EDT 619 Blog

What are the emerging trends in educational technology? I think that one of the major emerging trends in educational technology is not "what" students are learning, but instead "how" they are learning. We have begun the take the locus of control away from the teachers and move it to the students. Technology has allowed students to take ownership of their learning. They now that technologies that will give them immediate feedback as to whether "they got it" and they have a wide world of places to gain more information. I have said many times while taking this class just how jealous I am of the opportunities that kids have now that I didn't in the past! How do they reshape the culture of learning and teaching? I think, and hope, that with this changed ownership, students will take more of an interest in their learning. We spent so many years giving them information, much of it on things that they weren't really interested i...

The idea of a participatory culture is not necessarily a new idea, but the it's expansion in the world of social media has made it a prominent topic in the world of education. In a participatory culture it is one in which, very simply, everyone participates. Students are encouraged to produce and share various forms of media and through so, learn from each other. There may be a media that another student isn't familiar with, or an idea another student hadn't previously thought of, and a participatory culture encourages this sharing.  It's a social mode of production. Communities can also produce media together and then share them among themselves, or even to a larger community outside of just their classroom. I think there are a lot of ways that I could incorporate more of this into my classroom. My Sports Marketing class organizes charity events as part of their curriculum. The students could do a better job of getting on social media to get the word about the cause,...