Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
display, location-sensitive devices and wireless communication. In the most sophis-
ticated environments all these features act in concert to form a single interface that
enriches access to information and communication. The use of devices that register
who is in the room should be used with caution, as inappropriate surveillance will
disturb the trust between teachers and learners. The integration of a wide range of
technology tools into software including virtual trips to museums, field trips and
attending re-enactments of historical events were considered to be likely to greatly
increase the power of the learner to direct their own learning. Greater ownership of
the learning is also likely to increase learner engagement.
Sophisticated search tools
Currentaccesstohigh-qualityresourcesontheWebisnotsatisfactory,astheevidencebase
underpinning much material and advice is rarely cited. The teachers in the research, there-
fore, requested a dedicated
search engine
for educational resources that can be tailored by
teachers or technology coordinators to alert them to new tools and resources.
Resources
for education like folksonomies and website tagging tools, which include user recom-
mendations,wouldenableteacherstofindoutwhatreallyworks.Chapter10outlines
the requirements for a national e-infrastucture for countries wishing to use technologies
to support high-quality knowledge building and sharing in education.
Characteristics of effective technology tools for the future
Digital tool and resource designs need to support
flexibility
in curriculum and assess-
ment: e-tools should provide the opportunity to repurpose tools. Tools should sup-
port discovery learning with autonomy devolved to the learner; allow meta-tagging
by users; provide taxonomy support with elements that can be disaggregated; and
supply repositories of reusable objects and ubiquitous access.
The Education in Futures research (Leask and Preston 2010) report
specific charac-
teristics
of technology tools for the future:
• learningplatformsanywhereaccessibleanytimeforanyone(
cloud comput-
ing
)withmegabandwidthavailablebothathomeandinschool/collegeas
well as mobile network coverage
•
interoperability
withsoftwarewhichacceptsarangeofdifferentformats-for
example,imagesandvideos;PCinteroperabilitytobesimilartotheApple
Mac so that, for example, music written in one computer package could
be dropped into another computer presentation package without having to
be reformatted; school data and administration software to be interoperable
with learning platforms, for example, via Moodle widgets
• Toolsbuilttoanacceptedsetof
cross-platform standards
to ensure software
tools and icons are similar no matter which piece of educational software is
being used. This reduces the learning curve for teachers. Without this level
of technological transferability, the skills (and hence confidence) acquired in
one area of technology cannot then be applied to another
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