Emerging Technologies Project

Annie Kroll

November 15, 2007

T & L 466, section 2

Emerging technologies project

The first emerging technology that I’d like to discuss is that of the 1 to 1 Learning concept that Apple is currently promoting on their website (http://www.apple.com/education/k12 /onetoone/). According to Apple, “A 1 to 1 learning program is defined as an environment where students and teachers have 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week access to a notebook computer as well as digital content, educational software, and digital authoring tools” (Apple, 2007). Of course, Apple is promoting this idea specifically with their laptops, and the idea is that they will provide students with resources that they would otherwise not have access to, and that this type of teaching will equip students with the knowledge and skill sets to be effective and capable employees later on in life.

I think that, while this is a good idea, it might be difficult to implement for the first time. I suppose that could be said for many of the emerging technologies that will soon be appearing in the classrooms of America, but nonetheless, it might end up being a tedious process teaching computer skills all day long in a class that should be learning Spanish. That said, if given the opportunity to participate in a program such as this, I would not hesitate to accept. It would be a fabulous way to explore using technology in which everyone would be able to participate. There would be a lot of student learning going on, not only because they’d be learning from the teacher, but also because they’d be asking each other for help if they missed something that the teacher said, or if they just didn’t quite catch on to how to do something the first time around. Of course, a Spanish unit would have to be based on technology vocabulary, so as to make the rest of the term/year practice of that useful vocabulary. It would have an effect on my teaching also in the fact that I would need to become much more knowledgeable about operating a Mac, but that would be information that I would be more than happy to read through for the sake of this project.

The second emerging technology that I’d like to discuss is Google’s Experimental Labs (http://www.google.com/experimental/). In this search, a person can look up timelines on a variety of subjects. The site offers a few possible search subjects, such as Thomas Jefferson, but I wanted to see for myself, and instead picked ‘Mexico’, which was not on their list. There was a timeline that came up, but there were many gaps in it, and would certainly not be enough for any of my students wanting to know about the chronological history of Mexico. However, I think that if Google continues to improve on their timelines, this could be a very useful tool for students in the classroom (Google Experimental, 2007).

This would impact my teaching preparation by making me allot time to show students how to correctly type in a search for a timeline, and I would definitely have to think up some sort of activity in which the students would be looking at the bigger picture of some subject instead of specific events and isolated ideas. Using this technology would, however, give them a knowledge of how to access timelines if needed for other classes in the future, along with, as stated earlier, giving them a glimpse at the big picture of subjects we’d be studying.

My third and final emerging technology that I’d like to discuss is that of Google SketchUp (http://sketchup.google.com/), which is a computer drawing tool that can be used to design 3D models. I personally was attracted to this particular piece of emerging technology because it said that it was a very good tool for people with autism (Google Sketchup, 2007). It also allows people to use the models they’ve made and put them onto Google Earth, making it a fun activity that they can later go home and show their family members (assuming they have internet access at home).

This would have an impact on my teaching preparation in that I would be replacing one activity with a very similar one. My teacher would always have us do drawings in our Spanish class of our houses, and this would be a great twist on that by providing students with a way to teach themselves about technology while learning Spanish words for things in their places of residence (couch, closet, carpet, etc.). Professor Gruenwald continually uses the statistic that 40-60% of students are chronically disengaged, and I think this would impact them by making sure that they stay engaged!

Works Cited

Apple, Inc. (2007). 1 to 1 Learning. Retrieved November 15, 2007, from Apple Web site: http://www.apple.com/education/k12/onetoone/

Google Sketchup (2007). Google. Retrieved November 15, 2007, from Google Web site: http://sketchup.google.com/

Google Experimental Labs (2007). Google. Retrieved November 15, 2007, from Google Web site: http://www.google.com/experimental/