Course Description:
If you love exploring the world of emerging technologies; if you love being the first one to know; if you love saying Wow! over and over again; if you love playing, then this class is for you. Using computers, phones, mp3 players and more, we will experiment and play with everything that web 2.0 and the apps stores have to offer. In this project based class you will create and use accounts like gmail, google docs, Team Box, iTunes, Youtube, Drop Box, among others to organize your academic life. From regular exposure to TED talks to on-going hands-on projects, “Emerging Technologies” is a class that will give you an edge academically and in life.
Why is Technology So Important Today?
"Have you asked yourself why technology is so important today? Just look around and you'll know why. Literally, at every instant of time, you are surrounded by technology. Whether you are working or resting, you are always using technology. It is used everywhere and all the time. Its use has made life easy. We need technology. It's important. You ask why? Well then. Read more at www.buzzle.com
10 Emerging Technologies That Will Change Your World
"Technology Review unveils its annual selection of hot new technologies about to affect our lives in revolutionary ways-and profiles the innovators behind them."
"With new technologies constantly being invented in universities and companies across the globe, guessing which ones will transform computing, medicine, communication, and our energy infrastructure is always a challenge. Nonetheless, Technology Review's editors are willing to bet that the 10 emerging technologies highlighted in this special package will affect our lives and work in revolutionary ways-whether next year or next decade. For each,we've identified a researcher whose ideas and efforts both epitomize and reinvent his or her field. The following snapshots of the innovators and their work provide a glimpse of the future these evolving technologies may provide."
Source: MIT Technology Review
Course Rationale
In an age of exponential technological growth, it is paramount that we prepare our students for the world they are going to live in. For those of us that are forty and older, we can count on our hands the number of major tech. advances that occurred by the time we reached the ripe old age of twenty. Our students can count on their hands the number of major tech. advances that occurred in the last six months. According to PC Magazine and corporations like Facebook and Google, the next two years are going to pack more tech. advances in than the last century. These advances are going to make life easier, will increase the rate of innovation further, and will become the economic engine of the very near future. That is, if you know about them and how to access and manipulate them.
Numerous studies have shown that students in rural and high poverty areas are on the wrong side of the technological divide. These populations tend to have a restrictive view of technology and think that innovative engagement with technology is for “Tech. Geeks” only.
Most students lack confidence and knowledge when it comes to technologies other than email, facebook, youtube, and google searches. All students should know how to sync online information, use cloud storage, create using web 2.0 resources, collaborate, and do all this across multiple platforms (i.e. pc, tablet, smartphone, etc.).
We have incredibly powerful tools in our pockets, book-bags, and on our desks that most of us do not know how to use in truly innovative ways. This class would open students’ eyes to the possibilities these technologies possess and would give them hands-on opportunities to engage with many of these technologies.