What should institutions consider before adopting new technologies?

Adopting new technologies is important, as technology advances institutions must be able to show they can easily adapt and include newer technology. However it is important to consider many factors before adopting new technologies. One question to ask is the cost worth it? The benefits of new technology are likely to be useful but can the benefits compensate for the cost. As well the cost to implement the new technology, this can be courses for students and professors on how to use it or the cost of inserting the technology into classrooms. Audrey Watters asks who who owns student data and who protects it. The answer Watters states is the students.Ā  Security risks, institutions must make sure all technology are cyber safe. New technology always comes with potential security risks so it is important for institutions to make sure they can control privacy within the technology.

What should instructors consider before implementing new tools or approaches to teaching in their own practices?

Implementing new approaches should first come from supported research. Bringing in new tools or approaches can be difficult for students especially depending on the age. It is important to research if the tools you’re bringing in have worked before and what is the best way to bring them in. Implementing new tools can come with cost, like I mentioned above with adopting new technologies it is important for instructors to balance the benefit and the cost. Does the cost of the new tools compensate for how it will benefit students? However Audrey Watters brings forward the idea of are we reducing students from people to profiles? It is important to make sure the tools or approaches that are being brought in do not lower the already low amount that institutions recognize students as people.

What hidden motivations may impact the adoption of new technological tools? How could these motivations impact the future of education long term

Social influences along with self-belief are two examples of hidden motivations that may impact the adoption of new technological tools. Social influences involve other educators pushing the idea of new tools upon others as well as observing the use of new tools in an education setting. Self-belief including attitudes towards technology will also impact the adoption of new technological tools. Positive attitudes towards technology will largely impact the amount of new technological tools that individual adopt into their learning environment. From a student perspective adopting new technology tools will also arise from social influences, word of mouth on new platforms that can support ones learning is the biggest factor. These motivations will impact the future of education by only increasing the amount of technology used in a classroom. Selwyn, N. (2021), makes an important note of how the adoption of new technology has an impact on climate change. On the other hand it is noted that we seem to not be able to live a meaningful life without technology. I believe not only will the future of education be mainly online with the use of many new technology tools that do not exist yet but as well have a major negative impact on our climate.

 

 

Sharma, Lavina & Srivastava, Mallika. (2019). Teachersā€™ motivation to adopt technology in higher education. Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education. ahead-of-print.

Selwyn, N. (2021) ā€œFacing up to the dilemma of sustainable digital futuresā€ DigiGen.eu.Ā https://www.digigen.eu/digigenblog/facing-up-to-the-dilemma-of-sustainable-digital-futures/

Watters, A. (2014) ā€œThe Future of Ed Tech is a Reclamation Projectā€ in The Monsters of Education Technology. https://s3.amazonaws.com/audreywatters/the-monsters-of-education-technology.pdf