Addressing the Digital Divide with Emerging Technology

As a leader of educational technology I would create a pilot program that would make emerging technologies available to the underprivileged. The program would allow people of all genders, cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds to benefit from basic IT classes. For example the computerized program would allow students that speak Spanish to have the program delivered in Spanish. The pilot program would provide laptops for students that cannot afford one.

An example of delivering emerging technology to others is concerning a group of girls in Kenya. The seed institute Cisco Networking Academy has a program that teaches girls in Kenya with the hope to help them get better jobs. More specifically, the goal is to train women and youth on ICT skills with two groups: housegirls and hasslers.

House girls: are girls who do house chores such as cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc. They get paid up to $50 per month from which they have to feed their families, pay fees for their siblings’ education and a host of other fees. The house girls are forced to drop out of school and are unable to get a university education. To get the girls to attend, Cisco and Seed leaders needed to convince the house girls’ employers to allow them to attend IT Essentials classes during the day.
Hasslers: are women who have faced many hassles including rape, sexual abuse by their own relatives; some are commercial sex workers who are trying to transform their lives. They hold regular sessions with them on job opportunities available for in the ICT field, the need to get certified and have a valuable skill that will change their lives.

This is an excellent program that these girls and women receive the opportunity to change their lives as they can transition from part of the population who does not even get counted in national statistics to being able to get a job that requires IT skills.

Reference:
http://blogs.cisco.com/emerging/comments/creating_greater_equity_with_emerging_technologies_in_kenya/

Red Queens and Technology

I viewed the movie Minority report online using Netflix. Netflix allows you to instantly watch movies and television episodes online on your computer or streamed instantly from Netflix over the Internet right to your television with a Netflix ready device.

The competition between DVDs and video is an example of red queen. Dr. Thornburg states, “Red Queen” is attached to certain phenomena when a competition between two forces results in the rapid development of them equally. The speed with which the competition took place was remarkable in reference to DVDs and videos. DVD’s were at one time available everywhere, from movie rental companies. However videos seen to be available online and via cable companies.

According to McLuhan’s tetrad DVDs and video on demand are about to become obsolete. The retrieval of the DVDs will render the video on demand obsolete and vice versa. The use of various online movie vendors such as Netflix has changed the way movies are viewed for quite some time. Netflix even offers a thirty day trail to try out the product.

References
Thornburg, D.D. (2008) Emerging technologies and McLuhan's Laws of Media. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornberg Center for Space Exploration.

Second Life and Disruptive Technologies

Second Life and Disruptive Technologies

Second Life (SL) is a virtual world developed by Linden Lab that launched on June 23, 2003, and is accessible on the internet. A free client program called the Viewer enables its users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars. Residents can explore, meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, and create and trade virtual property and services with one another, or travel throughout the world (which residents refer to as "the grid"). Second Life is for people aged 18 and over, while Teen Second Life is for people aged 13 to 17.

Second Life is a disruptive technology I because it disrupts an entire industry or market, throwing them into disarray and often into panic. In one sense it seems to be a largely generational increment on virtual worlds both graphical and text-based of the past that provided one form or another of user-created content and scripting. This would, on the surface, qualify it as a sustaining technology.
Second life is a disruptive technology that might displace the normal evolutionary life cycle of technology. Second life might be around for another twenty years due to people wanting to live in a fantasy land an escape the realities of life. The social benefits of second life are to meet new and interesting people that one might not ordinarily come in contact with.

Social implications of virtual worlds in education might enhance learning as a final way of creating a learning experience to allow users to construct and experience their own abstract worlds, giving them firsthand experience in the transfer of two dimensional knowledge into three dimensional knowledge.


References:

http://www.massively.com/2008/07/07/mitch-kapors-sl5-keynote-and-the-linden-prize/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life
http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet11/moore.html

Rhymes of History Technology - Telephones

The telephone rekindles the technology of the past and represents a rhyme of history. The telephone is a communication device that was discovered in 1872. In 1877, Thomas Alva Edison succeeded in enabling telephone calls to be made over large distances by creating stronger electrical impulses. The telephone became portable on 20th February 1942. On this day, the American, Donald M. Mitchell, applied for a patent for his "Portable Radio Transmitting and Receiving" mobile telephone. The device transmitted using short waves, had a limited range and weighed no less than 2.5 kilograms. Another 35 years were to pass before mobile phones could be used by ordinary members of the public. It was not until 1983 that Motorola presented the first commercial mobile telephone in the world, the "Dyna TAC 8000X".

Now fast forward to this year telephones are now wireless and we can talk hands free. The latest and greatest cell phone is the iPhone. The iphone 4 with just a tap, you can wave hello to your kids, share a smile from across the globe, or watch your best friend laugh at your stories — iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 over Wi-Fi. And it works right out of the box. The iphone definitely rekindles the need to communicate as such with the large rotary dial phones from log ago.

References:
http://www.yourdiscovery.com/technology/milestones/telephone/index.shtml
http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/kevin_kelly_on_the_next_5_000_days_of_the_web.html

Autopilot Vehicle/ Emerging Technology Tetrad

The autopilot vehicles are predicted to be available by 2015. Vehicles are expected to be equipped to drive themselves at least part of the time with the help of on-board computers, GPS satellite navigation, and sensors, lasers and video cameras that will detect other objects around them. However, most experts say that people will generally want to retain control for some aspects of driving and manual options will still be included in vehicles (Thornburg, 2008).


The attached tetrad answers the following questions:

• Enhances: What does this technology do that is new?
This technology allows drivers to relax and let the car do the work. The auto pilot vehicle enhances the person’s driving experience by allowing the driver to have the vehicle custom made to fit lifestyle and needs. For example a sales person could have the car set up like an office and remain productive while stuck in traffic.

• Obsoletes: What does this technology replace?
This technology will make large gas guzzling SUVs’ obsolete and the same interior design. The owner has a choice of a smaller more compact vehicle that takes up less space. Also an owner would be able to change the interior of the car to fit their mood. I guess the interior could be bright and cheery to wake up a driver or interior could be more mellow when going out on the town,

• Retrieves/rekindles: What does this technology bring to mind (or retrieve) from the past?
The idea of saving the environment by using a smaller vehicle similar to a Volkswagen beetle. The feature of changing the color of the interior according the owner’s mood reminds me of the mood ring, which change colors as a person’s mood did.

• Reverses: What might replace this technology in the future, or what might it cause to occur?
The autopilot vehicle might cause people to have an interest in an alternative mode of transportation. This invention would cause people to expand their way of thinking and become involved in new emerging technology.

Reference:
Thornburg, D. (2008). Emerging technologies and McLuhan’s Laws of Media, Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/courses/14936/CRS-WUEDU8812-3730077emerging.technologies.and.nclehan’s.laws.of.media.pdf

Emerged Technology

The Electronic book is a current technology that has emerged as a non-linear book that contains text, graphics, self-running and interactive animations, everything the instructor would want to enhance the lectures and elaborate on every topic in the course. It is structured into 10 units of study linked by a main menu. Each unit stands alone and contains several screens. Each screen introduces a topic and delivers information using interactive animations. For example, one unit includes Introduction to Measurement and Evaluation: concepts, examples of assessment, and case scenarios for critical analysis. In this section the students are presented with a set of questions; by clicking on the questions a pop-up window will open allowing the students to compare their responses with the right answers (Horizon Report 2010).

However like all electronic devices Kindle an electronic book by Amazon has its share of problems. Sometimes you find that the Kindle screen is frozen and none of the buttons work. The most common reasons for this behavior are the battery runs too low or too many buttons are pushed one after another thus interfering with its memory.

Students have to pay a lot for books and many do not buy a books so they coast along throughout the course without one. Students sell their books and get very little for them, yet they are sold as used with a higher price than the students received.

The societal need met is electronic books will solve problems by allowing students to use the book for class without a high cost. Studnets will not have to coast through a class or share a book with someone else. Students can collaborate easier with other students through highlighting important sections from class lectures. Students can share margin notes with classmates via e-mail.
This technology can be even better and the pitfalls can be avoided by the continuation of research and testing to improve the electronic books from freezing and batteries that have a longer life.

References
Marsh, J (2009). How to troubleshoot a frozen Amazon kindle. Retrieved June 17, 2010 from: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1684480/how_to_troubleshoot_a_frozen_amazon.html?cat=15
Horizon Report 2010. Retrieved June 17, 2010 from http://wp.ncm.org/horizon2010/chapters/technologies

New Technologies

At one time, I worked as a Finance Manger at a small nonprofit theater company. The office staff included eight employees. There was not a reception included on the staff. So therefore, whenever the phone rings, everyone had to take turns answering the phones. If there was a staff meeting going on, then the phone would just ring and ring. There was a suggestion to update the phone system and have an automated operator to answer the phone to replace the analog used phones with a digital phone system. The automated digital phone systems save on the salary of a receptionist and allow the employees to be more productive with fewer interruptions. There were two workers that had been with the company from the start and wanted to keep the personal touch of having a real person answer the phone. The attitude that the workers with the most seniority exhibited is that there is no need for change and behaved with a great deal of resistance to the new phone system.

According to John Keller’s ARCS Model of Motivational Design, there are four steps for promoting and sustaining motivation in the learning process: Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction (ARCS).

Attention – To stimulates curiosity by posing challenging questions or problems to be solved. The problems solved were more productivity in the office with the use of the new phone system. The ability to have the phones answered when the office was closed and promote ticket sales.

Relevance – To establish relevance there was an establishment of future usefulness. The phone system with the automatic operator will be an asset to the company. The company can provide twenty four hour assesibilty to customers.

Confidence- To establish confidence the workers will receive a two day training course on how to use the new digital phone system. The workers will also receive information in reference to help desk numbers to call for problems that might come up in the future. Also, information is available to justify the cost of the phone system in reference to the long term return on the investment-ticket sales, more donor calls, and better customer service.

Satisfaction- to establish a sense of satisfaction, during weekly staff meeting workers will report on the benefit of using the phone system and the positive feedback received from customers or donors about the new phone system.

Reference

http://www.learning-theories.com/kellers-arcs-model-of-motivational-design.html

Blogs

http://www.fergusbisset.com/blog/tag/arcs-model/

http://whive.com/KingBee/blog/505/

Connectivism Plan

(click to image enlarge)
My network has changed the way that I learn, by making information more available. I can email a co worker about a concern, share information or learn about new training classes that are available. My network allows me to teach online classes as well as web enhanced classes. I can also take online classes and still remain available to my family.

The digital tools that facilitate learning are the use of the world wide web to research topics of discussion. I also use email, blogs, a cell phone that has internet connections and skype.

I am able to learn new knowledge by logging on such sites as goggle scholar, yahoo, Walden library online and other search engines.

References:

http://www.connectivism.ca/about.html

http://mywebspiration.com/launch.php

Collaboration and Eucational Technology

Howard Rheingold discussed the history of people to collaborate as a form of survival of hunger or to protest unfair treatment. People have a basic instinct to work as a group if the group is involved in a topic of self interest that is beneficial to that individual. Rheingold gave an example of the use of Wikipedia across the country for people to interact to come up with solutions to diseases or discuss world disasters solutions.

Due to the hard economic times, people are willing to work in groups by volunteering to help people in need. There is a certain sense to fulfillment when a person is working with someone with the same ideas and views on a certain issue, such as poverty, child abuse, and high rate of under-educated students in low income neighborhoods.

The constructivist perspective supports that learners learn through interaction with others. Learners work together as peers, applying their combined knowledge to the solution of the problem. The dialogue that results from this combined effort provides learners with the opportunity to test and refine their understanding in an ongoing process. Telecommunication technologies easily lend themselves to constructivist principles by providing students with opportunities to communicate with people all over the world, conduct research, discuss issues and work cooperatively. Examples of technologies are goggle docs, skype, and elluminate.

Reference
Tam, M. (2000). Constructivism, Instructional Design, and Technology: Implications for Transforming Distance Learning. Educational Technology & Society, 3 (2), 50-60.

Blog
http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2010/04/50-free-collaboration-tools-that-are.html

Learning theory/Cognitivism

Karl Kapp made a great point that an instructor should take pieces from each school of learning, that being cognitivism, behaviorism and constructivism. In the field of education an instructor has to use creativity to deliver information that students can retain and enhance their knowledge base.

For example students are rewarded with good grades if learning is successful(behaviorism) and if learning is not successful the student's learning skill or way of thinking are accessed an adjustments are made to facilitate learning(cognitive).

The behaviorist theory focuses on a stimulus to aid in learning and the cognitive theory focuses on the mental process of how someone learns. An example of a behaviorist focus is for a teacher to ask students questions and the stimuli could be a prize. If the students start to get the answers wrong then the cognitive theory would change the way the questions are delivered to promote learning.
The process of learning pulls together emotional, cognitive, environmental factors and experiences. Learning theory is an attempt to describe how people learn. Behaviorism and cognitivism are two of the frameworks of learning theories.

Behaviorism does not fully consider the thought processes that go on in the learner’s mind. Stimulus and responses as derived from the work of Pavlov, Watson, Thorndike, and Skinner, a Gagne promoted and experimented in the behaviorism.

Cognitivism deviates from behaviorism in that it deals with the internal mental processes of the mind and how these processes could be used to endorse effective learning. Behaviorism breaks tasks into small steps and/or chunks, which are then used to shape the learner’s behavior. In cognitivism the tasks are first analyzed and then broken down into steps. Cognitivism uses the metaphor of the mind as computer: information comes in, is being processed, and leads to certain outcomes.

References

Kapp, K. (2007, January 2). Out and about: Discussion on educational schools of thought. Message posted to http://karlkapp.blogspot.com/2007/01/out-and-about-discussion-on-educational.html

Kerr, B. (2007, January 1). Isms as filters and blinkers. Message posted to http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2007/01/isms-as-filter-not-blinker.html

Learning Theories Knowledgebase (2010, March). Cognitivism at Learning-Theories.com. Retrieved March 30th, 2010 from http://www.learning-theories.com/cognitivism.html

http://www.about-elearning.com/learning-theories.html

Learning Theory/educational technology

I belief that people learn best depending upon the persons age and life experiences. Adult learners seem to do well by focusing on single concept courses, or single theories that focus on application of the concepts learned. Also according to Zemke (1984), adults seek out learning for self fulfillment usually due to a life changing experience, such as divorce, being fired, moving to a new city and etc.

The purpose of learning theory in educational technology is to influence the technical designers to promote communication and connectivity, therefore increasing interactivity. According to Moore (1984), there are three types of learner interactions such as learner-content, learner-instructor, and learner-learner. In my experience as an online student and instructor students need all three interactions. The content of the course should be clear and include assignments and expectations of the students. The instructor needs to facilitate the class with structure and feedback. Students interact with each other on discussion boards and learn from communications.

http://www.ajde.com/Contents/vol3_2.htm#editorial

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructional_technology#Relation_to_learning_theory

Zemke, R., & Zemke, S. (1984). 30 things we know for sure about adult learning.

Innovation Abstracts, 6(8). Retrieved March 15, 2010 from

http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/adults-e.htm.