TT 12: The future

Thinking about the future is kind of exciting. 20 years ago who would have guessed we would be using as much technology in schools that we are right now, and if you think about it we have barely even scratched the surface of what we could use. So it is exciting to think of what will come next. The article touched on many different impacts that technology can have in the classroom, but there was two that I wanted to talk about in more detail, hybrid learning designs, and wearable technology.

Hybrid learning designs focuses on using more online learning components in the classroom to help get the students more engaged and gain a deeper understanding. This is something we have talked about a lot throughout this course and I think will only continue to be more used in the future. But like I have said in past blog posts, we need to be careful about not using it just for the sake of using it, it needs to have a purpose. Going forward I think something like Google docs will become much more popular. It is fantastic for group projects because it allows everyone to work on one project on multiple computers all at once. Eventually I think every student will have some sort of tablet or laptop so it would only make sense to use something like Google docs. It also talks about the use of videos, now it isn't talking about showing videos, but rather using videos for learning. So a great way to use this in the gym would be having students creating videos demonstrating skills for example. Then students could share the videos, yes you can go online and watch an informational video, but by creating one they learn so much more.

The second topic was wearable technology. First of all something like Google glass, or Microsoft new hologram technology are incredible. These two items may not be big in schools just because they are so expensive, but I still think they are amazing. But in terms of school I think wearable tech will become as popular as smart phones. When smart phones first came out only a few people had them, and the ones who did were the older students. Now everyone has them, heck some students in grade 4 and 5 have them. Things like the apple watch are just one example of wearable tech that could be used in schools and specifically in the gym. They can track all your physical activities and see your progress. This is one of those things that I think will take longer to happen though. But over time more models will come out, things will get cheaper, and as they get cheaper, you will see more and more students with them.

Those are just my thoughts, and at the end of the day we know the technology is going to get better, and there will be new and exciting ways to use it. But we still need to learn how to use tech effectively and learn how to use it so it helps create a more engaging experience for the students, and not just using it so we can say we used it.