Portability is a key advantage to digital

textbooks.

Digital textbooks or electronic versions of traditional textbooks have evolved from their earliest beginnings in the 1990’s to become multimedia experiences that provide additional audio and video resources to help the reader assimilate and learn textbook information.  Digital textbooks use electronic files that are quickly and easily updated allowing information to be as relevant as possible.

"Textbooks Enter the Digital Era: High-Tech Options Can Save Money and Boost Learning" is one article that explores the benefits of digital textbooks. 

                                             Demonstration of a Digital Textbook

Digital Textbooks in My Instruction 

Aside from the obvious student benefits of portability, flexibility, and financial savings there are some other benefits of digital textbooks that I would use to enhance learning as part of my instruction.  One of the interesting aspects of text in digital format is audio conversion, as students are able to turn sections of text into speech using a text to speech program.  Obviously, students who are better auditory learners would benefit from this feature.  Additionally, the use of digital text books would allow students to use auto-summary tools in their word processor to adjust the text to different reading levels for content, an adaptation that also allows for differentiated instruction.

Advantages and Limitations of Digital Textbooks

Advantages:

• significant cost savings due to lower overhead cost -- electronic files are cheaper to reproduce than paper textbooks 
• traditional textbooks are bulky and heavy whereas digital books are obviously thin and light
• light digital textbooks are more environmentally friendly as small changes in content can be made from edition to edition without having to trash a large heavy textbook

Limitations:

• there are many different competing digital textbook formats and a huge number of textbook publishers that don’t all use the same format
• if students feel that they don’t actually own the textbooks they purchase, or that their books might be taken away before they are done with them (or that their notes might be damaged), they’re unlikely to embrace electronic textbooks
• for many students, the idea of reading words on a screen is not as appealing as on a printed page, as well as slow boot-up times often found in today's electronic books are very irritating 

References

British Educational, Communication. and Technology Agency. (2003) What research says about interactive whiteboards, retrieved October 9, 2011 from http://www.becta.org.uk/research/research.cfm?section=1&id=4971

 

Cavanaugh, T. W. (2011). Getting to know a digital textbook. Tech and Learning, February 9, 2011 issue, retrieved October 9, 2011 from http://www.techlearning.com/article/getting-to-know-a-digital-textbook/47632

Ferriter, W. M. (2011). A pen that remembers. Educational Leadership, 68 (8), 88 - 89.

Kingsbury, A.& Galloway, L. (2006). Textbooks enter the digital era: High-tech options can save money and boost learning.  U. S. News and World Reoprt, October 8, 2006 issue, retrieved October 9, 2011 from

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/articles/061008/16books_2.htm

McCrea, Bridget. (2010). Opening up digital textbooks. Tech and Learning, February 9, 2011 issue, retrieved October 9, 2011 from http://thejournal.com/articles/2010/09/02/opening-up-to-digital-textbooks.aspx

Smart Technologies Inc. (2006). Interactive whiteboards and learning: Improving student learning outcomes and streamlining lesson planning. retrieved October 9, 2011 from http://downloads01.smarttech.com/media/research/whitepapers/int_whiteboard_research_whitepaper_update.pdf

Smart Technologies Inc. (2009). Creating classrooms for everyone: How interactive whiteboards support universal design for learning, retrieved October 9, 2011 from http://downloads01.smarttech.com/media/research/whitepapers/int_whiteboard_research_whitepaper_update.pdf