Technologies and Trends in Education

Introduction

EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit organization that exists to advance higher learning through information technology (IT) (EDUCAUSE, 2019), and this organization’s website displays numerous articles that discuss innovations where IT and education converge.

The technology this researcher chose to discuss is the Internet of Things (IoT).  It is a technology that is emerging whereby via a network of wirelessly-connected sensors, home appliances such as refrigerators and microwaves may be connected to the Internet and thereby be remotely controllable (Ali, Ali, & Badawy, 2015).  The trend of discussion is the redesign of learning spaces to increase accessibility to the digital technologies available in the learning space.

Technology

IoT is a technology providing the interoperability and automation of devices who purposes are quite heterogeneous.  Colleges and university have come to recognize the utility offered by IoT.  In classroom settings, IoT is offering the ability to remotely control environment systems and automate energy management (Benson, 2016). 

Trend

According to Brown and Long (2006), there are numerous trends that are influencing if not changing the appearance of learning or educational spaces.  There are now trends towards more usage of white boards to make the learning environment more interactive (Brown & Long, 2006).  Additionally, more comfortable chairs such as sofas and food are often being allowed in the classroom.  The trend is a more human-centered design for focusing more of the design of the learning on students learning rather than teachers teaching (Brown & Long, 2006).

Force 1:  Technological

Educational environments taking advantage of IoT are simply recognizing its practical benefit (Benson, 2016).  Though the implementation of a network-reachable HVAC comes with its own risks and an increased level of design complexity, the automated management of security and safety systems and perhaps even energy conversation weigh heavily in favor of IoT especially if certain IoT-related risks may be mitigated.

Force 2:  Social

The force influencing changes in the design of learning spaces is largely social recognizing that in human-centered educational environment, a great deal of learning is born of student interaction (Brown & Long, 2006).  Newer classroom spatial designs are intended to foster teamwork, social engagement, and an active learning environment in the most general sense.

Summary

This researcher’s conclusion of the EDUCAUSE website is that is very comprehensive and helps to fulfill the organization’s mission of fostering strategic and innovative decision-making in education.  Certainly, if IT professionals and educators are continually willing to contribute to the knowledge, then insights such as those mentioned above willing always to continue to push emerging trends and cutting-edge technology.

References

Ali, Z. H., Ali, H. A., & Badawy, M. M.  (2015).  Internet of Things:  Definitions, challenges, and recent research directions.  International Journal of Computer Applications, 128(1), 37 – 47.

Benson, C.  (2016).  The Internet of Things, IoT systems, and higher education.  Retrieved from https://er.educause.edu/articles/2016/6/the-internet-of-things-iot-systems-and-higher-education.

EDUCAUSE.  (2019).  Retrieved from https://www.educause.edu/.