Technology 1
The first emerging technology I am interested in is gamification. Gamification is, typically, the use of simulations to present real-life scenarios or dilemmas in a safe environment for people to work with and learn. Gamification of this nature is already in use in some areas of education at some learning centers. The most noteworthy so far is in use by the University of Minnesota’s School of Nursing where they use the game to engage in scenarios that help them learn everything from how to deal with an emergency to how to assist during surgery. Here is an example of such a game. This simulation of nursing allows the learners to react in a real-time sense without fear of mistakes being life-threatening and can also be used by multiple students for team building scenarios. I feel this same technology could be used in online higher education in a similar manner. Imagine having a game where you are the educator, and you have students, maybe some of those students are struggling, and you do not know how to help them. With gamification simulations, we could experiment with solutions and get a reasonable idea of how they would work but without any harm to the student as we search. This technology could also be used to teach technology use, as ironic as that sounds. The game could be set to start by simply clicking a link in the references, and it could take you into a game where you learned the required skills. For example, we could have a mini-game for this week showing how to get a blog site up and running including how to insert pictures, video, and other common components. This game would allow even a beginner to learn a variety of skills included advanced features or concepts and to practice their use in a safe environment.
Technology 2
The other emerging technology I am interested in is learning analytics. While this is not a new technology, it is new to gain support from educational professionals and data scientists. The best site for the most information on this is a wiki site. However, the links and resources it provides are all excellent. Learning analytics covers a wide variety of data mining concepts, all of which could be useful to education in one manner or another. My favorite potential use of this technology is for the personalization and adaption it provides to learners. As we all know everyone learns differently and we all have preferred methods. We do not always get to pick the format our resources are presented in, however. With learning analytics, it would monitor the ways information was presented and compare it to our learning comprehension via small quiz’s or assignments, this data gathering will begin to present a pattern of the material delivery method and our learning and can adapt to give learners their preferences where possible. The second use of this technology that I like is its ability to predict outcomes. For example, the data from learning analytics is especially useful for predictive purposes such as retention rates and alerting instructors when a student might be struggling with part of the course (Learning Analytics, n.d.).
It is also worth noting that the two technologies I picked can also work together. Learning analytics can be used to provide data to a gaming simulation to simulate student behaviors and patterns which help the educator have a more realistic experience and outcome.
References
Learning Analytics. (n.d.). Retrieved March 4, 2016, from http://tech.ed.gov/learning-analytics/.
Heather,
ReplyDeleteI looked at your example for VitalSims, and truly you hit the nail on the head when we talk about games in learning.
I can imagine the usefulness this type of game can carry out in the medical universities. Alternatively, even for a younger generation of high school students who are interested in medicine. This type of game looks interesting to play in learning because there might be plenty of opportunities to make errors and mistakes that you cannot make in real life.
Of course, all this gaming would have to be carefully lead by a fully engaged instructor. If we as instructors do not engage ourselves withing these games for our students, then we do them a great disservice. It is a great balancing act that requires us to guide them through the ins and outs of the game or technology
David Velasco
Hello Heather,
ReplyDeleteYou provided very rich information about ways to use mobile devices. I have not heard of Google Scholar, I think it is because I lag behind when it comes to technology, but I think I will start to use it. I usually need hours to go through the materials in Walden Library, and I end up being frustrated. Thanks a lot for sharing.
Heba