Educational Technology & Key Trend

Unit 2 Discussion Board

Think Tank Methods

Primary Response

ThienSi Le

CS875-1602C-01

Futuring & Innovation

Dr. Imad Al Saeed

 (19-April-2016)

In Unit 2 Discussion Board on the topic of “Think Tank Methods”, students are required to identify the means through which innovation is diffused within an organization or society. This short piece of writing will discuss one technology and one key trend from the website New Media Consortium (NMC, n.d.), address the interaction between technology and humans in the sociotechnical process, and analyze at least two forces that impact the trend and the technology.

(Source: Adapted from NMC Horizon Report: 2016 Higher Education Edition)

The New Media Consortium (NMC) that is an academic community of the leading universities, colleges, museums and research centers explore and use new media and technologies for learning and creative expression. Its NMC project for higher education provided an NMC Horizon Report of 2016 Higher Education Edition wiki that addressed six educational technologies, six challenges and six key trends (NMC, n.d.). One of six educational technologies selected is Robotics and for the key trend is Advancing cultures of innovation in higher education. 

(Source: Adapted from NMC Horizon Report: 2016 Higher Education Edition)

1. Discussing the technology and trend

     a. Educational technology: Robotics

            Inspiring from the imaginary robot characters such as C-3P0, R2-D2 or Terminator from the films industry (Lucas, n.d.; Cameron, n.d.), robotics is chosen for educational technology in a future adoption. It is a concept of creating autonomous machines to mimic human behavior and often manage dangerous tasks (Dobson, 2015). Robots were developed along with Artificial Intelligence to deploy in factory assembly line to increase productivity in automotive industry in early years. Integration of robots has, today, expanded in many fields such as manufacturing, healthcare, mining, defense, security, transportation, home appliances, etc. NMC (2016) predicts that robotics can be used in higher education to assist students to become better problem solvers in the next 5 years. Humanoid robots can interact and assist learners in disorders or people with disability to develop well-behaved social skills and better communications in a sociotechnical process.    

     b. Key trend: Advancing cultures of innovation

Many prominent scholars and educators believe that higher education institutions play a crucial role in discoveries and innovations that benefit humans in societies. In the growth of local and global economies with worldwide economic needs, these institutions should be re-structured for creativity, flexibility and entrepreneurship. They can provide institutional leadership and curricula for adept startup model (The Lean Startup) with agile and dynamic approaches to stimulate overall change in scalability across economies (Ries, 2011). Higher education leaders should consider using technology and provide a compelling automaton model to boost a culture of innovation in sociotechnical processing to achieve:

     - making a practical and strategic decision,

     - improving business performance,

     - increasing organizational productivity,

     - gaining and sustaining the competitive edge in the dynamic market

2. Analysis of two forces that impact the trend and the technology.

            Both robotics and Advancing cultures of innovation will make a significant contribution to technology, economy, culture, humanity, and society. The forces that impact the trend and the technology are technological, cultural, human, and societal. Two typical forces are technological and economic.

            With the cultural and economic goals to adapt someone’s idea and make it different and better, robotics has evolved in a full scale. The technological force drives robotics rapidly in many fields along with ubiquitous data and computers. Robotics integration has the very positive impact in working environment with cost-effective fashion. Robots replace human workers in paper processing works, and perform dangerous tasks such as bomb demolition, etc. However, robotics also causes a negative impact on the human working force. They replace human workers. People lose their jobs and are maybe obsolete. The governments need to step in to find alternative solutions for people who are unemployed or lose their jobs because of robotics.

            The cultural force on Advancing cultures of innovation trend is an agile and forward movement in academia. Higher education educators who can provide a leadership model to promote a culture of innovation would have a significant impact on the economy, entrepreneurship, humanity, and society.

In summary, the writing used NMC Horizon Report on 2016 Higher Education Edition to identify the educational technology and the key trend that make great impact on technology, economy, culture, humanity, and society. It discussed robotics and advancing cultures of innovation as advanced technology and impact trend in the machine and human interaction for human benefits in the sociotechnical process.  

REFERENCES

Cameron, J. (n.d.). Terminator 2. Retrieved on April 18, 2016 from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088247/

Dobson, A. (2015). Robotic technology promises to improve mining. Retrieved on April 18, 2016 from http://phys.org/news/2015-05-robotic-technology-safety.html

Lucas, G. (n.d.). Star wars: force for change. Retrieved on April 18, 2016 from http://www.starwars.com/

New Media Consortium. (n.d.). NMC horizon. Retrieved from http://www.nmc.org/nmc-horizon/ 

New Media Consortium. (n.d.). NMC horizon report: 2016 higher education edition wiki. Retrieved from http://horizon.wiki.nmc.org/

Ries, E. (2011). The lean startup. Retrieved on April 18, 2016 from

http://theleanstartup.com.