Tetrad

Tetrad of Emerging Technology with Progressions

Data Storage: The Flash Drive

Data Storage: The Flash Drive
Enhances The flash drive allows users to store additional data without incurring the cost of upgrading their computer's hardware.  It is portable and allows users to edit material on any computer device.	Obsoletes The flash drive obsoletes CDs, DVDs, floppy discs, external hard drives, Zip in some instances, and even the computer’s hard drive in the case of the netbook and the latest computers that use cloud technology for storing data.   The flash drive also negates the need for a paper trail.
Retrieves The technology reverses into cloud storage.  Cloud computing has invaded the world of storing data and allows users to work from any device and still have access to one's own files and documents.	Reverses The technology retrieves the art of storing information for the purposes of transferring from one user to another.  Information was written on the walls of caves, stored in the brain and transferred by oral tradition, and later written on papyrus, scrolls, paper, hard drive, and external drives.

One emerging technology with progressions is data storage.  Data storage dates back to recording information on the walls of caves to using the brain for storing data to storing data today in the clouds.  Along the way storing additional data using computer technology has continued to progress from the external hard drive to the floppy discs to CDs to zip to DVDs to flash drives to SD cards to now using tools such as Google drive and DropBox to store data in the clouds.  As I speculate how the technology of storing data may evolve, I consider the possibility of storing data on crystal via what I would term to be a holographic projection (Hudson, 2005).  This idea of storing data on crystals is reminisce of etching data on stones, cave walls, papyrus, and eventually paper.  The idea behind this progression is how to store the greatest amounts of data on the smallest space.  Soon we will be trying to figure out how to automatically download information into the learner’s brain?  Perhaps the answer is in nanotechnology.  Any thoughts?

 

Reference

Hudson, J. (2005). This laser trick’s a quantum leap. WIRED. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2005/10/69033.

Open Source Technology

Thornburg (2009) succinctly stated, “The constantly changing landscape of educational technology can be thought of as a series of transitions from older tools to newer ones” (p. 1).  These newer tools help us to complete the same tasks which we performed with the older tools, but in a more effective or efficient way, or may allow us to do things that we could not do before.  The newer tools should be used in the environment of teaching and learning to augment or enhance human performance.

One such technology which is shaping the educational landscape is the open source technology.  The idea of open source allows users free access to design and redistribution of software by making the source code available for manipulation as long as these co-developers and co-designers credit the original author of the source code.  Pan and Bonk (2007) defined open source as, “Any computer software program whose source code is free to its licensed users for use, modification, and redistribution” (p. 2).  CoSN K-12 open technologies is an initiative sponsored by corporations such as IBM, Cisco, and Pearson Education with the goal of making K-12 curriculum available to teachers and learners worldwide.  Wiley (2010) described the concept of this technology in education as openness and sharing and proposed that the three were synonymous.  Wiley (2010) suggested open source as a technology would allow us to share our knowledge and expertise as is evident from sights such as Curriki.org which provides a forum for educators to network and share curriculum and lesson plans openly and free of charge.  Open source is paving the way in education.  Open source courseware such as the MIT initiative which offers free classes for various disciplines in efforts to “unlock knowledge and empower minds” (MIT, 2002-2012), and Khan Academy whose website boasts that, “You can learn practically anything for free” (Khan Academy, 2012) allow students, teachers, and parents to access meaningful learning 24/7, free of charge.  Open source course management systems, such as Moodle, and other open source applications have indelibly influenced face to face, hybrid, and distance learning to enable collaboration, social networking, social bookmarking, and the co-creation of knowledge.  The idea of open source technology opens us up to potentially replacing the published textbook by resources that are the product of the effort of multiple authors who have edited, improved, and changed material that is now available to the masses free of charge around the world in a much shorter time period than it took to write, edit, review, and publish the printed text.  The benefits of the open source initiative and its technologies are endless for the learning community worldwide.

Security is a concern in this community of openness which allows anyone to contribute.  There is a fear that hackers may access information or that users could unknowingly download a virus to their computers.  Constant modifications could render the software unreliable and even useless to the learning community, since there is no paid technical support, if there are too many problems, developers may abandon the project leaving users stranded.  Fortunately creative commons licenses, peer reviews, and initiatives such as the open source initiative (OSI) support security, reliability, and validity of open source applications. 

Please view the videos and links below for more information on the idea of sharing knowledge through open source technology.

References

Khan Academy. (2012). KHANACADEMY. Retrieved from http://www.khanacademy.org/

Mayer, R. E. (2009). Multimedia learning (2^nd ed.). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

MIT. (2002-2012). MITOPENCOURSEWARE. Retrieved from http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

Pan, G., & Bonk, C. J. (November, 2007). The emergence of open-source software in North America. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 8(3), 1-18.

Video:

Baraniuk, R. (August, 2006). TED: Richard Baraniuk on open-source learning. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_baraniuk_on_open_source_learning.html

Wiley, D. (March, 2010). TEDxNYED: David Wiley. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb0syrgsH6M

Websites

CoSN K-12 Open Technologies: http://www.k12opentech.org/

Moodle: http://moodle.org/

OSI: http://opensource.org/