EDCI 887- Proseminar 1

Discussion 1- Group A [Ryan Cloyd & Cong-Kai (Kyle) Jin]

o Team A & G:
+ Here is one vision of what the classroom or training center will look like in 2025.
See pp. 8-9 of the Integrating book on the history of digital technologies in
education. Since minorities in the U.S. are more likely to believe that education will
help their careers, we need to think about finding ways to educate more people
more effectively and technology enhances this effort. How the U.S. views the future
of technology must be considered in figuring out how to use the talents of all
people. Other countries have similar goals for educating their citizenry, though
differing situations and approaches. Choose the U.S. or another country and make
two suggestions about how we can use technology to increase learning
opportunities. Cite two articles supporting these predictions.

Response:
Cong-Kai (Kyle) Jin:
Ryan Cloyd:
As Pew Research Center predicted in Digital Life in 2025 that an Internet-enabled
revolution in education will spread more opportunities, with less money spent on
real estate and teachers (Per Research Center, 2014), I firmly believe Internet and
technology tools such as ever advancing and evolving mobile devices should enable
students and learners of all subject matters to not only attain, screen and organize
information more efficiently, but also communicate and collaborate with each other
and instructors more effectively.
Technology as an educational enabler should continue to allow students to engage
quality solitary learning by researching text/picture/video-rich internet resources,
along with inspiring brain-storming, team-working, and group
discussion/collaboration by using powerful mobile devices, web tools and
applications.
Technology advance should also provide students more opportunities to apply
Higher Order Thinking Skill (HOTS), i.e. applying, analyzing, evaluating, and
creating, during their learning process (Bloom, et al., 1956). Technology integrated
instructional tools nowadays should be able to accommodate students of various
learning styles, and cover all eight aspects of multi-intelligence, i.e., linguistic,
logical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, musical, visual/spatial, naturalistic, and
kinesthetic aspects (Gardner, 1983).
I agree with what Roblyer argued that technically possible does not equal
desirable, feasible, or inevitable (Roblyer, 2015, p. 9)., thats why educators
struggled to create appropriate policies and uses that could take advantages of this
new power while minimizing its risks and problems (Roblyer, 2015, p. 8). Therefore,
Roblyer concluded that teachers always will be more important than technology
(Roblyer, 2015, p. 9).

EDCI 887- Proseminar 1

I agree with the findings of these articles listed above. Technology has a special
place in the world for promoting collaborative works over and despite of long
distances and differing time zones (as clear with our communications right now).
Technology creates a unique venue for discussion and exchange that could not exist
otherwise. Text threads, youtube conversations held via vlog response,
livestreaming, and social media such as Twitter or Facebook are prime examples of
technology being used to facilitate communication in ways otherwise extremely
difficult or impossible. All these uses of technology can be utilized to further expand
and share different understandings of the world (ie learning).
Although technology facilitates the venue for higher order thinking skills (HOTS), its
still the responsibility of teachers to educate students in how to acquire and use
these skills. In many ways technology will never replace teachers or serve as an
end-all for education. This is alluded to in your quote of Roblyer (2015, p. 9), with
which I fully agree. Technology is a tool that can facilitate communication as well as
open means of approaching obstacles from new perspectives, opening new learning
opportunities.
I would also suggest that a great way of opening learning opportunities could be
found in open source and free or cheap digital textbook content (Open Source
Initiative, n.d.). Not only can tuition play into the daunting amount of student debt,
but the cost of textbooks seems to be just as much of a financial burden on
students. Technology is great in opening vast, new means of understanding through
reaching students via a variety of learning styles and mediums, but what I find so
crucially important about technology is the ability to easily and readily share
information, ideas, and skill techniques (or advice) across long distances for
relatively cheap.
It seems to me that the pace of technology development nowadays is just like a wild
bull or a crazy fast racing car. Hence it would require teachers to master the
knowledge and skills of using the technology so as to steer the technology and put
it in good use for instructional purpose. Nonetheless, the technology development
and innovations are so fast that it will be quite a challenge to predict or foresee, if
examined with the perspective based on our current knowledge, what the
technology will be like after 10 years and beyond. Therefore, I suggest some basic
elements that a technology now or in the future should have in order to meet the
criteria of serving the educational purpose:
1. Providing learners and instructors the easy access to information and learning
content;
2. Allowing learners and instructors to communicate and collaborate with each
other;
3. Creating learning context that learners could develop Higher Order Thinking
Skills (HOTS) (Bloom, et al., 1956);
4. Accommodating various learning styles and multiple intelligences of learners
(Gardner, 1983).

EDCI 887- Proseminar 1

Reference:
Anderson, L. & Krathwohl D. (Eds.). (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and
assessing: A revision of Blooms taxonomy of educational objective. New
York, NY: Longman.
Bloom, B. S.; Engelhart, M. D.; Furst, E. J.; Hill, W. H.; Krathwohl, D. R. (1956).
Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals.
Handbook 1: Cognitive Domain. New York, NY: Longman.
Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York,
NY: Basic.
Open Source Initiative. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://opensource.org/
Per Research Center. (March 11, 2014). Digital Life in 2025. Retrieved from
http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/03/11/digital-life-in-2025/
Roblyer, M. D. (2015). Integrating educational technology into teaching (7th ed.).
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.