EDUC 8848 Multimedia Presentation

Second Life as a Disruptive Technology

Figure 1.  Second Life Technology

The figure above displays Second Life technology, the 2008-emerging technology (Rosedale, 2008) that has the potential of Dr. Thornburg concepts of wild card in emerging technologies (Thornburg, 2008b) and Christensen’s (2002) ideas of disruptive technologies that might obsolete the traditional bricks and mortar education system.  A disruptive technology is a new technology that functions more efficiently than an existing technology, obsoletes it, and is on the evolutionary path (Laureate 2009).  Indeed, new technologies are always susceptible to unanticipated wild card disruptive technologies.  Disruptive innovation theorists advocate for disruptive technologies that might move schools from a monolithic structure that inhibits students’ performance to an intrinsically motivating student-centric classroom (Carmody, 2009).

The Second Life technology provides virtual worlds, where students use avatars for identification, offers rich media of technology such as text audio (VOIP), static images, video, 3-D, written verbal emoticons, oral verbal, nonverbal paralanguage, kinesics, proxemics, haptics, and objectics, with immediate real time feedback.  The virtual world of Second Life certainly had the potential to be disruptive in the field of education.   Second Life provides social benefits such as vicarious knowledge and attendance of social events (concerts, meetings), despite its inability for real physical human encounters. In addition, apart from the bandwidth problem, Second Life failed to produce the intended outcomes to transform life, business, and the global economy (Manyika et al., 2013). Second Life’s virtual attributes could not replace human physical touch and interactions of learners.

The researcher recalls the example of Apple that has improved its products, to produce disruptive technologies and overtake Digital Equipment Corporation’s (DEC) mini-computers (Carmody, 2009; Christensen, Horn, & Johnson, 2008), with no competition.  Thus, the researcher submits that advanced technologies might exhibit some features of Second Life, using virtual assistants and emotiv technology to exemplify Meyer’s (2010) views of disruptive technologies that promote forward thinking and personalized erudition. Within 50 years, another emerging technology or disruptive technology might replace Second Life.  Futurists, Science Fiction, and innovators have provided enough information on artificial humans, memory and authenticity, and virtual assistants, which constitute an extension of user interfaces in engineering, computer science, and biometrics (O’Brien, 2013).  Other technologies consist of brain downloading, which consists of neurophysiology and the structure of neuroanatomy that determines the interactions of basic components, and emotiv technology that uses sensors to tune into brain-electrical signals, to detect user thoughts, feelings, and expressions (Hedberg & Chew-Hung, 2007).  For applications, robotic testing or artificial intelligence could speed up the grading of standardized tests, offering consistent and unbiased assessment of students’ tests responses (Mayes, 2014).  However, the application of the enumerated technologies might require the effort of an evolved society with strong moral principles, and humanitarian policies, to be effective in education, health, manufacturing, aerospace (Aerospace's Next Disruptive Technology, 2013), and other services. 

References

Carmody, L.  (2009).  Clayton M. Christensen, Michael B. Horn, and Curtis W. Johnson: Disrupting class:  How disruptive innovation will change the way the world learns.  Educational Technology Research & Development, 57(2), 267-269.  doi: 10.1007/s11423-009-9113-1



Christensen, C. M., & Horn, M. B.  (2013).  How disruption can help colleges thrive.  Chronicle Of Higher Education, 60(5), 30-31

Chew-Hung, C.  (2007).  The G-portal digital repository as a potentially disruptive pedagogical innovation.  Educational Media International, 44(1), 3-15.  doi:10.1080/09523980601153747

Christensen, C. M., Horn, M. B., & Johnson, C. W. (2008).  Disrupting class: How disruptive innovation will change the way the world learns.  New York:  McGraw-Hill.

Hedberg, J. G., &

Mayes, R.  (2014).  Putting Machine Testing to the Test.  Futurist, 48(1), 6-8

Manyika, J., Chui, M., Bughin, J., Dobbs, R., Bisson, P.,  & Marrs, A.  (2013).  Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy.  Retrieved from http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/disruptive_technologies

Meyer, K.  (2010, March 3).  The role of disruptive technology in the future of higher education [Blog Post].  Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/role-disruptive-technology-future-higher-education



Rosedale, P.  (2008).  Philip Rosedale on Second Life [Video].  Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/the_inspiration_of_second_life.html

Texas Instrument (TI)-Nspire CX CAS Navigator System: Rhymes Of History Technology

Texas Instrument (TI)-Nspire CX CAS Navigator System: Rhymes Of History Technology

The emerging technology TI-Nspire CX CAS Navigator System is a handled Texas Instrument (TI) product for math, science, chemistry, physics, and algebraic precision, all in one that rekindles the impact of the 3000 BC abacus. It retrieves the 1950s slide rule , the 1980s scientific calculators, and the TI scientific calculators. Figure 1 displays the visual image of the emerging and obsolete technologies. The TI-technology goes through a predictable, non-linear process in which it becomes exponentially more powerful over time, according to Moore Law (Grifantini, 2009; Laureate Education, 2009). The TI-Nspire CX CAS Navigator System’s affect regenerates the use of desktop graphical software, scientific calculator, and projector on white screen, in mathematical computations, and follows the McLuhan's tetrad model (Thornburg, 2008b). The new technology, the evolution of the obsolete scientific calculator, is a rhyme of history (Laureate Education, 2009) of the counting principle concepts. Rhymes of history and evolutionary technology are two components of Dr. Thornburg’s six causal forces of emerging technologies (Laureate Education, 2009), as he pondered over the origin, evolvement, and reach in the mainstream of new technologies (Thornburg, 2008a). The TI-Nspire CX CAS Navigator System is an evolutionary technology of the mentioned obsolete technologies, and depicts the two mentioned complementary forces.

The TI-Nspire CX CAS Navigator System exemplifies Kelly’s (2007) analogical concepts of embodiment, restructuring, and codependency on the web as examples of the assonances of history. As the web acts like the brain (Kelly, 2007), the TI-Nspire CX CAS Navigator System embodies humans’ computational capabilities, as an extension of human senses. Individuals (scholars, innovators, engineers, and programmers) program calculators that become an extension of humans (Kelly, 2007). Although the programed calculators might handle complex computations faster than humans, they might not function without humans. Humans depend on the programmed calculators for quick, fast, and easy computations. Evidently, the graphing calculator and humans become codependent. The restructuring takes place in linking individuals to created pages, across documents and multiple representations that allow students to interact directly with mathematical concepts (Ulus, 2013) via the use of visualization and animation tools, in manipulating one form that simultaneously changes all the others. Kelly’s (2009) video rekindled the researcher’s mental and pen and paper, mathematical computations in in elementary school, and slide rule and scientific computations in high school.

Although some educators might believe that dependence on graphing calculators might cause students to lose their mental computation ability, standardized testing organizations have approved the TI-Nspire CX CAS handheld for SAT, PSAT, national merit scholarship-qualifying test (NMSQT), AP, and Praxis high-stakes exams (College Board, 2014). The researcher awaits for the TI-pocket-sized and wireless mini device with a full functionality of tablets PC, as computational device, in higher mathematics, engineering, science, chemistry, and physics.


References
Friedman, N. (2009). The high cost of computers? U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, 135(3), 90−91
Grifantini, K. (2009). Moore's law. Technology Review, 112(1), 30–39
Kelly, K. (2007, December). Kevin Kelly on the next 5,000 days of the Web [Speech]. Speech delivered at the EG 2007 Conference, Los Angeles. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/kevin_kelly_on_the_next_5_000_days_of_the_web.html
Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Emerging and future technology. Baltimore, MD: Author
The College Board. (2014). College board tests. Retrieved from http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/psat/about.html
Thornburg, D. (2008a). An amazingly incomplete emerging technologies bibliography. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.
Thornburg, D. D. (2008b). Emerging technologies and McLuhan's Laws of Media. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.
Ulus, A. P. D. A. Y. (2013). Teaching the diagonalization concept in linear algebra with technology: a case study at Galatasaray University. Tojet, 12(1), 119 - 130

Kevin Kelly on the next 5,000 days of the Web

Texas Instruments Timeline

Google Drive Tetrad

The rise of advanced and mobile technologies ushered the society in an era where laptops, notebooks, tablets, handheld and pocket-sized mini computers have become an integral part of individuals’ life (van Velsen, Beaujean, & van Gemert-Pijnen, 2013).  Google provides software applications such as Google Drive, which replaces Google Docs.  Like any other technologies, Google Drive follows McLuhan’ s tetrad of enhancement, obsolescence, retrieval, and reversal (Thornburg, 2008).

            Indeed, as in the displayed tetrad above, Google Drive enhances data storage, information retrieval, and sharing of file and folders.  The Software Engineer Zach (2013) demonstrated ways to blog, share, and retrieve files and folders via any device, using Google Drive (Sangani, 2012).  Indeed, software applications provide wide language support; however using keyboard is sometime cumbersome and individuals might resort to handwriting (Xiao, 2013). 

Google Drive is a Web-based productivity software for cloud-based storage services

such as Dropbox  Sky Drive, and sets up itself for cloud computing, in terms of reversal.  Google Drive obsoletes hard drive, compact disc, diskette drive,  flash drive storage, and dropbox.  It rekindles the old way of storing data on floppy disc, which is hard to find in the digital communication era.
           The table of comparison below, provides information on free allowable space in gigabytes (GB on cloud storage.  Thus, individuals might embrace cloud computing that encompasses Google Drive, for a comprehensive and collaborative medium to create, share, and edit documents, calendars, and social networking communities (Robertson, 2013).

References

Robertson, C. (2013). Using a Cloud-based Computing Environment to Support Teacher Training on Common Core Implementation. Techtrends: Linking Research & Practice To Improve Learning, 57(6), 57-60. doi:10.1007/s11528-013-0702-9

Sangani, K.  (2012).  Google:  Google drive.  Engineering & Technology (17509637), 7(8), 101

Thornburg, D. D. (2008).  Emerging technologies and McLuhan's Laws of Media.  Lake Barrington, IL:  Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.

van Velsen, L., Beaujean, D. A., & van Gemert-Pijnen, J. C.  (2013).  Why mobile health app overload drives us crazy, and how to restore the sanity.  BMC Medical Informatics & Decision Making, 13(1), 1-5.  doi: 10.1186/1472-6947-13-23
Xiao, X.  (2013).  Handwriting input comes to Gmail and Google Docs.  Retrieved from http://googledrive.blogspot.com/2013/10/handwritingindocs.html

Zack, L. (2013).  New Google sheets:  Faster, more powerful, and works offline.  Retrieved from http://googledrive.blogspot.com

EMERGING AND SUTURE TECHNOLOGIES

Identifying an Emerged Technology

Graphing CalculatorTI-84 Plus

The advanced technology brings increasingly changes in educational technology, generating emerging technologies that offer individuals new opportunities for effective and efficient task completion (Thornburg, 2009).  The available technologies encompass inexpensive, hand-held calculators through expensive multimedia workstations, in mathematics education.  Technology is available to support mathematics instruction in technology-rich laboratories with modern workstations and teacher workstations with projection capability.  One such low-end emerged technology is the graphing calculator Texas Instrument (TI) 84-Plus (http://education.ti.com/en/us/products/calculators/graphing-calculators/ti-84-plus/tools-for-teachers/ti-technology-rewards-program).

The TI-84-Plus graphing calculator serves as a motivational tool to students and its uses facilitate students’ mathematical computations and some problem solving techniques (Lyublinskaya & Tournaki, 2010), as TI E2E^TM Community revealed and McLaughlin (2013) depicted in his blog. Blog

Dr. Steven McLaughlin

 The Center for Technology in Learning

TI-Navigator System

SRI International (2012) conducted a study on computer algebra system (CAS) graphing calculators TI and networked graphing calculators (TI-Navigator system), and found that the new technology spurred new theoretical, methodological, and design frameworks for engaging classroom learning.  These hand-held mini computers provoke and support highly interactive and group-centered capabilities of a new generation of classroom–based networks.

Although some individuals had knowledge about innovations, they lack understanding and insight about the process of change, which drive successful change (Fullan, Cuttress, & Kilcher, 2005).  Thus, rather than technology, people might constitute other barriers to the diffusion process, evoking lack of money. To diffuse any technological innovations in the mathematics classrooms, the scholar of change would think of students, and teachers’ perceptions on the attributes (relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability) of the innovation that influences its adoption and diffusion (Rogers, 2003), citing scholarly works and presenting the video below.  The change agent might educate stakeholders on the uses of the new technology in terms of its applicability and reliability (Webster & Jeong-Bae, 2012), and be proactive in the decision-making.

References

Fullan, M., Cuttress, C., & Kilcher, A. (2005).  8 forces for leaders of change.  Journal of Staff Development, 26(4), 54-58,64.  Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/211518218?accountid=14872
Lyublinskaya, I. and N. Tournaki (2010).  Integrating TI-Nspire technology into algebra classrooms:  Selected factors that relate to quality of instruction Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference San Diego, CA, AACE.
Rogers, E. M.  (2003).  Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.).  New York, NY:  Free Press.
The Center for Technology in Learning SRI International.  (2012).  Algebra N-spired research study phase 2:  Final report.  Retrieved from http://education.ti.com/en/us/research/research_navigator/quantitative-studies
Thornburg, D. D.  (2009).  Current trends in educational technology.  Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.
Webster, T.E., & Jeong-Bae, S.  (2012).  Implementing proactive maintenance policies to address problems with access to technology at Korean universities.  International Journal Of Pedagogies & Learning, 7(2), 109-121