Week 9 Blog – Trends and Issues in Instructional Technology

The readings this week talked about technology influenced educational instruction and design trends from the past and current environments.  It was amazing to read about technology predictions from the 1990’s and how they have come to fruition in the 2010’s.  Obviously, technology has been the highlight these past couple years with the pandemic.

Teachers transitioned to on-line and hybrid approaches because the pandemic made it necessary to do so.  Not sure if it was a successful one for some of the classrooms.  (Bonk, 2020) My children weren’t the only ones struggling to understand the technology.  Teachers who had never trained on the technology could not sustain it while teaching.  With technology comes challenges.  I was in graduate school when the pandemic shut down face-to-face learning and went to on-line only.  We had about 75 students but 5 to 6 supporting IT staff to deal with the inevitable issues that were going to occur when everyone is using the technology at one time (Zoom, Canvas, etc.). School districts did not have this support.  It was even worse when they went to hybrid face-to-face with online.  Not only did the teachers have to address technology issues and online students but also in-class student issues. 

It was also fascinating to see the focus on synchronous learning and little effort on asynchronous.  I guess this approach would have been tough because teachers’ involvement would be significantly reduced.  Even during the pandemic, I still saw public schooling aimed at curriculum-focused learning.  It seemed like grades did not matter as much, as long as students performed to a minimum standard and passed tests.  Could this have been a time to experiment with learning methods and new technology to see which ones best fit the students?  As highlighted by readings, the human element was missing during this time of on-line learning.  Many students suffered grade wise and socially from not seeing friends and classmates which I believe had a drastic impact on learning. (Bonk, 2020) Adding to that was the challenging environment of the home.  I can’t imagine children learning at home with all of the distractions. 

Our weekly readings also provided a spotlight on informal learning design.  It indicated some exciting principles that I believe could have been a great addition to the formal learning that was presented by public schools. The principles highlighted concepts such as giving students learning choices, using group activities, selecting problem-based activities, and utilizing gamification as tools to encourage learning.  (Martinez & Whiting, 2021, pg.). Another article conveyed some of the thoughts I had about technology and instructional design advancement this past decade.  It states the educators who don’t know how to use the technology itself, won’t know how to integrate it into instruction. So even though it was good to read about the trends, it was somewhat disappointing to not see better use of technology to improve student-centered learning. (Misha & et al., 2009)

References:

Bonk, C. J. (2020). Pandemic ponderings, 30 years to today: Synchronous signals, saviors, or survivors? Distance Education, 41(4), 589-599. https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2020.1821610

Martinez, S., & Whiting, J. (2021). Designing informal learning environments. In J. K. McDonald & R. E. West (Eds.), Design for learning: Principles, processes, and praxis. EdTech Books. https://edtechbooks.org/id/designing_informal

Mishra, P., Koehler, M. J., & Kereluik, K. (2009). The song remains the same: Looking back to the future of educational technology. TechTrends, 53(5), 48-53.