CLASSROOM
TECHNOLOGY TOOLS AND TRENDS
21ST
C TOOL: INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARD
In the world we live in
is, technology is literally everywhere and the kids adapt to it more than
anyone else. Unlike teachers, students are being raised in a digital world. For
students of all ages, it is absolutely natural to use technology in every
aspect of their lives. This is why digital tools in classroom are becoming more
and more crucial. Traditional methods for teaching are already going through a
transformation to adapt to the needs of 21st-century students and to
enhance the professional practice of teachers. The digital future is literally
happening now.
Electronic Whiteboards
have been around for a while now, but how many teachers believe they are
regularly using theirs to anywhere near its full potential? There is plenty of
information available on how to use Electronic Whiteboards in the sense of the
technical and IT skills involved but not so much down to earth practical advice
that is teacher and subject specific. An Electronic Whiteboards is essentially
a really big touch screen. They have a lot in common with ipads and other
e-tablet type systems in this respect. The major difference is, at this stage,
they don’t have their own inbuilt processor, storage, network connection but
this seems the most likely next logical step in their development.
VISUALIZATION
TECHNOLOGIES #1: AUGMENTED REALITY
The origin of the word augmented is augment, which
means to add or enhance something. In the case of Augmented Reality, graphics,
sounds, and touch feedback are added into our natural world to create an
enhanced used experience. From social media filters, to surgical procedures,
Augmented Reality is rapidly growing in popularity because it brings elements
of the virtual world, thus enhancing the things we see, hear and feel. When
compared to other reality technologies, augmented reality lies in the middle of
the mixed reality spectrum; between the real world and the virtual world.
Augmented Reality is an enhanced version of reality
where live direct or indirect views of physical real-world environments are
augmented with superimposed computer-generated images over a user’s view of the
real-world, thus enhancing one’s current perception of reality.
Several categories of augmented reality technology
exist, each with varying differences in their objectives and applicational use
cases. The various types of technologies that make up augmented reality:
- Marker
based augmented reality.
Marker-based augmented reality (also called image Recognition)
uses a camera and some type of visual marker, such as a QR/2D code, to produce
a result only when the marker is sensed by a reader. Marker based application
use a camera on the device to distinguish a marker from any other real world
object. Distinct, but simple patterns ( such as OR code) are used as the
markers, because they can be easily recognized and do not require a lot of
processing power to read. The position and orientation is also calculated, in
which some type of content or information is then overload the marker.
- Marker less
Augmented Reality
As one of the most widely implemented applications
of augmented reality, marker less (also called location-based, position-based,
or GPS) augmented reality, uses a GPS, digital compass, velocity meter, or
accelerometer which is embedded in the device to provide data based on your
location. A strong force behind marker less augmented reality technology is the
wide availability of smartphones and location detection features they provide.
It is most commonly used for mapping directions, finding nearby businesses, and
other location-centric mobile applications.
VISUALIZATION
TECHNOLOGY #2: VIRTUAL REALITY
In virtual reality, technology is leveraged to build
a virtual world user can interact with. Virtual reality is usually made
possible by wearing a virtual reality helmet or goggles a lot like the Oculus
Rift. With virtual reality you are no longer in your world or environment, you
are entirely teleported elsewhere. It immerses the user primarily by
stimulating their vision and hearing, by making them believe they are living
the simulated reality firsthand.
A virtual reality headset typically uses one or two
screens that have to be held close to your face and viewed through lenses. It
then employs various sensors to track the user’s head and potentially their
body as they move through space. With this information, the readers the right
images to create an illusion that the user is navigating a completely foreign
environment.
Computer
Visualization includes the computer-supported methods
and techniques to represent information of any kind using visual metaphora,
such as all kinds of 2D images and diagrams (that can be either static or
interactive), various forms of 3D representations (volumetric, surface-based,
point-based, etc.), and interactive and dynamic visual simulation of complex
phenomena, etc. Specialized fields of Computer Visualisation are, for instance,
Visual Analytics, Information Visualisation and Scientific Visualisation.
Virtual
Reality is a field of Computer Graphics that simulates the
physical presence in an immersive (and highly visual) computer-generated
environment, either reproducing a real-world or an imaginary experience or
situation. Advanced projection technologies, interaction devices, and sensory
simulations help the Virtual Reality user to feel immerse in a 3D virtual
world.
Vicomtech
is
focusing its research on several fields of Visualisation and Virtual Reality,
such as:
- Web
3D technologies, to adopt a natural and
browser-native approach to display 3D interactive content on the Web,
including VR and possibly AR scenarios.
DIGITAL
STRATEGIES #3: MAKERSPACE
The Digital Makerspace (DMS) is an open online
project platform where the entrepreneur, conservation, and technology
communities come together to collaborate on projects that strike at the drives
of human-induced extinction. The Digital Makerspace’s goal is to bring access
to technologies, such as virtual reality and 3D Printing, to all the students,
staff and faculty in support of digital creation and literacy.
A makerspace is not
solely a lab, a craft area, a STEM center, a tech room, or an art station, but
it can have components of some or all these places. Makerspace provide hands-on, creative ways to encourage students to
design, experiment, build and invent as they deeply engage in science,
engineering and tinkering.
The Digital Makerspace
is a digital engineering workshop, collaboration space, and project pipeline
where ideas for tech-enabled solutions to conservation problems can be born,
tested, and developed. We believe that open innovation, collaboration across
disciplines, and community engagement are key to generating world-changing
ideas, and that many minds working together can refine them and achieve big
things.
DIGITAL
STRATEGIES #2: BYOD
Mobile
learning is an emergent paradigm in a state of intense development fuelled by
the confluence of three technological steams: ambient computing power, ambient
communication and intelligent user interfaces. The necessity of innovating
pedagogy prior to (or alongside with) the introduction of BYOD strategies
appears to be leitmotif that can be identified in most studies on the topic and
is confirmed by the outcome of the present case study.
The use of mobile computing devices has become an
integral part of virtually every aspect of our personal and professional life,
and education is no exception to this paradigm. Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
strategies are becoming increasingly prevalent in teaching, learning, and
assessment across all age groups, however the evaluation of their relative
effectiveness compared to traditional pedagogies is still a controversial
matter.
Despite the vast number of reports attesting the
successful integration of BYOD in higher education, it has been argued that a
significant proportion of the studies on the topic are highly heterogeneous
from both a theoretical and methodological standpoint. While BYOD strategies
have been put in place in an increasing number of educational institutions
around the world, the extent of their implementation varies widely between (and
in most cases within) different institutions. This observation highlights the
critical importance of the development of a solid theoretical and practical
framework to underpin the integration of BYOD in higher education.
INTERNET
TECHNOLOGY: CLOUD COMPUTING
Cloud computing is a general term for anything that
involves delivering hosted services over the Internet. Cloud computing is
Web-based processing, whereby shared resources, software, and information are
provided to computers and other devices on demand over the Internet.
Virtualization technology provides organizations with a tool that promotes high
levels of availability, scalability and reliability, in terms of the cloud
systems or cloud computing technology that an enterprise can access to meet its
information technologies.
A cloud service has three distinct characteristics
that differentiate it from traditional web hosting. It is sold on demand,
typically by the minute or the hour, it is elastic - a user can have as much or
as little of a service as they want at any given time; and the service is fully
managed by the provider ( the consumer needs nothing but a personal computer
and Internet access). Significant innovations in virtualization and distributed
computing, as well as improved access to high-speed Internet, have accelerated
interest in cloud computing.
A cloud can be private or public. A public cloud
sells services to anyone on the Internet. (Currently, Amazon Web Services is
the largest public cloud provider). A private cloud is a proprietary network or
a data center that supplies hosted services to a limited number of people.
Private or public, the goal of cloud computing is to provide easy, scalable
access to computing resources and IT services.
21ST
C TREND: CODING AS NEW LITERACY
The traditional concept of literacy was built on the
assumption that the written word was confined to the printed page, but this is
no longer the case. Text is accompanied by images, video, interactivity, and
technology. “21st century literacy” requires the skills to not only
read and write, but to consume and publish content across a range of media.
The standard for 21st century literacy is
admittedly idealistic. The scope of the suggested literacy skills is too broad
for any one person to master as it encompasses a range of left-and
right-brained tasks and perspectives. The goal of this proposal is not to
suggest that anyone who lacks ability in one or more of these areas is
“illiterate”. Rather, the 21st century literate is someone who has
studied a spectrum of communication challenges that require solutions rooted in
written language, graphic design, interactive and motion graphics, code and other
relevant media. Students who learn about what the solutions are need not learn
how to implement them all. “Literacy” comes with an understanding of what
skills are required to meet the challenges of communicating ideas and building
communities around them. As such, when this article discusses the “skills
required of the 21st century literate,” implied is that students
learn to recognize what solutions and talents are required to solve a given
problem – not that they should necessarily be capable of personally delivering
work that requires teams of professionals in the “real” world.
21ST
C TREND: MOOC-MASSIVE OPEN ONLINE COURSES
MOOC is Massive Open Online Course. Massive is
everyone who wants to join can join, no limits on enrolment numbers. Open is
all the information (content and interactions) is open to all/on the Web.
Online is all the content and discussions happen online. course is a
stand-alone or part of training or curriculum.
Online technologies, social media and open education
have made learning ubiquitous, with tools that provide new ways for engagement,
communication and collaboration. These tools are revolutionizing education,
with support for learning available anywhere, at any time.
This Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) will
introduce you to 21st century learning tools and practices. You will
examine how they can facilitate learning and teaching, and evaluate your own
digital literacies, create own personal learning environment, find open
educational resources, explore virtual worlds and more.
21ST
C TREND: OER-OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching,
learning, and research materials in any medium – digital or otherwise – that
reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that
permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or
limited restrictions.
Since 2002, when the term Open Educational Resources
(OER) first emerged, to today, OER has increasingly been recognized by the
international community as an innovative tool for meeting the challenges of
providing lifelong learning opportunities for learners from diverse levels and
modes of education worldwide’.
Open educational resources are somewhat different
from open learning, in that they are primarily content, while open learning
includes both content and educational services, such as specially designed
online materials, in-built learner support and assessment.
Open educational resources cover a wide range of
online formats, including online textbooks, video recorded lectures, YouTube
clips, web-based textual materials designed for independent study, animations
and simulations, digital diagrams and graphics, some MOOCs, or even assessment
materials such as tests with automated answers. OER can also include Powerpoint
slides or pdf files of lecture notes. In order to be open educational
resources, though, they must be freely available for at least educational use.
