Conceptualizing Ed Tech

is The introductory course to my M.Ed degree covered a host of educational topics and philosophies.

One of the responsibilities that falls to teachers with technological knowledge is taking part in the decision making process as it pertains to technology.  Schools have limited budgets, and so these decisions must be considered carefully.  Among the most valuable take-aways from this first course was the four category matrix shown in the image that assesses iPads.  Before purchasing new technology ask “What does this replace?” “What does this enhance?” “What does this retrieve?” and what might this obsolesce?”  The example we completed in class is illustrated by the slide below, and considers iPads through this lens.

Another model useful for making decisions about technology purchases is the SAMR model – Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition.  Developed by Dr. Ruben Puentedura, this model seems more widely known in the field of educational technology.  I have encountered it at almost every technology conference I’ve attended in the past few years, but the first matrix I’ve only come upon in this course.  Dr. Puentedura’s illustration of his SAMR Model is as follows:

Image the creation of Dr. Ruben Puentedura, Ph.D. http://www.hippasus.com/rrpweblog/

We also tackled emerging technologies outlined in the K-12 Horizon Report, including concepts such as wearable technology, makerspaces, bring your own device (BYOD), wikis, flipped classroom, blogging, distributed learning and robotics.

With a partner, we were assigned the task of creating a wiki on one of the emerging topics in educational technology in 2015.  My partner and I used wikispaces to host our wiki on the BYOD model. The irony three years later is that wikispaces has closed – obsolesced – and the link is now dead.

Our final assignment for this course was a research paper on one of the emergent trends in educational technology. My selected topic was flipped learning. While there are a myriad of obstacles in this learning model, not the least of which is teacher readiness and professional development, giving students access to video recorded lessons in order to accomplish initial learning, or to support learned concepts is most certainly valuable. The more resources that educators can offer to students, the greater the likelihood of all students having a foundational mechanism that supports their own learning style.