Educational technology has an important role in any instructional design experience. The variety of tools continues to grow, and new educational uses are being rapidly identified. Therefore, it is important to stay current with educational technology trends and make your selections based on sound design principles. For this Individual Project, compare and contrast each of the categories of tools listed in the following. Define them in your own words, and describe how they might be used to enhance a quality instructional design or help facilitate a quality educational experience. Hint: Remember to consider the impact that these tools have on administrative, instructional designer, learner, stakeholder, and teacher and faculty needs. Provide at least 1 example for each type of tool to support your analysis.

Peripheral Equipment and Resources

• Cloud computing
• Social networking tools
• Web 2.0 tools
• Open Educational Resources
• Classroom instructional media
• Cell phones, tablets, and other highly portable technology tools
• Electronic whiteboards
• Massive open online courses (MOOCs)

 

Introduction

Technology has been a crucial or essential component of education and learning through various virtual platforms and technological tools in the contemporary world. The internet is one of the informative tools that can depict technology in education in conjunction with peripheral equipment. The term peripheral equipment is used to describe devices that connect other equipment with computers. Using peripherical equipment has become a central part of the current educational curriculum and design. In this project, the impact of some of the peripheral equipment such as cloud computing, social networking tools, Web 2.0 tools, Open Educational Resources, Cellphones, tablets, and other highly portable technology tools, electronic whiteboards, and massive open online courses (MOOCs) on education experience will be compared and contrasted.

Cloud computing

Cloud computing is involved in the use of hardware and software to provide computing services from various applications through processing to online data storage without direct integration of a user (Almajalid, 2017). Cloud computing is critical in instructional design. As an administrator, a stakeholder, an educator, or instructional designer, it is imperative to have immediate and reliable access to the internet regardless of status or location. Cloud computing enables these professionals within the education system to store large data sets and information on the internet. Some use cloud computing to create mobile educational applications, backup sensitive information and data, and stream videos and audio files for learning purposes (Almajalid, 2017). Cloud computing enables various educational institutions to upgrade their learning systems and communication without heavy investments in their IT structure. Some institutions like universities and colleges use cloud computing for conducting research-based studies. Examples of cloud computing applications in the education sector include Google Docs, Google Drive, Forms editor, Microsoft Drive, Pat, and others that benefit students and educators in many ways, such as immediate access to information anytime, anywhere, thus save time and resources (Almajalid, 2017).

Social Networking Tools

Social networking tools are computer software or mobile applications and internet services that are used mainly for interaction, especially in e-learning in the education sector (Manca & Ranieri, 2017). They also provide connection facilities that enable individuals to better understand the community's structure through constant interaction with one another. Some of the social networking tools TedEd and video conferencing have been used to promote creativity, collaborations, informational exchange, and sharing. Some of the tools such as Facebook and Twitter are good examples where people meet to share privately through instant messaging (Manca & Ranieri, 2017). YouTube is also an example of a social networking tool where educators find useful videos under the education category. These videos are available in all subjects learned. Most students today rely on YouTube to get concepts that they might have missed in class. Access to information on these networking tools is instant, and one is able to learn from every location or even while at home. Through social networking tools such as Evernote and Google+, education stakeholders and teams can share files and work together on tasks at hand, thus providing an excellent experience for both students, administrators, stakeholders, and teachers within the education sector (Manca & Ranieri, 2017).   

Web 2.0 tools

Web 2.0 tools comprise free digital programs used by students, administrators, stakeholders, and teachers within the education sector and other sectors to create and share student-generated projects (Bugawa & Mirzal, 2018). These tools are interactive, easy to use, and multi-purpose. These tools provide ways in which students and teachers learn course materials. Their greater contribution within the education sector is evident when they are aligned to teaching and assessment that helps students to conceptualize and understand the course materials. Some of the examples of Web 2.0 tools include Prezi, Animoto, and many others. Prezi is a tool for teaching presentations that has massively contributed to effective teaching and face-to-face learning in classrooms (Bugawa & Mirzal, 2018). The tool enables users to include flowcharts, diagrams, and photographs in their presentations. Most importantly, they can zoom in and out, thus increasing and promoting a better visual that in turn impacts learning and mastery of learning concepts.

Open Educational Resources

These are freely accessible online media, texts, books, audio files, and other online assets that are used for the enhancement of learning and teaching in the education sector (Colvard, Watson & Park, 2018). Open Educational Resources offers a wide range of free online and digital learning materials that help teachers to build their course contents and improves the understanding of students of the course materials taught in classrooms. The educational resources are essential in the education sector such that they provide cheap but quality materials to students and allow various faculties in learning institutions to enhance their research works and provide them with class content for better learning experiences.

Classroom instructional media

Classroom instructional media comprise all physical means and all materials that educational instructors such as teachers and lecturers or tutors use to implement instruction and facilitate the achievement of students or learners based on instructional goals and objectives (Ardani et al., 2018). Some of the traditional instructional materials used in the education sector are videotapes, overheads, chalkboards, printed handouts, real objects, and charts. Even though most of these materials are still used to date, there are advancements in the education sector where other instructional media such as computer labs, video conferencing, and smartboards have been invented (Ardani et al., 2018). These instructional media are used to capture the attention of students or other learners in the classroom by teachers through improved visuals like pictures and powerpoints to enable them to understand course concepts. The tools also assist students in retaining knowledge learned and improves their motivation to learn more of the course content.

Cell phones, tablets, and other highly portable technology

Cell phones, tablets, and other highly portable technology are among the technological tools that have transformed the face of learning in all institutions of learning, including research-based institutions (Shrain & Crompton, 2015). These tools, especially smartphones, are rapidly changing the teaching methods of teachers in classrooms and how students grasp the course content. The use of portable technological devices such as PDAs, tablets, laptops, and iPads, which most of them support wireless connectivity to the internet, allows mobility and mobile variations among students, administrators, stakeholders, and teachers within the education sector. This is related to various disciplines, instructional approaches, and improvement of learning goals and objectives. These portable devices are essential for a better learning experience since they allow students to interact with one another while working on their relevant assignments and academic tasks without bulky laptop screens and desktop monitors blocking them from having clear views of the people around them. Tablets and smartphones can act as better platforms where students, administrators, stakeholders, and teachers within the education sector can create integral projects to the core business of learning certain concepts. These devices also can help a number of students write their essays through their smartphones and iPads. It is reported that because of the smart portable devices, some students are able to complete their academic tasks even while traveling on the bus, thus help them save on time and engage in other creative activities (Shrain & Crompton, 2015). Today, students no longer have to carry bulky textbooks with them to study. Through smartphones, students and other educators can access a range of books on various online libraries such as Light Reader, Kindle Fire, and Google Scholar.

Electronic whiteboards

Electronic whiteboards or an interactive smart board as sometimes referred to as a classroom tool that allows images or displays from a computer monitor to be displayed onto a classroom board through projection using a digital projector. These interactive smartboards are greater tools that educators and teachers may use as instructional tools for the improvement and enhancement of learning by improving the content presented by the educator. The tool is also very useful in the education sector because it allows class sessions to be recorded for future references by the learners and the teacher or the tutor. The tool is can also be an excellent tool for collaborative learning and for note-taking among students. Electronic whiteboards integrate different styles of learning into one excellent experience. Since it enables students to learn by touch, hearing and seeing, it is capable of promoting a better experience in learning. This equips educators with new innovative teaching techniques making students learn better and remember more of the course content they had learned.

Massive Open Online Course

Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) are video-based online courses that are meant for distance learning programs. The tool is designed to enable a wide range of students from differently dispersed geographical regions to attain education in a particular concept (Mohapatra & Mohanty, 2017). MOOCs are considered one of the interventions that can transform the face of learning positively for a better and improved learning experience. MOOC as a tool offers excellent teaching in video formats, increases online interaction among students, and courses offered are open and accessible by respective individuals in different locations at the same time. Some of the examples of MOOCs used for educative purposes include Coursera, which has about twenty million participants with high-quality course contents from the University of Stanford and others, and edX, which has about 10 million participants with quality course contents from Harvard and Oxford (Mohapatra & Mohanty, 2017). These tools can be used by educators to increase learning and skill development among young people from all over the globe in a relatively short time.

Conclusion

The use of technology has made a greater contribution towards the enhancement of humanity through interactive learning with less cost, less amount of time and resources put in place, thus realizing greater productivity in the education sector. Using this peripheral equipment in classrooms has been seen to increase student engagement and help educators improve on their lesson plans and content delivery. It is therefore imperative that learning institutions and the education sector, in general, embrace this peripheral equipment and integrate them into the learning process for a better experience.

OUTLINE

1. Cover page: Student Name, Name of professor, Course, and Date.
2. Introductory paragraph on the topic of the essay
3. Description of the listed peripheral equipment and resources and explanation on to how they impact the education sector in the following order.

• Cloud computing
• Social networking tools
• Web 2.0 tools
• Open Educational Resources
• Classroom instructional media
• Cell phones, tablets, and other highly portable technology tools
• Electronic whiteboards
• Massive open online courses (MOOCs)

4. Conclusive paragraph