Module 6 Blog Post

The first thing I will need to do as a leader in educational technology is to research the emerging technology, take advise from others, and locate those that best meet the needs of my school. I’d present these at a school meeting along with their uses. Then I’d need to compile research and any existing data to support the emerging technology and cost analysis. I would need to have available grant proposals. There would be a need for a survey to find out the mind-set of the other staff involved. Afterwards, I’d have to secure the financial backing for the technology costs: equipment, tutorials, support documents, professional development. I’d need to post these on the shared drives of the school for school-wide access. I hold monthly “ways to use” ideas for the technology during scheduled teacher meetings, offer help, demonstrations, and suggestions as needed.
I would make the technology available to all genders, cultures, and socioeconomic backgrounds by making them accessible using the school computer lab, easy to use, and free to all. I’d try to steer clear of all sensitive issues by surveying different groups to find out their needs and requirements. Then I’d take these and adjust how to use the emerging technology as necessary. Dr. Soloway (n.d.) stated that to address the leveling of the playing field is to eliminate the digital divide by putting Internet access on cell phones. Being able to communicate with each other would allow for an acceptance through experience with others.

Reference

fita (2010). Addressing the digital divide. [webpage] Retrieved from: http://www.knpd.org/mittsfita/digitaldivide_adr.htm

Soloway, E. (n.d.). The digital divide: Leveling the playing field [vodcast] Retrieved from: http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com

Thornburg, D. (2008a). An amazingly incomplete emerging technologies bibliography. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.

Thornburg, D. (2008). Evolutionary technologies. [vodcast] Retrieved from: http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com

Module 5: Increasing Returns and Red Queens

My friend, Cynthia Shelton, rented the movie Blade Runner which is based on Philip K. Dick’s book “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” and brought to my home on a planned visit the first of October. I do have NetFlix which I am crazy about because I don’t have time to browse shelves for DVDs. The current competition between DVDs and Videos on Demand (VOD) are not an example of Thornburg’s (2009) increasing returns. Thornburg describes increasing returns as “two innovations hit the market at the same time.” DVDs were out before VODs. The founder of NetFlix, Reed Hastings, saw NetFlix’s opportunity when DVDs met critical mass (Anderson, 2004), so I’d see this competition between VODs and DVDs as an example of Red Queens. Blockbusters, one of the largest chains for renting DVDs, are the clearly losing, closing, and declaring bankruptcy.

McLuhan’s tetrad with DVDs and VODs

Enhancement
DVDs for rent take time out of people’s day to go by the stores to rent them.
Netflix, a VOD, enhances watching movies by having the convenience of ordering almost instantaneous viewing of many movies and games. It also has instant replay. It also is compatible with Blue Ray and is cost effective.

Obsolescence
The VODs and DVDs have almost completely replaced the VHS for watching movies. NetFlix also can mail DVDs to your home.

Retrieval
DVDs and VODs bring back the idea of plays, theaters, the drive-in, and the movie theater.

Reversal
DVDs make it possible to pause and view movies at a later time. It has great video quality and sound compared to that of the VHS. NetFlix has these capabilities.


Reference

Anderson, C. (2004). Tech’s long tail [Vodcast]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/

Thornburg, D. (2009). Increasing returns and red queens. Laureate Education, Inc. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com

Module 4 Second Life

According to Thornburg (2009), Second Life (SL) was disruptive because it did not allow for a gradual transition into the technological world. It did not evolve from other technologies, but made some obsolete which caused a loss of jobs/livelihoods. One of the ways it will effect me is the virtual classroom could possibly replace the traditional classroom. Second Life participants have the potential to view life as a simple social game and use it in inappropriate ways. Some people, such as my husband, think SL may cause students to identifying too closely with avatars. Just as some people view the older cartoons such as The Roadrunner as too violent, they see the social aspect of the virtual classroom dangerous. I don't see that this problem can't be resolved. It could allow a way to keep students safer by hiding their true identity. The roadrunner was a cartoon. Second Life's avatars are what they are - motivating replicas. Rosedale (2008) stated that SL can help with global communication skills as well as language development and provide a media that allows for students to communicate with different countries throughout the world, allowing for tolerance of other cultures and advocating diversity. I see it as having the potential to help students that have trouble communicating and as a motivational tool in the elementary classroom. It could help the homebound student feel more a part of "real" traditional classroom as well as keep bias formed by the face-to-face daily interactions with people to a minimum. I think SL has about three more years at that time it'll be replaced by the halo deck.

Reference

Rosedale, P. (2008). Second Life [Video], Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/the_inspiration_of_second_life.html

Thornburg, D. (2009). Disruptive technology. Laureate Education, Inc. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/

Module 3 Food Replicator: The Rhyme of Automatic Dispensers

Automatic dispensers have been around for a long time. They are the coffeemaker, cappuccino machine, and even the snack machines to an extent. These are not as advanced as those shown in the upcoming nano versions and were depicted as having a greater potential in television shows and cartoons. This aspect of nanotechnology has the capacity to alleviate world hunger.

In the future, I think our generation will be seen as barbaric due to our consumption of animals for food. This is not a pleasant thought for me. As I see the Romans as barbaric in their treatment of slaves and servants, I expect that I, too, will be perceived in this manner by future generations. This is a natural occurance with animals no longer being needed for food due to the replicator.

This example of a technology that represents a rhyme of history would be portrayed by the cartoon technology in the Jetsons of the 1960s and reoccurring in the 1980s. I am looking forward to the food replicator. According to Houghton (2010), the Jetsons predicted the TeleViewer (which would be the thin televisions of today), videochat (Skype), tanning bed, robot vacuum cleaner, the talking alarm clock, and automatic breakfast. Even though I don't agree that the automatic breakfast as described and rejected by Houghton (as he stated) quite meets up to the cartoon version, I do believe that the one depicted on the Jestons cartoon is in the near future.

Another futuristic show that depicts the food repication technology is Star Trek. It not only repicated food, but also "anything from a space age guitar to a cup of Earl Grey tea" (Responsible Nanotechnology, 2007 para. 1). The technology to make it a reality to the extent depicted is about twenty years away.

Nanotechnology scientists have replicated molecules. According to Wikipedia (Molecular assemblers, 2010), "molecular assemblers are possible in this limited sense." There are many examples on the internet of how advanced this technology is becoming. Kelly (2007) talked about everything becoming one world connected as "one media platform" to all people in the world. He also demostrates a rhyme in history that shows a replication of pixels to construct virtual worlds, which is an analogy of how the food replicator would reconstruct and read the molecules to replicate food.

Resource

Houghton, M. (2010). 6 current technologies the Jetsons predicted. Retrieved from http://www.techvert.com/6-current-technologies-the-jetsons-predicted/

Kelly, K. (2007, December). The next 5,000 days of the web [speech]. Speech delivered at the EG 2007 Conference, Los Angeles. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/kevin_kelly_on_the_next_5_000_days_of_the_web.html

Pheonix, C. (2003). Design of a primitive nanofactory. Journal of Evolution and Technology. Retrieved from http://jetpress.org/volume13/Nanofactory.htm

Responsible Nanotechnology. (2007). A Star Trek replicator. [blogpost] Retrieved from http://crnano.typepad.com/crnblog/2007/12/a-star-trek-rep.html

Tucker. J. A. (2002). It's a Jetson's world. Lew Rockwell [dot] com. Retrieved from http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/tucker14.html

Price, E. (n. d.). Jetson's technology. today [blogpost] Retieved from http://computers.families.com/blog/jetsons-technology-today

Wikipedia (2010, October). The Jetsons. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jetsons

Wikipedia (2010. October). Molecular assembler. Retieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_assembler

Hanks’ 8848 Module 2 Blog Assignment

Enhances: What does this technology do that is new?

Smartboards are interactive whiteboards that are excellent at allowing users to organize lessons and save them as presentations that are motivational. Links allow users to place the presentations right on lesson plans for easy retrievals. Other features help keep users entertained and allows for collaborating with one another. With the now available smart tablet, there is ample range instead of confinement to a desk. Smartboards provide that can be utilized at home and completed from a laptop or desktop. Smartboards keep up with the societal demands. It is an easy installation and continually upgrades as more innovations are found.

Obsoletes: What does this technology replace?

Smartboards replace inexpensive software such as the overhead that required no computer. They did require other material such as transparencies, markers, and bulbs. The bulb continually needed replaced. Overheads were messy both with the material such as cloths to clean them as well as getting all over the users’ hands.

Retrieves: What does this technology bring to mind from the past?

A Smartboard may be thought of as a blackboard that requires no chalk, but has a marker (chalk) and eraser. The blackboard eraser gets dirty, dusty, and has to be dusted often, but the Smartboard does not. It also reminds one of the slate that was once written on by the old school classroom students.

Reverses: What might replace this technology in the future, or what might it cause to occur?

In the future, Smartboards will be replaced by holographic 3-D images. These will allow students to apply concepts into real models.

Reference

Home Smart Technology. (2010). smarttech.com

Business Data Communications. (2010). Technology trends in the classroom: The digital white board.
http://www.businessdatacom.com/Customers/Education/tabid/68/Default.aspx

infacom. (2010). Interactive whiteboards. http://www.infacom.co.uk/products/interactive_whiteboards.htm

Look below for my post! Deb :)

I responded to:

Melinda Duckett at: http://ducketmc.wordpress.com/

Robert Hopkins at: http://educ-8848emergingandfuturetech.blogspot.com/

Cynthia Shelton at: http://shelcy316.blogspot.com/

Annette Brooker-Grogan at: http://educ8848technologies.blogspot.com/

Erika Penninger at: http://penninger8848.blogspot.com/

Smartboards Rule

Smart Technology

The current technology that has emerged in the last few years that shapes learning in third grade has been the Smartboard. Our school is themed Academy of Communications and Technology and it is an important component of this technology. It replaced the overhead projector and opened many opportunities to reach student learning styles by allowing for manipulation of objects.


It could be made better by getting rid of the shadows that impede movement of the objects on the screen. To make this technology even better and avoid the pitfall of the shadows, Smart should consider the projection from the back of the screen. The Promethean Boards allow for the light to come in from behind the screen; however, the features of the Smartboard outweigh the pitfall and I still like it better than the Promethean board.



Reference

http://www.prometheanworld.com/
http://www.smartboards.com/