The document discusses trends in educational technology in the 21st century. Some key trends mentioned include increased online and blended learning, merging of instructional materials with educational technology companies, and a shift toward more project-based learning. Other initiatives discussed are making teaching licenses accepted across states, providing open online resources for teachers, moving away from paper tests toward digital options like Scantron, using clicker classroom response systems, and flipped learning. The document argues that these changes are important for preparing students with global skills but that educators must guide the transition and ensure student privacy and engagement remain priorities.

1. Latest Trends and Movement with
Technology in the 21st Century
Kristin McDonald

2. Preface….
• My home computer is on its last leg
• My work computers are blocking Moodle
• It has been trying to download Prezi for 35 minutes
• My Moodle account was not working yesterday and
most of today (note to self—do not wait until the last
day to do homework)
• Hence the use of “old school” PowerPoint
• Thanks for understanding my love/hate relationship
with technology!

3. Trends
The trends that I read about are as follows:
• Online learning
• Blended learning
• Instructional materials are merging resources
with educational technology companies and we
are going beyond the “text book.”
• Project based learning approaches are
becoming the norm

4. Initiatives
• Licensures accepted across the states should be
more widely accepted and move away from the
geographic concept
• Have open online resources for teachers
• Move away from the paper and pen more for
tests and other in-class work, for
example, Scantron is going digital
• Clicker technology
• Flipped learning

5. How do we make the shift?
• There is a need to make technology more user
friendly
• Apply applications to real time use and real life
experiences so learning is beneficial to our students
• Continue to make student data privacy a priority
• Involve parents and allow them to be a part of the
decision making process
• Understand that this is not a “one size fits all” gig.
What works in one classroom may not work in
another.

6. Change
How are these trends and initiatives changing the
way students are learning?
I think this change is important for students to
keep up with global trends. As educators, we
must stay on top of this to ensure our students
are as prepared as possible.
Students are becoming more responsible for the
learning that is going on the classroom via the
“flipped classroom” concept and I think it is
proving to be beneficial.

7. Engaged?
I think with any learning environment, you will have
students who are more engaged than others.
The key to this is that students are going to need
to know how to navigate through the technology
components of any course. Students will also
have to see the real world application to what is
being taught and how it is applicable. An
educator will always have to monitor to ensure
students are not abusing the rights to use of
technology by of being off task.

8. Impact?
This is the reality of the beast. Technology is
everywhere and if you are not getting involved and
learning then you are immediately behind the times.
For that reason alone, the impact is huge. If you
have educators who are against the shift, the
students will suffer. If you have students who don’t
have the skills or the abilities they could get lost in
the shuffle. There are also going to be advantage
and disadvantages to students depending on school
districts, teachers who embrace or don’t embrace
the trends in technology and so on.

9. Personal Growth?
My favorite piece of reading material, for this assignment, came
from Edutopia in a blog pertaining to screen time in young
children. Because of what I teach, this is an ongoing issue
among educators and parents. In the article, “The Balance of
Screen Time,” the author suggests the following:
•
teaching some concepts is not always appropriate on a
screen
• Instead show the concept and then let students create there
own video to demonstrate it
• Technology should enhance rather than replace instruction
• Do not use technology to passively interact
• Do not use technology as a crutch
• Find balance