Summary: In this episode we talk about our predictions for Educational Technology in 2013.
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Show Notes (click "Read more" to see full show notes if they are not already displayed below.)
Hosts:
- Sean Beavers
- Eric Curts
- Eric Griffith
Awesome Thing of the Week
- Sean:
- Powerbot for Gmail (Chrome Extension): Send email messages to Evernote. Share Evernote notebooks and notes in an email message. Link
- Powerbot for Google Calendar (Chrome Extension): Automatically creates a new note from a template for new events added to Google Calendar. Note template is customizable. Link
- Eric C:
- Over 50 new education templates released for LucidChart, the free online graphic organizer tool - Link
- Eric G:
- Pocket: Save articles, videos, and images you find online. Articles are available offline. Pocket syncs across all your device. Link
Tech Predictions- Sean:
- Additional aspects of Chrome OS merge with the Android operating system, aspects of the Android operating system merge with Chrome OS.
- Wearable technology begins to emerge: Apple will release a watch-like device which will provide glance-able information such as email notifications, weather conditions, voice-mail messages. Google is currently working on their Google Glass Explorer Edition.
- School’s will focus less on the device, and place increased importance on the services; making technology even more ubiquitous and readily available for students and staff
- Eric C:
- Chromebook adoption - There will be significant adoption of Chromebooks by schools due to their low price, high quality, aggressive marketing by Google, and the growing requirements for online standardized tests.
- Cloud outage - A cloud outage will cause significant disruptions for schools. This is not necessarily because of any increase in problems with cloud services, but rather an increase in schools that are using and relying on web-based services and storage, which will cause the outage to affect many more people.
- Google Fiber Expansion - Google Fiber will expand beyond Kansas City to other parts of the country. This will directly affect schools that can get the service, and indirectly affect others as competing providers have to begin lowering prices. Connectivity is currently one of the largest parts of a school’s tech budget.
- Augmented Reality - Augmented reality will move from novelty to educationally viable tool.
- Digital Textbooks - There will be a significant increase in the availability and adoption of digital alternatives to traditional textbooks. Look for many key players to get involved including Google, Amazon, and Microsoft The trend will grow due to extremely low prices for devices and from clearly organized channels for purchasing high quality, standards-aligned digital curricula.
- Digital schools - A nation-wide digital school will become available. It will see significant acceptance due to frustration with public schools, concerns over safety, the backing of a well-known company/brand, low cost for technology, increased ability to interact digitally, and high quality of the curriculum.
- Eric G:
- Google Chrome will have a licensed version for the desktop, able to push and install apps and extensions just like you can with their Chromebooks.
- Google will drop their price on the Google Chrome Box making it more appealing for Education.
