About the same time the automobile was able to move students around, we start to see technology being integrated into the classroom. The filmstrip projector in the mid 1920's, followed by the radio and then overhead projector got us into the 1940's. The first signs of eLearning may have been introduced by Mr. B.F. Skinner with his teaching machine allowing students to work at their own pace. Television, punch driven testing sheets, and graphing calculators and the CD-ROM came through the classroom in rapid succession through the 1960's, 70's and 80's (C. Wilson, 2010)
My point of focus for this is the next generation of learning tools though. I could easily launch into a history of the adaptation of computers as they morphed into smart phones, smart watches and smart glasses. The technology is coming faster than I can keep up (I think there was an advancement while I typed this paragraph). What can this newest generation do to enhance learning? That's what we are talking about this week.
If the general trend of making education more available by moving from big city universities to small towns. Then the natural progression of technology should follow the same path, and it has. "Classrooms" are available from anywhere with a cell phone signal. This means that the smart phone is, for all intensive purposes a classroom held in one hand! The benefits of smart phone technology can allow a student to research, collaborate, and report on their findings from anyplace. It's an untouchable asset to a student on the go.
There is a sense of a disconnect however, when using a phone to collaborate via an online school. Which is where something with a higher end camera and microphone may be just the ticket. cell phones do have cameras but are frequently subject to 3G or 4G cellular networks. Using a wifi based device like a laptop of tablet can actually bring other students and yourself to one common place, face to place...if you know which video conferencing software to use.
When most people think of video conferencing they picture board rooms with very expensive equipment or they picture their cell phones with pixelated choppy video and sound that pauses and skips. This just means you haven't done your research yet. There is video conferencing software available that is compressing high definition video like never before. The job of video conferencing equipment or software is to compress the video and audio, transmit across the internet and then on the other end the person's software that you're talking with decompresses the video and audio and displays the image and plays the sound. This is why video conferencing hardware and software is referred to as a "Codec", compression and decompression.
High quality codecs used to be large machines, like a big desk top computer. But that has changed and now your tablet or laptop running good quality software can bring incredible, reliable high definition video to you and your classmates. It's the next best thing to being there in person. Some of these codecs cost money, but it's money well spent. I recommend looking into some of the big hardware manufacture's solutions in the new software market. Polycom's RealPresence desktop license is about $70, and they have solutions specific to Android and Apple platforms as well. LifeSize has a great new option called ClearSea, and as a newer player in the industry is looking to gain traction and cost could be a good way of stealing customers from the big companies (their prices aren't available online).
So, if you're looking for a new way to connect, and have had bad experiences video chatting with your family on your iphone, don't loose hope! There are amazing solutions out there for every thing mobile you take pride in.
Resources
Unknown Author. The History of Education in America. www.Chesapeake.edu. Retrieved from: http://www.chesapeake.edu/Library/EDU_101/eduhist.asp
C. Wilson, 2010. The Learning Machines. NY Times Online. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/09/19/magazine/classroom-technology.html
No comments:
Post a Comment