Trends in Educational Technology Dr. Brenda Bannan Associate Professor Instructional Technology

Technology and Design Technology as catalyst for change Design Thinking/Innovation Teachers as designers Current challenges in educational technology

Technology Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) – a “diverse set of technological tools and resources used to communicate, and to create, disseminate, store, and manage information. These technologies include computers, the Internet, broadcasting technologies (radio and television), and telephony.” – Terms

Design “Design is the conceptualization or realization of new things” – (Royal College of Art on Design in General Education, 1979) “Design thinking is a fundamental means of inquiry by which man realizes and gives shapes to ideas…” – (Rowe, 1987)

ICT or Educational Technology Has the potential to: – Access to information and instructional materials – Create, design and share new digital products – Collaborate locally, regionally and internationally – Participate in design, development and use of digital resources – Innovate new solutions and teaching interventions – Advance skills and knowledge toward reform

ICT Project Examples One Laptop Per Child 1)Across the developing world, education systems need to change dramatically to prepare their children for the modern world 2) Children (and adults) learn best when they are actively involved in the learning process 3)Involved teachers, relevant content, and appropriate technology can facilitate both educational change and learning motivation

Challenges many educational projects fail because their grand plan missed the idea that solutions for improving education cannot be considered as one-for-all, or a simple matter of widespread distribution of content – Dr. Robert Kozma

ICT Project Examples Providing Computer Hardware/Laptops -May not be enough More than access is needed -Support and training - Local involvement and infrastructure - How to marshal local and regional resources? Teacher/Student Resources - Solutions for identified problems generated locally/regionally - Align with cultural and local requirements or needs

Trend: Design as Catalyst for Change Teacher as Designer – Design learning experiences with available resources Design at all Levels of Involvement: – lessons, curriculum, technology school programs, educational initiatives, etc Design and Technology as vehicle for: – Investigation, learning, creation, innovation, change, design, development, implementation of new ideas

Trend: Design as a Catalyst for Change Investigation of learning content, problem, phenomena Empathetic understanding and analysis – students, teachers, community, context, activity Participation/community involvement – “grass roots” identification of problems Generation of design/solution/intervention/lesson – Bottom-up and top-down creativity to solve problems Trials, analysis and learning from design/solution Revision of design intervention – Applied to lesson, curriculum, school-wide interventions, infrastructure Re-trial, analysis and learning continued

Emphasis on Design with Technology Design thinking as a catalyst for innovation and social change Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation

Design Thinking in Education provides a powerful alternative to traditional educational models by challenging students to find answers to complex and difficult problems that have multiple viable solutions and by fostering students’ ability to act as change agents

Human-centered design

Himachali students visit local preschools, discover lack of basic teaching aids, develop creative, low cost solutions Students concerned about the quality of education in local preschools visited 7 schools, interviewed staff and observed classes; Alarmed by the scarcity of resources, they take action in and organize entire school to design and create teaching aids for toddlers; Students return to teach students and share their inventions,; 112 students impacted; Lasting connection formed with between schools -Day Star School Manali, Himachal Pradesh,India Source: Stanford University Design for Giving Competition, d.school DESIGN FOR GIVING FEEL, IMAGINE, DO! Stories of Change from the top twenty

Trend: Design for Change Start small, study your market, pilot Conduct local analysis of problems, not just country wide deployment -Bottom up and top down Aim for long-term education/ collaboration for local teachers Aim for sustainability of the local schools. Source:

Peruvian Examples of Design Thinking for Change “get real impressions and real feedback from teachers, and to start researching, designing, promoting infrastructure implementation initiatives, to get towns connected to the web, with DIY wireless data links, training people to pull wires and install access points, etc...” “ideas, actions and volunteerism is highly appreciated and welcome! Whoever would like to visit the escuelab, or come to test a project, or plan to organize an internship /volunteering program related to culture and technology” Source:

Trend: Design Thinking for Change Feel, imagine, do – Children in India promote change in their communities through human-centered design Hear, create, deliver – Teacher/Children participate in design thinking for social change Analyze, design, develop/implement – Teacher Instructional design Informed exploration, enactment, local/broad impact – Researchers - Educational Design Research promote educational change using ICT

Source:

Observe and Engage:

Problem framing:

Generate ideas:

Prototype solutions:

Test intervention:

Iterate and revise:

Trend: Technology and Design Thinking In the U.S. we need to study the use of these new technology tools to better understand how their new capabilities are impacting the formal and informal education of our children. We can do this through design thinking and user research.

Source:

‘Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach (Marc Prensky, 2001)

Learning Technologies and Design Thinking for Change Has the potential to: – Engage children in authentic learning – Collaborate locally, regionally and internationally – Visualize and model scientific phenomenon – Work toward solving complex, real world problems in the context of school subjects – Engage children in learning games, creative generation and simulations – Augment reality with layering of digital content over the real world

Authentic Learning

Disruptive Technologies

Creating a learning community

Social media/Informal Learning

Social Media/ Formal or Informal Learning

Multiple Media/Formal Learning

Visualization Tools

Simulations

Games - Informal Learning

Mobile Learning:

45 Best Uses of m-Learning “Today, organizations use variations of m-Learning for performance support, review or reinforcement, knowledge acquisition, coaching or mentoring, receipt of updates, data collection, audio and/or video instruction, and decision support.” - eLearning Guild M-Learning 360 report. Performance Support Review/reinforcement Knowledge acquisition Coaching/mentoring updates Data collection Audio/video instruction Decision support

mLearning – Phone apps

Mobile Learning - mLearning Uses Geographical Positioning Systems (GPS) to attach items/characters to a physical location Attach barcodes to objects/places that link to game content Add story ARIS – Mobile Media Learning Experience Developed by University of Wisconsin’s Games Learning and Society Group

Location-based mLearning Games MIT Augmentative reality game

Augmentative Reality 49 MIT Labs – Environmental Detectives Tech Info: - Windows Mobile based - Delivered on PDA/Mobile phone Augmented reality simulation with location-aware devices, teaching environmental responsibility

Trend: Future technology?

ICT, Design Thinking and Learning Benefits Benefits: – Actively engaging students in challenging tasks Interactive and engaging capabilities of ICT, real world tasks and simulations – Focusing on individual learners’ skills and needs Create meaning through creation of multimedia products/ visualization tools – Providing students with structure and support Teacher modeling, student display, and teacher monitoring complex cognitive skills with support when needed – Presenting frequent assessment and feedback Individualized, peer or teacher/mentor assessment and feedback – Creating a supportive learning community Collaboration, joint projects, building on each other’s knowledge – Connecting with the outside community and resources Involving parents, community members – Building on current language skills and developing new ones Digital audio/video build comprehension and decoding skills Kozma, R. & Wagner, D. (2006)

Design Thinking and Technology Combination - powerful change agent – Empathy, understanding of use/users of technology – Investigation of context and content – Participation in design, creation of learning experiences – Analyze increasing democratic and mobile learning – Understand blurring of informal/formal learning, integrated into students daily lives – Users (students) generating learning content – Expand boundaries of social, physical and contextual awareness

Design and the Creative Class “Design is about doing things consciously and not because they have always been done in a certain way” Margaret Bruce, Companion to Creativity (2009) Creativity Design Innovation

How can you leverage design thinking and existing technology to create change?

Thank you! Dr. Brenda Bannan George Mason University Fairfax, VA U.S.A.

References Kozma, R. & Wagner, D. (2006). Reaching the most disadvantaged with ICT: What works? In R. Sweet and D. Wagner (Eds.), ICT in non-formal and adult education: Supporting out-of-school youth and adults. Paris: OECD. Learning Light e-Learning Centre (Mobile & Wireless Learning Projects) Educause Review Going Nomadic: Mobile Learning in Higher Education Glasgow Caledonian University: Mobile Learning Examples Futurelab Report 11: Literature Review in Mobile Technologies and Learning m Learning with Mobile Devices: Conference Proceedings