Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Emerging Technologies
Summer K. Yingling
Abstract
The research topic for this paper is emerging technologies. The subjects of this paper include
subjects like game-based learning, MOOCs, and cloud computing. These subjects include the
normal questions asked all the time such as, how they work, what are the benefits that come with
these emerging technologies, what are the impacts on teaching and learning, and what could it be
like to integrate them at different grade levels? What I have found in researching these emerging
technologies is that these technologies could have great impacts on how teachers would teach the
21st century student and how it could affect the teaching and the learning process in the 21st
century. Having these technologies in the classroom could benefit the students, getting them
ready for the workforce and the real world. Granted MOOCs (Mass Open Online Course) could
be better used at the college level, but it is a great example of 21st century emerging technologies.
Emerging Technologies 3
Technology in the life of the 21st century learner is becoming more prominent than ever
before. Because of these technologies, one needs to take a closer look of how these technologies
work and why they are good for the 21st century learner.
Game-based Learning
Aristotle once said that, games are the opposite of learning (Ifenthaler, Eseryel, Ge,
2012). Generally, when one talks about game-based learning they think games that focus on one
specific aspect of the game. For game based-learning, the games focus on three aspects such as,
games scoring, external assessment, and embedded/ internal assessment. (Ifenthaler, Eseryel, Ge,
2012). These focuses are a benefit to the classroom because this is a way educators can assess
To distinguish between these three factors, one looks at the different aspects of them. For
game scoring, it focuses on targets achieved (Ifenthaler, Eseryel, Ge, 2012) or obstacles the
child overcomes while playing the games. Game scoring also focuses on time needed to
complete the task given to them. External assessments focus on the de-briefing interviews
afterwards, diagrams, and test scores based on multiple-choice questions or short essays. Lastly,
when it comes to embedded or internal assessment, this focus is part of the gameplay and does
Game-based learning impacts teaching and learning through assessing learners while in
an environment that can provide insight to the students learning style and learning capacity.
Game-based learning gives detailed insights into the learning process because game-based
learning mostly focuses on the process. The educator can better understand, , tracking
Eseryel, Ge, 2012). When educators get better insights to these characteristics, the immediate
feedback will help point out the difficulties the children are having with certain subjects. It could
also point out the assessment of clickstream, in other words, it could point out the strengths
McGonigal (2011) estimated that more than 180 million people in the United States
report playing these games for more than 13 h per week (Tobias, Fletcher, Wind, 2013).
Although that few instructional methods are similar, these numbers in the above quote prove that
technology through other instructional delivery systems, one can see how game-based learning is
a major impact on teaching and learning. Educators now, have more resources for teaching such
as games like ABCmouse.com and, for upper level grades, educational websites like kids.usa.gov
are a resource for upper level educators. If there was no transfer between game-based learning
and external transfer into schools, games for instruction would be of no use to the children that
use them. A number of studies have found that, near and far transfer from computer games to
external tasks occurs if they engage comparable cognitive processes (Tobias, Fletcher, Wind,
2013). When there is transferable evidence from game-based learning to external tasks, it is clear
MOOCs
MOOCs or massive open online classes, is one of the most growing and profitable
emerging technologies in the 21st century. This technology has been growing more and more
throughout the last couple of years. Within the year of 2015, more people signed up for
MOOCs in 2015 than they did in the first three years of the modern MOOC movement
Emerging Technologies 5
(Shah, 2015) MOOCs have affected the way students learn and the way educators teach their
subjects.
MOOCs are mass learning classes for students and their popularity, evidencing an
insatiable appetite at times, the rapid rise and expansion of the movement made it hard to ignore.
developments, reported that, over 1,200 MOOCs had been offered since 2011 by more than
The benefits for the classroom are both convergent for private and public good interests.
The mix of private and public good interests can be determined through venture capital firms.
These firms represent circumstances where they form partnerships between for-profit
system is a benefit for the classroom because it provides funding for MOOCs. Without the
private sector in this equation, the funding would be coming from non-profit organizations that
could potentially not have enough funding for this system to keep it going. Granted, the benefits
for the classroom that MOOCs bring is for upper level classes. MOOCs are a great way for upper
level learners to have the time to take classes, work, and take care of other things they need to
MOOCs have impacted teaching and learning in many ways. MOOCs help educators
teach from wherever they are and reach a wider audience in teaching these subjects. The impacts
on learning are a considerable factor because of the high demand for MOOCs by college
students. The venture capitalists saw this demand to make higher education more available to
college students and the reality that online education was increasingly seen as part of the
solution to limited brick-and-mortar access (Rhoads, 2015). These courses that are offered
Emerging Technologies 6
because of MOOCs through the universities, help mimic the materials and requirement of a face-
to-face university course. But on the other side, MOOCs could not be as efficient as taking a
The integration of MOOCs at different grades levels are not as extensive as the benefits
for the classroom or the impacts on teaching and learning. When it comes to massive online open
classes, it is better if MOOCs are used for universities. There are not much studies on how
MOOCs are integrated at lower level grades. The universities use MOOCs to get students from
all over the world to take classes at their universities and help fund more university functions. In
the end, the students get their education and the school has more money to help further the
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is information processing done at a more efficient central level. Cloud
computing gives the ability to use as many servers as necessary to optimally respond to the cost
and the timing constraints of an application. If cloud computing was used in schools and
universities today, it would give a more efficient way for educators and students alike a more
The benefits for the classroom come with the recourses used for these services. These
services can be metered and the users can be charged only for the recourses they use. Cloud
computing is an alluring way for several economic reasons: It requires a very low infrastructure
investment because there is no need to assemble and maintain a large-scale system and it has low
utility-based computing costs because customers are only billed for the infrastructure used
(Marinescu, 2013) This can also impact educators and students around the globe.
Emerging Technologies 7
The impacts on teaching and learning are both at the educational level and economical
level. The users benefit from the potential to reduce the execution time of compute-intensive and
would put all data and computing at one central level to where everyone can find something they
needed at one main level. Using cloud computing would make it easier to scale up and down to
accommodate a dynamic load, to recover after a system failure, and to efficiently support
checkpoint or restarting procedures (Marinescu, 2013) Cloud computing could back up all files
and data that the educator and student would save to the computer at a school or office. Also, the
workload can be partitioned in segments of arbitrary size and can be processed in parallel by the
servers available in the cloud. That would be part of the downside on the learning aspect of cloud
computing. The students would only be able to save what is available on the cloud at the time.
Cloud computing would enable better, Real-time collaboration between teachers as they
progress with their lessons, assessments and projects (Curtmola, Carpinelli, Hirsch, Kimmel,
Burr-Alexander, 2014)
The integrations at different grade levels would be like to say the least. All teachers could
use cloud computing to help with lesson planning and help students keep all their assignments in
one place if necessary. Elementary students would benefit from cloud computing through finding
what they needed in one place without having to ask the teacher for help. Educators teaching at
this level could put all grades in one place as well. At the middle school level, educators could
make a safer way for students to browse the internet. At the high school level, educators and
students alike would be able to find all assignments needed for teaching and learning at one
place. At the college level, again everything would be in one central location for all to access
References
Ifenthaler, D., Eseryel, D., & Ge, X. (2012). Assessment in Game-Based Learning,
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Tobias, S., Fletcher, J. D., & Wind, A. P. (2013). Game-Based Learning. Game-Based
http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4614-3185-5_38
Shah, D. (2015). MOOCs in 2015: Breaking Down the Numbers. MOOCs in 2015:
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2015-12-28-moocs-in-2015-breaking-down-the-numbers.
Rhoads, R. A. (2015). MOOCs, High Technology, and Higher Learning. Baltimore: Johns
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Curtmola, R., Carpinelli, J. D., Hirsch, L. S., Kimmel, H. S., & Burr-Alexander, L. (2014).
Cloud Computing for Education: A Professional Development Program for High School
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%20Kaye/Downloads/ASEE_2014_Cloud_Paper.pdf.