Reflection of Emerging Technologies in E-Learning

After reading the chapter on emerging technologies, I found quite a bit of new information that I did not know before in emerging technologies. I like how the chapter with the Web 1.0 parts with the PC era and goes into where we are right now in emerging technologies. It also makes me think of what Web 4.0 look like in the next 20 years from now.

The beginning of the chapter also talks about some of the applications we use in this class like Google Docs, Skype, Google Sites, Blogger, etc. This is very important to a distance-learning environment if you think about in that you have to connect in a way that your students can follow. If it relates to them in a more personal level then they are like to be engaged in the new application. The one thing that I do think was mentioned and that I see taken into account is the learning curve for students who are trying a new web-based learning tool. Some students in a distance-learning course are going to be very hesitate in using a new application program they have never heard of or used. In a real example when we had to write blogs on Blogger, which I was not used to. It took me some time to learn it but know how to use it now and I guess I can say I am an advanced “blogger.”         

        One of the parts I enjoyed reading and found fascinating was about integrating games into education. I think there is some potential in using games to keep students engaged in the topic in an online learning environment. I would find much more fun to use digital games in part of a lesson. For example if I was teaching a lesson on biology, topic and I had the students go through a quest and have to answer questions that are related to the topic at hand.

The educational game would be a RPG or role-playing game that the students would enjoy to play and use. The more questions they get the more they move up in levels. It would be fun for students to see how far they get and they would probably get a bit competitive on who knows more. They are more of a PBL or project based learning, this is learning by doing when you use these educational games. Another aspect is the multiplayer games online that are played. I was thinking that if you get a whole bunch of students together to play the game online and conceal that it is an educational tool, I think the students will find it fun. I was looking at Second Life the other day it looks fun to use and of its free. The costs of the programs or applications are always a huge relief because most are free. I learned a lot from this concept of free applications.
Overall, I think that many new words that I did not know from this chapter. In looking at what I learned, I will really have to check out many of the sites that are listed in this chapter. It is going to be so weird that we may be learning someday in the near future from our mobile phones only down the line. The concept of m-learning is going to be hard for some people like me to become accustomed to. They even have smart phones that are voice activated. It just such a weird thing to comprehend learning from your phone.

The very end of the chapter discusses about facilitating online interactions through collaboration. It also talks about how sometimes you do collaboration in an online class without students even think about it like for example online forums or discussion boards as we had in iLearn. The great thing about a Course Management System (CMS) is that when you upload your assignments you do not waste paper or ink. All these technologies are great tools to use for learning in the educational setting. The problems I have are as a society are we going to let technology take over our minds. The students will not be able to think for themselves and let technology lead their way and depend on it. Is there a limit to how much technology (e-learning/distance learning) we will use in an educational online setting?