Running head: THE POWER OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGY 1

The Power of Emerging Technologies

Oscar Garcia

Professor Blake

Preparing Teachers to Use Technology EDU 214

October 18, 2015

Abstract

Education today is operating differently with the emerging technologies being implemented in

classrooms. Some emerging technologies in education include: learning analytics, flipped

classrooms, and social networking. Learning analytics is used in classrooms to keep track of

academic progress, predict future performances, spot potential issues about the student that the

teacher can come back to and provide feedback to help the student understand the content.

However, teachers will have to adhere to learning analytics since it only shows patterns and

correlations about how many times the student has clicked with the mouse and how long the

student has been doing the activity. Because of the problem with overcrowding schools due to

immigration, the idea of flipped classrooms has decided to turn the traditional classroom setting

upside down. With this emerging technology, students go to school on certain days to be able to

do student-centered activities and get that face-to-face interaction with the teacher. On the days

they are not going to school, students are reviewing lectures, videos, etc. online. Furthermore,

social networking has been used for educational purposes. By integrating social networking into

their teaching process, teachers are creating creative activities, such as interview a pen pal via

Skype.

Keywords: Learning Analytics, Flipped Classrooms, Social Networking, Learning

Process, Teaching Process.

The Power of Emerging Technologies

Everyone gets smarter because of this technology and the empowerment of people is

the secret to technological progress, a quote by Eric Schmidt. Education today is influenced and

immersed in technological devices, softwares, programs, and assistive technologies. It has

changed the teaching and learning process compared to the way education has been implemented

in past history. The advanced tools used in education is known as emerging technology that is

being used in classrooms to create a foundation in learning each with its own operation.

Emerging technology in education today includes: learning analytics, flipped classrooms, and

social networking.

Learning analytics is defined as the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of

data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and

the environments in which it occurs (Gaevi, Dawson, & Siemens, 2015). In other words, this

tool is able to access academic progress, predict future performances, and spot potential issues

about each student. However, the data gathered about the learner is not about the subject matter

being taught, but it instead holds a record of mouse-clicks and the time spent on an assignment

online, so the way educators make inferences with learning analytics are through patterns and

correlations (Friesen, 2013). For example, the teacher using learning analytics focuses on both

the course grade and the students level of online activity, and if the student has high grades but

low participation then the software does not give the teacher any concern because it is not

needed. Although, when both are low, the software sends out an early report to the teacher as a

caution notification. The teacher can assist the student who is having difficulty by reviewing and

practicing the material they are confused about. According to Friesen (2013), in order to give the

best predictor of a students performance, the student should start at an early age, such as
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elementary school, since the patterns and correlations can be evaluated from year to year. Even

more, learning analytics can benefit all grade levels. For instance, in the elementary level the

teacher can calculate student progress through the usage of games on the computer and reading

tests from the books they read. In the middle school level, the teacher can incorporate learning

analytics through class discussions, quizzes, blogs, and much more; while in the high school

level, the teacher can do the same type of assignments that are seen in middle school but in

higher depth.

Learning analytics impacts the learning process by offering insights and learning gaps

about the student. Reported by Gaevi, Dawson, and Siemens (2015), following the model of

self-regulated learning COPES, which stands for Condition, Operation, Product, Evaluation, and

Standards, learners construct knowledge. For example, the student in high school participating in

the online-discussion (condition) can synthesize and evaluate (operation) by adding their own

thoughtful opinion from the outside sources and make constructive criticisms on other peoples

responses (product). By using a tool like discussions, students create their own standards when

they are evaluating each other. In this case, the learning process for the student is internal

motivation. In other words, they are motivated to do the task based on the condition they set for

themselves, which the condition can also turn out to be an external drive. Furthermore, teachers

using learning analytics affects their teaching process, too. Based on the article Learning

Analytics: Readiness and Rewards (Friesen, 2015), there are principles that a teacher must

follow to make learning analytics effective, such as contact between students and faculty, prompt

feedback to the student, and communication of high expectations. It is important to follow these

principles as a teacher because the teacher can easily detect students who are at risk and, if so,

can restructure the lesson in a way the student is comfortable learning. Also, giving feedback to
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the student can keep them alert and engage in the activities online since the teacher is

monitoring. Finally, reporting back to faculty helps when the student is at risk by making sure

that they get the needs or resources available for them.

Flipped classrooms has become a new emerging technology idea to solve the problem of

overcrowding schools because of immigration. According to Fawley (2014), flipped classrooms

is an inverted method where the traditional classroom is upside down in order to enhance and

expand time for each student since they are going to school on certain days, and on other days it

is on the computer. This is a great idea, not only for the overcrowding problem, but to make sure

every student receives the attention they need to succeed. Even more, the idea of flipped

classrooms benefit all students of each grade level. Mazur, Brown, and Jacobsen (2015) all stated

that reviewing content outside of class time can allow critical engagement with the activities

during class, such as hands-on projects, group work, skill practice, lab activities, small group

tutoring, speeches and discussions, and exploration of real world problems. The student being

active on these implemented activities can result in knowledge building, collaboration skills,

problem solving, and the kinesthetic environment that some students need. Every grade level

from elementary school to high school will equally experience the same thing, just in different

depths. Although, the students in elementary will need some assistance from either an older

sibling or parent to access the lectures or assignments on the computer. Those that are in middle

or high school will have their in-class lectures replaced with required material outside of the

classroom, such as video clips, readings, or screencasts (Mazur, Brown, & Jacobsen, 2015). With

all the dull material out of the classrooms, teachers will have more time in the classrooms to

integrate creative activities.

As a student in a flipped classroom, environment impacts them by enabling the student to

work at their own pace and creates student-centered activities. Research has shown that

instruction found in flipped classrooms has allowed students to learn at their own pace,

regardless of place or time (Mazur, Brown, & Jacobsen, 2015). For instance, a student at home

can rewind or pause a video that the teacher requires them to see while in the class there is no

time because of the busy routine. By integrating the flipped classroom, teachers are able to

succor the students who are struggling while the brighter students can still work at their own

pace without assistance. It was also noted that students enjoy working at their own speed when

they are at home, and they love getting the face-to-face attention from the teacher when

struggling on an assignment during class time (Mazur, Brown, & Jacobsen, 2015). In addition,

the teaching process is also impacted by teachers planning home lessons and making student-

centered activities. For example, preparing tutorials, lectures, and podcast can be time consuming

especially if the instructor does not know how to use unfamiliar software (Fawley, 2014). With

the extra work given, the educator must facilitate and cope with it to make the flipped classroom

successful for their students. Moreover, teachers personal philosophical approaches will be

converted to mostly Progressivism and Reconstructionism because of the student-centered

activities. For example, some student-centered activities include: content creation, exploration of

real-world problems and solutions, use of manipulatives, oral presentations, and many more

(Mazur, Brown, & Jacobsen, 2015). With this type of philosophy, the students needs can easily

be fulfilled and the students gain many skills, such as problem solving, collaboration, and

presenting.

Social Networking works by creating connections with online businesses through social

media and making relationships by interacting on discussions, comments, images, etc. (Oxford
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University Press, 2015). A few examples of some online businesses would be Facebook, Twitter,

or Edmodo. However, statistics collected in 2007 on social media, such as Facebook, Twitter,

and Google+, have shown that about 42% of users were ages 8-17 and of the 42%, 27% were 8-

12 years old while 55% were 13 to 17 years old (Huffman, 2014). From the collection of the

data, it is laid out that Social Networking benefits all students from Elementary to High School.

In addition, students in Elementary School can use Social Networking to ask for help on their

homework through any social media that the teacher provides for the students whenever the

parent does not understand the material. This can result in more students turning in homework to

their teachers. For students at the middle or high school level, their use of Social Networking is

more advanced. According to Kist (2013), a 7th grade social studies teacher at Beachwood

Middle School in Cleveland, Ohio, incorporated social media by having his students seek out

community members who have friends and family that live outside of the U.S. and arrange an

interview using Skype. With the usage of social media, teachers can go beyond and create

activities that are extravagant and new.

Integrating Social Networking into lessons impacts the learning process by offering a

voice to the students and makes the activities more interactive. Teachers know that when they

have discussions in the classroom, either not many students participate or some do not get a

chance to be heard. For a solution to that problem, teachers can use social media to create

discussion topics for students to develop their own response. For instance, it is stated by Kist

(2013) that an American Lit. teacher can use Twitter by creating the hashtag phrase

#KistAmerLitPeriod2 to enable a specific class to answer the discussion topic. Another usage for

Twitter is that it can be used for alerts. According to the textbook Teaching and Learning with

Technology (Duffy & McDonald, 2011), during emergencies, Twitter has been used to send
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updates on the crisis. By implementing Twitter this way, the teacher can notify students on

upcoming assignments or reminders of homework being due the next class. Social Networking

affects the teaching process in multiple ways by following ethical procedures, such as informing

parents of the usage of technology, using the technology tools during school hours, and

monitoring each student in case of reporting inappropriate materials. Furthermore, teachers

should follow the SIMPLE Model when using social media in an educational setting, which

stands for Student/staff assessment, Inventory, Measurement, Planning, Leadership, and

Evaluation. Teachers should know beforehand how to use the technology tool and need to teach

the students how to use it. Next, they must think about what kinds of social media is available for

the activity. Now that the teacher has done Student/staff assessment and Inventory, they need to

make Measurements by forming what standards to use. Then they must Plan ahead of and create

a separate and professional account aside from personal accounts to keep it appropriate for

under-age children. The Leadership is formed by making sure the activity the facilitator has in

mind turns out successful. Lastly, an Evaluation should be conducted to view what objectives

were met, any issues, or feedback of the student or parent (Huffman, 2014).

At any rate, teachers will be implementing many forms of emerging technologies in their

classroom when it shows positive results on the students academics. Each emerging technology,

however, should be used appropriately for the age group the teacher is assigned to teach. It

should not make the learning process difficult for the students, but instead assist them in their

academic learning. Although there are changes in the teaching process when using an emerging

technology, the teacher should prioritize by gaining knowledge about the technology tool. As

more technology advances, the idea of a classroom setting will transform before the teacher will

know it.
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References

Duffy, J., & McDonald, J. (2011). Teaching and Learning with Technology (4th ed., pp. 284-

285). Boston: Allyn and Bacon

Fawley, N. (2014). Flipped classrooms. American Libraries, 45(9/10), 19.

Friesen, N. (2013). Learning analytics: Readiness and Rewards. Canadian Journal Of Learning

And Technology, 39(4).

Gaevi, D., Dawson, S., & Siemens, G. (2015). Let's not forget: Learning analytics are about

learning. Techtrends: Linking Research & Practice To Improve Learning, 59(1), 6471.

Huffman, S. (2014). SIMPLE Guidelines for Using Social Networking Tools in K12 Education.

Education Digest, 80(3), 48.

Kist, W. (2013). Class, Get Ready to Tweet: Social Media in the Classroom. Our Children: The

National PTA Magazine, 38(3), 1011.

Mazur, A., Brown, B., & Jacobsen, M. (2015). Learning Designs Using Flipped Classroom

Instruction. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 41(2), 26-26. Pg.1-26

Oxford University Press (2015). Social Network. Retrieved from

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/social-network
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