Christopher Dawson predicts that the following major technologies will have a major impact on Education in 2012:
- Analytics and BI will go mainstream
- Google’s tablet will NOT be the holy grail of 1:1
- BYOD will make 1:1 possible in a big way
- Khan Academy, et al, will give publishers and mainstream educators a run for their money
- We will say goodbye to a lot more libraries and hello to a lot more information
Of the 5 predictions that Dawson makes I have to agree with him fully on his final three. Bring your own device (BYOD) not only makes logistically with the cutbacks we face in Education it also makes sense financially. Technology is the easy part of this major trend but the challenging part is the fact that since some faculty and staff have lived and worked in an environment of control where technology has traditionally been provided that it may be difficult for them to give up some control and adopt to this change.
Similarly, open education resources like Kahn Academy and many others as well as the move from books to digital resources will be technologically easy to implement but will face opposition from those who still prefer the “traditional” approach that has worked for so many years.
One of the consistent trends that I have seen over the years is that getting the technology in place is the easy part but the hard part is getting the faculty to use technology to enhance the learning environment. I was willing to cut faculty and staff some slack on their apprehension toward adopting technology even up until about 19 months ago but with the release of the iPad and subsequently the iPad2 and Android tablets my patience has run out. Why? Prior to the IOS and Android devices becoming so popular and readily accessible it wasn’t that easy to live and work digitally and faculty and staff could use the excuse that they needed training and support in order to be able to work digitally. We are finally at a point where training isn’t required to use technology like an iPad or Android tablet. Faculty still do need significant instruction and support in learning how to create effective learning environments but at least now the technology part of this process is no longer a hindrance.
