Technology Trends for

2014

Don't say Sayonara to textbooks just yet, although they will eventually be a thing of the past. Interactive

textbooks were introduced just a few years ago, but with the advancements they have made lately, they are

outstanding. Apple is currently focusing on modernizing classrooms with interactive textbooks because they

know they keep students engaged. So for those of you that are in a school district that has the funds, expect to get your hands on a few interactive textbooks in 2014.

Social Lesson Sharing• Social lesson sharing will be huge in 2014. The

website Share My Lesson allows teachers the ability to upload their lessons and share them for free. This will be a great asset for teachers that live in a rural community and do not have the opportunity to interact with other teachers.

• Teachers are always looking for new ways to get there students' creative juices flowing. In 2013 Makey Makey taught readers that they could turn an everyday object into a keypad. This year, I expect we will be seeing a lot more of these economical electric tools that teachers can use to help their students get creative.

Electronic Tools

Personalized Lessons

• Howard Gardner was one of the first to state that everyone learns differently. He even created the Theory of Multiple Intelligences, which included specific ways people learned: Visual-Spatial, Bodily-kinesthetic, Musical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Linguistic, and Logical -Mathematical. In 2014 we will see a lot of emphasis on individual learning. Teachers will use different resources to adapt to their specific students' learning style.

Learn How Classroom Apps Can Appeal to All Learning Types

• 3D Printing

•  A 3D printer makes 3 dimensional solid objects right from a printer! This sounds like something that you would see on the Jetsons! Well in 2013 their was a lot of buzz about 3D printers, and in 2014 we may just find one accessible enough in our school district. There are endless possibilities for creative 3D objects that our students can make. I cannot wait to see what the future holds with this new tech tool.

Learn How Classroom Apps Can Appeal to All Learning Types

STEM Education

• There was a big focus on STEM Education (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) in 2013. You will see this focus will carry over to 2014. This year teachers as early as PreK will be expected to put emphasis on STEM learning. Why such a fuss on STEM Education? Politicians and leaders say it is no longer acceptable for Americans to just get by.  Global competition is proving that we need to be above or at par with the rest of the world.

5 Trends in Education for

2014

• Explicit Instruction in How to ListenThe inclusion of listening standards in the Common Core heralds a new focus on listening instruction in the classroom. The Common Core raises up listening as a literacy skill, giving it equal weight to the more traditionally emphasized reading, writing, and speaking.In 2014, teachers will spend more time demonstrating what listening “looks like;” explaining what students should be doing with their eyes, ears, and bodies while listening; directing learners to notice when they haven’t been listening; and measuring how well learners apply what they’ve been taught.

• Evolution of the Teacher-Student RelationshipTeachers may have more knowledge in their memory banks, but the Internet has given learners equal access to information. That simple fact continues to drive classrooms away from the information hierarchy model that places teachers at the top and toward a more equal learning community model. It’s a 21st century model that regards learners and teachers as partners in education, with students creating and collaborating and teachers supporting, directing, and coaching student efforts.

• Increased Responsibility for StudentsAs teachers shift to a supporting role in the classroom, they will be transferring more responsibility to students for their own learning. Increasing technology integration and personalized learning will drive students to be more self-directed and self-disciplined. This trend has the potential to accelerate learning and produce more college-ready high school grads if balanced by frequent and effective coaching from teachers.

• A Move Toward Project-Based LearningMore schools are shifting toward project-based learning as a way of increasing engagement and creativity in the classroom. It’s not a matter of simply marking the end of a lesson or unit by making a book or a diorama; instead, project-based learning engages students in meaningful, long-term projects that are themselves the learning experience.

Fourth-grade students might conceive, coordinate, and run their own semester-long weekly farmer’s market. They then learn as they go – how to market their goods, how to anticipate what will sell, how to total a purchase and make change, and what it feels like to accomplish all that and contribute the cash earned back to their classroom or school.

• K-12 Will Get Serious About CodingThe voices calling for coding instruction in K-12 are starting to gain traction. Teaching code is considered by some to be equivalent to teaching a traditional foreign language—except more relevant to today’s learner who will have to be tech-savvy to compete for future jobs. Look for courses on “game design,” which sound cool and have the potential to attract students to STEM who might not think of themselves as being “the tech type.”

10 Major Technology

Trends in Education

1. Personal Access to Mobile DevicesAccording to the 2013 results, students overwhelmingly have access to personal mobile devices. “If there was any doubt in our mind that we were beyond the tipping point in terms of kids carrying a computer in their pocket, backpack or purse,” she said, “we’re there.”Specifically, said Evans, 89 percent of high schools students have access to Internet-connected smart phones, while 50 percent of students in grades 3 through 5 have access to the same type of devices. High school student access to tablets tops out at 50 percent and laptops come in at 60 percent. In addition to personal access, the survey found about a third of students have access to a device (typically laptops or tablets) in their school.

2. Internet ConnectivityFor Evans, this was an interesting set of  statistics showing the ways students generally connect to the Internet when at home. According to the study, 64 percent of students surveyed identify 3G- or 4G-enabled devices as their primary means of connecting to the Internet, with another 23 percent saying they connect through an Internet-enabled TV or Wii console. When asked why traditional broadband access wasn’t their primary means of connectivity, students said there was less contention for access with other members of the family through these non-traditional devices.

3. Use of Video for Classwork and HomeworkVideo is another tool that has been on the rise in recent years. While her presentation focused on students, Evans noted that 46 percent of teachers are using video in in the classroom.One-third of students are accessing video online — through their own initiative — to help with their homework. Evans called this the “Khan Academy effect.” Additionally, 23 percent of students are accessing video created by their teachers.

4. Mobile Devices for SchoolworkAccording to the 2013 results, students are leveraging mobile devices both to be more efficient in their day-to-day tasks and to transform their own learning processes.Sixty percent of students are using mobile devices for anytime research, 43 percent for educational games and 40 percent for collaboration with their peers. Thirty-three percent of students surveyed use mobile devices for reminders and alerts related to their academic lives, 24 percent for taking photos of their assignments, and 18 percent for in-class polling.Surprisingly, said Evans, 12 percent of the students responding said they use mobile devices to text questions to their instructors while in the classroom. “I do wonder,” she added, “how many of the teachers are responding to those texts.”

6. Paying Attention to the Digital FootprintDigital footprint was a new research area for the 2013 survey and, according to Evans, showed some interesting results. Sixty-four percent of high school students responding admitted to being careful about the things they post online; 39 percent said they advise friends about the content they post, with 32 percent saying they stopped interacting with friends who post inappropriate content online. Finally, 44 percent of high school students said they believe a positive digital profile is an important part of their future.

7. An increased Interest in Online LearningThis year’s Speak Up found that students who have not taken an online course are increasingly interested in the opportunity, citing a desire to have more control over their learning and believing that they will get more support from an online teacher.Math was the subject student were most interested in taking online, with Foreign language coming in second and science a distant third.

8. Gaming is Growing, and the Gender Gap is ClosedAnother interesting area for Evans was student gaming. This year’s results showed 60 percent of students using laptops as a gaming device. Cell phones and game consoles tied with 54 percent use, while tablets clocked in at 44 percent.Of particular note is students’ interest in taking gaming technology and applying it to learning difficult concepts, as well as their interest in using games as a way to explore career opportunities. Evans also noted no gender difference in students’ interest in games, with younger girls actually showing more gaming activity than their male counterparts.

9. Social Media in SchoolsAnother set of questions revolved around the place of social media in the school. When showing the data for text messaging, networking sites (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) and chat rooms, it was clear the the student expectations for the use of these technologies far outpaced those of administrators, teachers and parents. Administrators scored the highest among the non-student groups represented.

10. What Devices Belong in 'The Ultimate School?'The final piece of data Evans shared focused on students’ ranking of the relative importance of devices in their classroom experience. Fifty-six percent of students said laptops were most important; 51 percent chose digital readers; and 48 percent selected tablets.“This is still an evolving area,” said Evans and one She said Project Tomorrow plans to keep and eye on in the coming years. Something of interest, she added, that may not come as a surprise is that 62 percent of students want to bring their own devices.