Technology Training Options
The world of technology has trained the ability of training options. There is now a myriad of options in order to have the best training available to students and employees. Below are 5 technologies that I recommend for trainings.
1. Simulations- Simulations give trainees experience with an actual situation or problem that might arise during the course of their job. The simulation allows the trainees to have time and experience solving the problem and dealing with exactly what to do if and when this occurs. This allows trainees to make decisions and find out how those decisions would have turned out. Simulations offer a “low risk” scenario and give experience making had decisions.
Here is a link to a medical simulation that I found very informative, even not being from a medical background: http://www.mysmartsim.com/
2. Webcasting-I watched a docudrama about what school will be like in the year 2050. Basically, the hypothesis was that brick and mortar schools won’t exist, and every one will learn through webcasting. While this is an interesting scenario to think about, it brought to light the benefits and drawbacks of webcasting. Webcasting “involves classroom instruction that is provided online through live broadcasts” (Noe, 2006, p. 326). Webcasting allows for training to reach a very large geographic audience and allows for the collaboration of people. During this off-season of football, I have participated in a number of football clinic webcasts and have found them interesting and informative.
3. Groupware-Sometimes having a meeting is made impossible by geographic factors or by people being in separate places at the necessary times. Using a groupware type application, people are allowed to work on the same document simultaneously. This will allow collaboration to be possible across a wide variety of subjects and times. My district has recently implement the use of Google docs for this exact purpose. Initially, there was only collaboration allowed between teachers. Now, students have access to Google docs and have begun to use this tool to collaborate with each other on projects and assignments. This powerful tool has been amazing to use with students.
4. Software-Software can be used or developed to basically control, organize and teach anything that you can think of. Allowing training to be done with software unleashes a great potential for trainees. Software can be found or developed to meet the exact needs of the trainees and can be a very powerful training tool.
5. E-Books-Adapting technology and training into the K-12 classroom is something that I am extremely interested in. One way to do this is through the use of e-books. An e-book is basically just a text found online, but the wide variety of titles and interest levels that can be found is astounding. Additionally, e-books provide support that students who struggle with reading may desperately need. “Through e-books, students are exposed to sound, animation, and interactive activities that scaffold learning and are able to master tasks that may not be accomplished independently” (Rhodes & Milby, 2007, p. 255).
Reference:
Rhodes, J, & Milby, T., The Reading Teacher. 61(3) pp. 255-259
Noe, R. A. (2010). Employee training and development (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
Gene,
ReplyDeleteI’m glad you mentioned E-books, especially for use in the K-12 classroom. I don’t know if you have any experiences using e-books, but if so I was hoping you would share them.
I began converting over to e-books a couple of years ago when I got my Kindle. I didn’t expect to go fully electronic, but I quickly came to value the format. Especially once I started my Masters at Walden, the ability to highlight text or take notes on one device and access the notes or highlights on any device turned out to be a HUGE benefit.
But switching over to the electronic format had an unexpected, and negative, side effect. I have always been a big reader. I have a house filled with books. My daughter is now 7 years old, and for half her life she has probably never seen me with my nose in a traditional book, at least not ‘just for fun’. She may have seen me reading my textbooks, but that’s ‘school work’.
I can’t help but wonder whether this isn’t part of the reason she’s struggled with reading. It’s pretty clear that her struggles are about motivation, and not ability. But in the last couple of weeks I’ve observed something very interesting, as a result of a perfect storm of circumstances: (1) I started a new job; (2) the new job came with an iPad, and; (3) Apple upgraded iBooks in an effort to “reinvent the textbook and offer a new experience for students and teachers” (Olivarez-Giles, 2012).
As a result, I downloaded a couple of new – and old – children’s iBooks on my iPad. And suddenly my daughter can’t get enough of reading. You wrote, “Additionally, e-books provide support that students who struggle with reading may desperately need”. Now we’re clear that the issue was motivation, and multimedia technology can inherently motivating for learners, but can also undermine learning. Koroghlanian & Klein (2004) addressed this issue directly, stating, “’Seductive details,’ that are, interesting but irrelevant adjuncts in the instructional materials, distract a learner or disrupt the coherence of a learning process”.
This isn’t my experience. Now on one hand, perhaps the multimedia in the iBooks I downloaded isn’t irrelevant for learning. But I can’t help but wondering if what is going on isn’t simple modeling. When my daughter sees me reading, it’s on a Kindle. Now she’s reading on an iPad.
Except for having a 7 year old, I functionally have zero background or experience teaching children, so I’m very curious about your experiences and observations with e-books, as well as your comments on my experience.
- Patrick
References:
Koroghlanian, C., & Klein, J. D. (2004). The effect of audio and animation in multimedia instruction. Journal of Educational Multimedia & Hypermedia, 13(1), 23–46.
Olivarez-Giles, N. (2012, January 19). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2012/01/apple-ibooks-2-textbook.html
Hi Gene:
ReplyDeleteI too think e-books will be an emerging techology. While I use my kindle for pleasure reading, I have not used e-books for academia. And, to be honest, I'm not sure I could. I still have to print out the articles we are required to read and or that I research for our assignments.
One of the biggest benefits of e-books that I see is the ability to keep books current in a more cost-efficient manner (no need to do reprints, just downloads). I also think the use of e-books across the country would provide all schools with the same edition, helping to remove some disparities in educational resources within this country. A 2007 article by Businessweek states "Standard & Poor's thinks e-books could have the strongest future in higher education since today's students are more adept and versatile in their use of multimedia. Electronic textbooks can allow for greater interaction and can be tailored to fit each course". I think that was a pretty good indication that e-books would have a future in the learning process.
However, you state "Additionally, e-books provide support that students who struggle with reading may desperately need it". I would be interested in seeing some material related to this as I had a son who had a reading disability. What type of support does e-books provide and how does the use of an e-book help the learner overcome their disabilities?
Thanks for sharing.
Lisa
Reference:
The Future of E-Books. (2007). BusinessWeek Online, 3. EBSCOhost, viewed 12 February 2012.
Lisa
Hi Gene
ReplyDeleteI reviewed using podcasts, which allow broadcasts to be downloaded to mobile devices. While there are many advantages, trainers also need to understand the disadvantages of webcasts and podcasts. They should be used to present short chunks of key points, rather than used to deliver an entire lecture (Billings & Kowalski, 2007, p. 152). Webcasts have another disadvantage - they are synchronous learning tools, so meeting times must be arranged. The advantage is that trainees can collaborate with webcasts (Billings & Kowalski, 2007, p. 152). Other disadvantages of webcasts include that they are inappropriate for "activities that require writing, reflection,
or other activities that require the learner to do work that is best
done alone prior to meeting with a group" (Billings & Kowalski, 2007, p. 152).
Sue
Billings, D. M., & Kowalski, M. (2007). Using webcasts for continuing education in nursing. Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 38(4), 152-153.
Gene,
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned watching a docudrama about the use of Webcasting in 2050. Apple computer has published several educational promo's over the year regarding the potential of distance learning such as two-way interactive webcasts for the future of education. I would like to hear what you see as the advantages and disadvantages of webcast technology for K-12 education, as well as what the future might hold for this technology.
Thank you for sharing your schools use of groupware as a potential training and development tool. The last district I was in, began using Google docs for student and staff use similar to your district. The Director of Curriculum and her curriculum committees loved the ability to work on documents remotely and share documents for modification immediately after a committee meeting. I would have been interested in hearing what other educational and management software you see as a value to future K-12 classrooms.
I agree you and with Patrick and Lisa that ebooks are an emerging technology that has tremendous potential for education and training. Patrick provided a good example of how the current generation of students growing up with the mobile technology find the flexibility, mobility and ease of accessing information very motivational. Lisa made a good point regarding the fact that ebooks allow you to keep your books current(especially textbooks)in a more cost effective manner. What do you see as some of the barriers holding back the use of ebooks in education? How do you see ebooks helping the struggling readers?
Mike