Thing 22: Emerging Tech and Scanning the Horizon

I have a unit that I do with classes on inventions and technology.

I start with reading a book called 2030: A Day in the Life of Tomorrow's Kids by Amy Zuckerman.

The book I have was written in 2006 and the first thing I discuss is the timeline of when the book was published, what the current year is and finally how long it is between those dates and the year 2030 (the reason for the title of the book.)

We discuss the fact that this was the authors projection of what life would be like 24 years in the future and after reading the book, discussing what inventions, technology is already in place or in planning in the present.

In future lessons we take a look at modern technology such as 3D printing, drones, self-driving cars etc. The kids love it and it shows them so many possibilities. I then have them research an invention or technology and finally come up with their own idea of an invention.

When I chose this cool tool, I was looking for other topics to include in my discussion of researching technology. I found plenty of things including Humagrams, wearable technology, digital paper, robotics and virtual reality along with some that we had already looked at makerspaces, coding to name a few.

 

What I realized is that there are actually two sides to investigating this topic.

The first is the future tools that students will use to enhance their school and home life and at the elementary level in a city school, other than an interesting research assignment most of these innovations will not directly affect their life for a while.

The other side of this is the Future Ready librarian as a philosophy and the impact on educators that embrace the emerging technology and how it will affect the way they are able to enhance their students’ learning.

I was at a conference with the same name (FRL) and the discussion was similar to the article mentioned in this topic.

They discussed such issues as:

Collaborative Spaces, Instructional Partnerships, Curators of Digital Resources and Tools etc. (see chart below)

Again this was more a philosophy of how to utilize ideas and technology in the future.

I also attended a conference at East High School that showcased the transformation the school has undergone since the University of Rochester has taken over. One of the sessions I was most impressed with was about creating Lessons and Projects with Active Learning and Creating Real Life Engaging Lessons.

One article I really liked, What’s Hot 9 Major Ed. Tech. Trends for 2017, referred to the mindset:

Envisioning future students as learner- creators not consumers.

 

Another article, 11 Hot Ed Tech Trends to Watch, referred to the 4 Cs of education:

Communication

Critical Thinking

Collaboration

Creativity

As far as I’m concerned, the point of this side of emerging technology is how we use it to enhance student’s learning experience in the future.