Trends in Educational Technology

There are so many things coming and going in technology, how do you keep track or stay current? You can ask people, read articles, attend seminars, etc. To help you out in this endeavor I have included a research paper on Trends in Educational Technology. I chose this artifact so others could learn about some trends I feel are the most influential in changing the structure of the traditional classroom. Three trends I discuss in the paper are – personalized learning, game-based learning, and computer science.

I also wanted people to know that change is not easy and there are obstacles we face as we incorporate technology in the classroom.  One of the biggest is teachers must shift from being holders and distributors of knowledge to becoming instructional facilitators who encourage students to direct their own learning. Technology is driving innovation, creating more jobs, changing the way students think and, as a result, transforming the role of teachers and how students learn.

When I began this paper, I thought it was going to be easy since I am a computer teacher. However, that was not the case as I am by no means an expert in the subject. Therefore, there were some challenges in writing this research paper. Probably the biggest challenge was deciding on a couple trends to research. This took me a while and I changed my mind a few times. Once I decided on a few topics, I then came across another challenge and that was evaluating and researching sources of information. I always find myself in the analysis/paralysis conundrum. I tend to find a million things on the subject, and then have a hard time narrowing things down to fit in the paper appropriately. So, as you will notice in my paper, I have quite a few resources and it is heavy on the research side.

This research paper may be valuable to reference from time to time as you incorporate technology into the classroom. It discusses a few trends as well as has valuable technical resources to investigate further.

Here is a link to my research paper: Trends in Educational Technology